This is the second part in a series of birthday wishes for me. Libre ang mangarap, so please indulge me…

NEW BALANCE WX780WP

Running Shoes

I’m a second generation runner and a second generation fan of New Balance running shoes. Nike pushes you to “Just Do It” and with Adidas, “Impossible IS Nothing” but it’s New Balance that makes you “Spread the Love” — o diba? Ang layo.

Nevertheless, from experience, NB really does it for me in terms of running. I love my current NB shoes which was a gift from my children last mother’s day. I’d like to get another pair to alternate with the ones I have right now. In my search, this is what I found - the NB WX780WP which is lightweight, flexible, a cushioned trainer that features Lateral ABZORB EX - the world’s softest cushioning - designed to support diverse workouts. I’m not too crazy about pink but the fuschia against silver makes for a fun combination. If Manolos and Jimmy’s do it for other women, ako simple lang — just give me my New B’s and I’m ready to get up and go.

POLAR RS100 Heart Rate Monitor

“Your Heart Knows How to Make Every Beat Count.”

Whether you want to train to improve your performance or simply want to lead a healthier lifestyle, the most effective way to do both is to listen to your body. Of course, if you have no way of understanding it, you have no way of knowing what it’s telling you. And this is the reason why a Polar heart rate and activity monitors is on my wishlist.

How does it work?

As you get fitter by training with your heart rate monitor, your heart is able to pump more blood with every beat. The upshot of this is that your heart doesn’t have to beat as often to get the required oxygen to your muscles, which in turn decreases your resting and exercise heart rate. As a result of training, your muscles utilize the oxygen better, meaning you can put more effort in and still maintain the same heart rate. On the other hand, with activity monitoring you can measure your health beneficial movement and track your activity level to accurately record information about your active time, intensity and calorie expenditure. Because I am a newbie to running, I just need the basic model for now. Having one attached to my wrist will give me enough peace of mind to know that my heart rate isn’s all over the place (I have a heart condition that strangely disappears while I exercise) and that I am within my target heart zone. Oh, and I’m going to need a Polar Wearlink Coded Transmitter Belt to go with that too. Othewise, di nya masusukat ang bawa’t tibok ng puso ko

Having said that, you now have an idea of where my passion and obsession lies. I have one more wish and ironically, as the days go by, I can see how all the wishes fit together and how all of this is slowly falling into place. Let’s save the last wish for tomorrow, and in a few weeks time, I’ll tell you guys how this is all going to fit together like the pieces of a puzzle, orchestrated by God, no less.

Okay. I’m no Angelica Panganiban, and neither is my spouse a Derek Ramsay. But our duo has something very similar to their duo in the sense that we are both opposites.

I am south to his north, I am the creative one, he is the more sensible one. When you open his cabinets, everything is in it’s proper order, filed according to function and color. When you open mine, well…. you better have a helmet on, lest something comes crashing down your head.

Differences notwithstanding, we learn from each other and hopefully bring out the best (sometimes the worst… but that’s another story) in one another. I couldn’t help but smile when I read this article on Angelica and Derek. Consider too that there is quite an age gap between them so it’s expected that A will learn more from D because he has more to teach. Maybe they should do a second part of this email and ask D what A has brought into his life perhaps?

Says she –

Boyfriend Derek Ramsey has done wonders to broaden her perspective. The London-raised hunk is outgoing where Angelica can be painfully shy. He goes out of his way to call up press people and explain his side when an issue arises. He greets everybody, from the highest to the lowest in the cast and production crew.

“I’m afraid people will ignore me,” Angelica says. “That’s why I don’t initiate conversations.”

Derek has taught her to take risks in dealing with others, to trust in their willingness to make friends and put themselves in her shoes.

Now, Angelica is less afraid to let people peek into her thoughts, her feelings.

*Sigh. What love can do…. Read the rest of the article here.