Getting Physical Again

My younger self was much more physically active compared to the present-day Kennan. From 2004-2014, my high school friends and I would play pickup basketball games all the time — we’ve had numerous balls confiscated because playing hoops during class hours was a no-no back then in UP High School (lol).

We peaked around 2009-2010, sophomore year in college because we would organize weekly basketball games either at the UPV-Iloilo City campus court or at the gym in Westwoods Subdivision. We would wear actual basketball gear, complete with jerseys and basketball shoes as opposed to our high school days where we’d hoop in our school uniforms.

Whenever my sporty ass isn’t hooping, I would go biking every Saturday morning with the local biker gang (okay bicycle club, organization, whatever) in my hometown. Our usual routes would take 20-50 kilometers to ride.

This all came to an abrupt end when I became an adopted son of Cebu in 2014 and started working there. My only physical activities were running from my problems and jumping into conclusions.

Today, I managed to join a ride — my first long-distance bike ride in four years — and boy was it fun. I forgot how good it felt to pedal the crap out of your bike on the open road by the countryside.

I honestly felt I would get tired quickly and would be out of breath after like three minutes. But nooooo, I felt great. I didn’t feel tired, had more energy than I expected. Partida, I only had two hours of sleep (not good).

I made it a point to pace myself and not let my ego get the best of me again. I cruised at around 15 kilometers per hour and fought against the urge to go faster. My body felt like it could’ve gone further than the approximately 20 kilometers that we’ve covered but again I fought against the urge because it’s never a good idea to go all-in on your first day back of doing (any) physical activity after a long period of being mostly sedentary (ass glued on an office chair ftw).

At the end of the ride, my knees felt wobbly and my leg muscles felt like they were on fire but other than that, everything felt great! Here’s to hoping for more bike rides again.