A "satisfying" jog

Last night, I decided to go for a jog. Though I’m not fond of jogging, it was surprisingly fun and satisfying.

I only intended to run for around 20-30 minutes, from St. John’s College to Queen Mary Hospital (1.6 km away) and back, but things didn’t go as planned. As I reached the hospital, I found myself running down Bisney Rd., all the way down to Victoria Rd. Before long, I discovered that I was all alone, running along a road that cuts through the Chinese Christian Cemetery – needless to say, I ran a bit faster. I started to worry when I saw road signs that said “Cyberport” and “Aberdeen”, places that are considerable distances away from home. I didn’t bring anything, not my phone, cash, or even my Octopus card, so I would’ve been in serious trouble if I were to have cramped up or gotten lost and needed to take a bus or taxi home. After running along Victoria Rd., I passed the West Island School, giving me some idea of where I was. I also passed ritzy waterfront condos as I rounded the base of Mt. Davis before being greeted, with great relief, by the familiar sights of Kennedy Town. It was the first time I ever passed through Kennedy Town with absolutely no cash, which meant that I couldn’t buy any tasty snacks or drinks, so I took a leisurely-but-tantalizing stroll down Victoria Rd./Belcher’s Street and up Smithfield Rd. and Pokfield Rd. back to St. John’s. According to Google Maps, I ran 7 km, and it took me 1 hr.

The run was surprisingly pleasant and relatively pain-free. I didn’t expect it to go as smoothly as it did, since I used to get shin splints after 20-30 minutes and used to feel soreness in my knees after 30-40 minutes. And this was 5-10 years ago, when I weighed 20-40 lbs less than I weigh these days. Even at midnight, it was damned hot, probably around 30 degrees Celsius, so as expected, I sweated A LOT. I sweated so much that I stopped, took off my t-shirt, and wrung out a huge puddle of sweat, probably more than 1 litre of it. That felt surprisingly satisfying, to tell you the truth.

I actually like the sensation of soreness after any kind of workout. It’s actually very satisfying, even when slightly painful. But I’m a bit worried about tonight’s Muay Thai class. The Wednesday night crowd is usually a lot more serious than the Sunday afternoon crowd, and I’m often paired with gung ho white guys who like to go all out, so it’d be quite embarrassing if I’m upstaged by a newcomer or an inferior fighter. Even though I’ll probably suffer such consequences in the short-term, I’m going to try to make it a habit to jog so that I can shed some weight, burn some fat, and improve my stamina. Perhaps I’ll even be able to participate in next year’s St. John’s College “Round the Island” event, which is an overnight 38 km run around Hong Kong Island.

PS: I think it’s about time I invest in a thesaurus. I read over what I just wrote and noticed that I used the word “satisfying” way too many times.