IRENEO “Jung” Cases never planned to quit smoking. The Metrografix Inc. president had been smoking for 16 years and had tried and failed to kick the habit several times.
Then Cases started running on Aug. 1, 2009.
CIGARETTES AND COFFEE. For many a nicotine addict, nothing beats starting a day than reading a newspaper with cigarettes and coffee. Quitting smoking is among the hardest thing to do. For many people, running helps in dealing with the withdrawal symptoms. (CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO BY SHEESHOO)
He thought of stopping smoking to see if he could improve his time. “When I finished my first 5K, I kept on wanting to beat my time in the next race until I realized my urge to smoke had (disappeared) without me knowing it,” Cases said.
Cases’s business partner, on the other hand, took to running and yoga as a way to kick a habit that was killing him. Ivee Alfredo Cabahug IV, Metrografix Inc. general manager, had been smoking also for 16 years and the nicotine addiction made him sick almost every month.
Getting worse
“My asthma and allergies were getting worse. I was rushed to the emergency room because I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was having a heart attack. After the incident, I swore not to smoke again,” he said.
By the time Ivee decided to stop, he was smoking one-and-a-half packs of cigarettes a day. His wife, Jopie, on the other hand, was smoking a pack a day, 16 years after lighting up her first stick because of peer pressure.