Faster than Feria, almost

 

What a joke.  Alright, that was Feria’s signal no. 2..   

(Uh-oh, not that I had wanted it give us a strong blow, but having grown up in Bicol, that is soo NOT a signal-No.-2-as-we-normally-have-it-in-Bicol.  And it’s not so bad a thing too that I skipped a half-sure failure in a quiz scheduled yesterday, as our prof decided to cancel our class.  Sometimes oftentimes I just get lucky.)

While checking on the TV news last night (and t’was typhoon Feria being discussed by the newsguy on a weirdly peaceful rainless night), my housemate, Dree gave this funny comment: 

‘Ano nga ulit running speed mo?  Ano ba naman yan si Feria e mukhang mas mabilis ka pa d’yan eh..’

At that time, I didn’t catch it to be that funny as I was busy munching on a piece of cake.  This morning, while riding a cab I caught more clearly the windspeed specs of typhoon Feria:  15kph. 

Not so fast, I thought.  Actually quite too slow, I thought further.

So arriving at the office, the topic of chitchat was still Feria.  From the 29th floor, we peeked from the glass window and saw just slight drizzle.  Amid the chitchat, I mindlessly muttered an angas joke (recalling to mind that Feria blows at only 15kph):

‘You know, Feria’s slow..  It said in the news 15 km per hour lang daw speed nya.. Mas mabilis pa nga ako dun eh, hahaha!’

Man that threw my officemate off her seat!  She kept laughing and laughing, and then it dawned on me that yeah, that was a funny statement.

But no, I am Not faster than Feria.  She is slow, yes, but I can’t (yet?-or-EVER) muster enough prowess to stage a sub-60 time for a 15k. 

At least not in my waking time.  Hahaha.

 

Something new in UP

 

(..well, at least for me.)

It’s a brand new stuff in my UP running routine.

We tried running this route (first time for me! )  last Saturday  –>

It’s a certified ‘winner’ route, but for sure not anything new to other frequent UP campus runners who one day in their lives got some tummyache due to UP-Acad-oval-overdose, so off they went exploring the outer streets in UP. 

This 7km route takes you to the outer borders of the UP campus, going out to C.P. Garcia (that connects Philcoa and Katips) passing by the mysterious and now-bigger Math kingdom (Hi, my ex-college!), back inward to pass by the Executive House and UPDP office, then along the U Ave. stretch..   (I should stop this.  You may check the map above.  As I always say, pictures give better blah-blahs.)

Oh, one more interesting note -  it passes by the famous HeartBreak hill.  And I went crazy and egged on my running buddies to race me on the uphill.  Only one obliged.  And even outran me.  Hahaha.

I hope the Heartbreak hill portion becomes a staple part of the route for UP races.  Or..  I’m also thinking Not..

OK I’ll shut up and Run

 

If only dreaming equates to doing..  I would have easily logged in my 500th-kilometer running mileage by now. 

These are the times I’d gamely take another runner’s slap on my face, for my apparent talking-more-than-doing on my supposed get-back-on-training-mode-ASAP- plan..  These are the times I could get crazy enough to pinch my ear and scold myself, ’Just shut up and RUN, now.’

So..  alright.  I’ll shut up now.

…

But children and students of the world, hear this:   SCHOOL, isn’t good for running.  Nah.

 

***

Even as I suffer from running mileage malnutrition, I still (apparently) enjoy some fringe benefits from having the reputation of a ‘runner’  –>

(Cathletic eats a lot and eats frequently – at least 6x a day!, and she doesn’t hide it -  not from her friends, not from her officemates, not from anyone.  Not humungously ‘a lot’, but very OFTEN.)

New officemate begins to notice C has been munching again, when it’s barely an hour after lunch break.  And C isn’t oblivious of the fact that she might be scandalizing new officemate of her eating habit.  So yesterday PM..

C:  (While munching, turns to N.O. with the bag of chips)  Would you like some?

N.O.:  Hehe, no thanks, I’m still full.

C:  Are you getting surprised?  You always see me eating, hehe..

N.O.:  OO NGA.

The guy answered straightly.  And man I wasn’t prepared for that so-honest reply, haha.  I would have expected something like, ‘Di naman’ -  but surely a ‘Di kaya’ reply is one flat out big lie.

But then he redeemed himself by adding,

N.O.:   That should be okay.  Di ba kasi runner ka daw.  I mean, I hear from some people here that you run.  It must be your metabolism..

C:  Ah,.. umm.. di naman

I wish I could tell him there’s no connection there, at all.  I’ve always had an appetite like this.  Weirdly, it’s got nothing to do with my running.  But that’s a fine excuse you’ve put forward for me. 

At least I don’t need to be explaining on something I couldn’t explain myself.  Hehe.

Ultimatum expired

 

I gave myself a two-week ultimatum to get settled with this new work-school setup, and then get back to regular training. 

(Not only did my running slack off, but many things as well, ahem, like stuffing this personal sports diary.  What was there to write about anyway, except for tales on how to rush to my evening classes straight from work, and how to fake a smile to dampen my profs’ presumed irritation over my 30-minute tardiness.  Man it’s no less one kind of sports activity I tell you.)

I haven’t been completely run-less anyway.  I managed to squeeze in some weekend long runs and.. uhm, that’s about it I think.  Okay, okay, pathetic Cathletic.  (And they even rhyme, geesh.)

Last Friday (my last run to date, yikes!), I was able to finish 3 laps of the Acad oval and I felt my calves react the day after.  Hmm, I missed the feeling, hahaha.  Sunday came and I had planned of joining the Takbo guys for a group LSD (a.k.a. bandit run at the PTAA race) and I overslept.  Hmm, I missed the run and I missed the people. 

So have I adjusted yet to this new work-school setup?  Heck no, and only heaven knows if I ever will -  but there’s ONLY one thing I’m sure of:  

The Two-Week Ultimatum Has Expired. 

And this entitles me to lace up my shoes and hit the road more often, again.  

Instead of availing the KOM run adventure offer, I buried my face on our BA201 problem sets.  Now I’m eyeing on the Botak 100K on the 28th, and yes this one shall be for real.  A 10-miler, yum yum. 

Choosing Trail Runners

 

Cathletic’s status:    Drooling over this..

(More details at Takbo.ph)

..which made me read up on this  – - >

(Taken from http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/trail+runners.html )

Choosing Trail Runners

Running fast over a mountain trail—leaping, jumping over roots and rocks. In these moments gravity slides away and you soar through the air.

Assuming, of course, you have the proper shoes. Slip or trip and the dream suddenly crashes to the ground.

Quick Read

1  Your running style and the terrain you most often cover determine the trail shoe you choose.
2  Think traction, support and protection when evaluating your shoe.
3  Fit, of course, is also important. Trail running shoes should fit a bit more snugly than road shoes.

Understanding the Trail Runner
Since soft cushioning can lead to a turned ankle, most good trail runners depend on fairly stiff midsoles (dual- or triple-density EVA foam). The outsoles are rugged, (made from carbon or blown rubber, or a combination of both), and feature aggressive tread patterns.

Uppers are usually water-resistant and made from durable synthetic leather or nylon mesh materials. Toe-rands ward off rocks. Additional protection is usually provided by molded nylon flex plates in the forefoot (look for flex grooves in the forefoot outsole to enhance natural flex).

Support is also important and is delivered to trail runners by burly medial supports and beefy heel counters. The lacing system is generally advanced, offering a variety of means to get a snug fit.

Know Thy Feet
Three important factors to consider when making your choice are the size, shape and mechanics of your feet.

Foot size
You probably already know your shoe size. If you’re not exactly sure or if one foot is larger than the other, it’s best to have your feet measured with a Brannock device. (That’s the flat metal thing with sliders that measure the length and width plus the toe-to-ball length of the foot.)

Foot shape
Next you need to know the shape of your foot. Do you have high arches? Are you flat-footed? Do you have a “normal” shape foot? (If so, you are in the minority!) Here’s a simple way to find out. As you get out of the tub or shower, or step out of a pool, take a look at the footprint you leave on the bathmat or cement. The width of your footprint will suggest the shape of your arch and the way your foot moves as you run. Generally speaking, the wider and straighter the footprint, the lower your arch is. A very narrow, curved footprint (or one in which the ball and heel are not even connected) suggests a high arch. Somewhere in between these two is that so-called “normal” foot.

Running mechanics
Foot shape is closely related to its movement as you walk or run. Typically, as your foot strikes the ground heel first, it rolls slightly inward, flattening the arch to cushion the force. This inward movement is called pronation. Next, your foot rolls slightly to the outside, stiffening up and creating a springboard that propels the next step. The outward motion is known as supination.

Many people experience different levels of these sideways motions as they run. Many over-pronate, meaning that their feet are overly flexible and roll too far to the inside. This is commonly, although not always, true of people with low arches. These folks need extra support and motion control.

Some runners supinate (more commonly referred to in the footwear world as under-pronating).  This means they run on the outside edges of their feet, which in turn don’t absorb much shock as they land. This is frequently the result of inflexible feet and high arches. The preferred shoe for this type of runner offers plenty of cushioning and flexibility. But how do you determine what sideways motion your foot makes? The answer is probably in your closet.

If you own a pair of “experienced” running shoes, check the wear pattern on the soles to see whether you over- or under-pronate or if your foot motion is normal. If the wear is centralized to the ball of the foot and a small portion of the heel, you have a normal amount of foot movement. Over-pronation is identified by wear patterns along the inside edges, while under-pronation is marked by wear along the outer edges.

Where You Run
Most trail runners have soft, grasping outsoles that wear quickly on pavement. They are perfect, however, for mountainous trails where you’ll encounter steep angles, tight turns, and areas where a soft step is followed by a hard impact. Some shoes have outsoles more suited to dry trails while others are better for mud and goop.

Groomed Trail or Fire Road—Look for good traction, cushioning and stability.

Rocky Trails—Look for good forefoot protection, toe-rand, heel counter, dual density EVA midsole, aggressive tread.

Road and Trail—Look for a shoe with extra cushioning (gel or air) combined with good traction and a stable midsole, usually with dual-density EVA foam.

Slop, Mud and Rain—Think waterproof/breathable liners, water-resistant or wicking uppers. Spandex Lycra- and Gore-Tex®-type laminates are most often seen in these shoes. Also, look for a very aggressive tread with wide-spaced lugs to shed mud. Rather than cushioning, go for stability.

Dry conditions—Moisture-wicking shoes are key. You can go with extra cushioning, but keep in mind the trail type on which you commonly run.

The Shoe That Fits
In trail shoes look for a very secure fit in the heel and arch but with a bit more room in the toe. The way you tie your shoes can help in this area—keep the laces somewhat loose at the bottom and tight at the top of the foot. Trail runners should have a high scree collar around the ankles but a low heel tab at the top of the heel—the better to run down hills. Partially curve-lasted shoes typically provide the best fit for trail running.

*** 

Wow.  If I get myself a nice trail runner, I might just show up at KOM.  

My regular road shoes survived Camaya’s trail run -  and even earned my first podium finish for me (hahaha!)  -  but that trusty NB pair, while still in good shape, is screaming that I try to look after him better, what after ending up soggy battered from the past weekend’s mad wet run. 

(Cathletic counts with her fingers)  –>  And I just realize that trusty NB is eight months old now!!  And man it’s been everywhere, literally everywhere.  Wow.  Some really trusty pair..

 

The Complainant

 

For some reason, I just don’t like 1) people who likes to complain, and 2) myself having to be in the shoe of the complainant.   I hate it, I hate it..   because I’ve long regarded complaining as a waste of energy. 

Being the peudo economist that I am, I hate wastage, of anything but moreso of time and positive energy.

It’s been more than four days since I emailed Autoreview and sent an SMS to a friend of mine who’s helping out to fix their website, about the missing results of my brother.  I got confirmation from both that it was to be acted on.  But until now, NADA.

So I patiently waited.

But yesterday my brother asked me again if his results are there yet.  (Yup, the boy is kind and sweet but don’t abuse him -  he deserves to know his official finish time for heaven’s sake!)

So I thought it won’t hurt if I call them up to ask if they have my brother’s results yet.   

So I went, “Hello, I’d just like to inquire about the missing results..”

“Oh are you Cathy?”,  the lady on the phone interrupted. 

HAHAHAHA!! 

Make no mistake about it -   It’s my first time to make a successful call on the complaint, so it’s not like I’ve been pestering them.  Apparently they read their emails are acting on my complaint, BUT rather slow. 

Autoreview guys, aside from LSD there’s what you call sprint.  Try it.

Mad Wet Running

 

Had a mad wet run last night -  lunattack it was!   One wild run yeah. 

We started the run a little past 7PM already.  Running buddies were hesitant as it had been raining heavily outside since 4 o’clock as far as I can recall. 

But if you know me, you’d know I had not one bit of hesitation in my mind.  Ever the rational thinker, what I programmed myself to do I do, come hailstorms or fires (well, except it’s really, really, badly NOT possible). 

This is one more thing that I like in running, or in sports in general -  it trains your mind to think straight and squash the emo part where it’s not needed. 

You see, addict as you may be, you must admit that overall there abound more reasons NOT to run, than to run –   things such as 1) cold morning breeze and laziness, 2) heat when it’s sunny outside, 2) wet hassles/cold when it’s raining, 3) injury, 4) dogs chasing you, 5) no nice running route nearby, 6) still-wet running shoes/ battered shoes, 7) no time, and blah-blahs.

These things are so REAL that at one defining moment in your life as a runner (naks!) you just need to admit it that in truth:   “World, I can’t find a logical reason why I run”  and why I-still-run-even-when-  it’s storming/ it’s blazing hot/my shoes are in terrible condition/I have colds now/ four dogs are chasing me (!!)/ knees are acting up/ etceteras. 

(Okay, I know I just contradicted myself several times in this post.  Rational one goes Mad Running?  All wrong.  Philo prof takes back my grade, hahaha.)

One of my training buddies would always yell at me asking if I’m up to it to continue my training, thinking I didn’t look like I was in the right mood for it.  My constant reply (yelling back) would be this:

“You don’t need moods in running.  You just do it.” 

Afterall there’s some wisdom in that Nike tagline, hehehe.   Artificial-sounding as that may seem to you, man I mean it by heart when I say ‘You just do it’.

So last night we just did it -  ran wildly amidst heavy downpour.   There were three of us MPG buddies and on our last lap, our conversation topic went, “Do you think the pasta will be ready when we get home?”   Hahaha. 

The cook was happy (or was she?).  T’was bottoms up.

Four

 

Sure sign of addiction:  

When the mere thought of being deprived of IT gives you premature withdrawal symptoms,

and when the actual experience of IT leaves you with some really bitter aftertaste worse than what you got from the blackest coffee you’ve had so far.

***

I’ve been run-less for four consecutive days.  Darn this back-t0-school mode.  (Don’t get me wrong though.  I can’t be happier to be renting a space again in the pa-geek universe, if not for the threats it puts on my running.)

Run-less for four days and it brings me to a thoughtful mood. 

I just requested to be transferred to a different class just so I don’t risk being a constant latecomer  (plus the prof there seems to have ‘a thing for a lot of things’, as my classmate put it).  

But now I think I face a bigger risk of being totally runless for FOUR consecutive days -  Every . Single . Week.

Somebody give me a paracetamol please.

Autoreview: ‘My brother is Not a.. ‘

If I may complain..  (and I tell you I’m no good at this).

Autoreview:  

My brother’s name is missing in the race results(!!).  Forgive me, I am not, and I repeat -  I am NOT, normally easily irked with discrepancies like this, except for this time. 

So yes, it’s okay to publish his finish time, it’s not a secret.  Double check your data. 

Man my bro has been bugging me what his official finish time was(!) and now that results are finally out, I remain empty-handed.  And I can only tell him, ’sorry, guess they skipped you’. 

Sorry, it’s the boy’s first race.  You can imagine an excitement level way above the normal, for him and for a doting Ate.

So I sent them an email asking them to double-check their data.  I need to confess that I said that in a bit-pissed-kinda-demanding-but-trying-to-be-nice-still tone.  Afterall, my boy isn’t really a medalist or something. 

Just plain excited for being a first-timer, and that excitement they – unfortunately -  squashed. 

Nevertheless it’s not too late.  Autoreview, gimme, please.

(BTW, the above isn’t what I emailed them.  Hahaha.  For that would be emo-much.)

Yaya to my Bro @ AutoReview Run

 

Autoreview Run

May 24, 2009.  The Fort, Taguig.

I inquired about this race only three days before the race day itself.  AutoReview run was the result of my scampering about for Manila races after learning that Daryl, my youngest brother, was coming over for a  short weekend vacay.

I initially thought of racing it too, but gave it a second thought and decided to be play the ‘Yaya’ role instead -  a running Yaya with a camera on the right hand and a towelette on the left (wahaha!, minus the towelette naman – save Cathletic’s dignity).  One of my two Kuya’s I had commissioned to be our driver for Sunday early morning.  Talk about having siblings sponsors for your race -  my brother had it all. 

 

You amaze me Nono!  Stop making pa-cute and keep your focus on the road.  Yes, don’t be like Ate.  Hehehe.

  

Fast young man surprises Ate

Saturday afternoon while chatting about his first ever 10k race the next day, my brother said he’d race it and that he’d bag home the prize.  My eyes told it all -  good enough I didn’t break into laughter -  and then I tapped his shoulder and whispered, ‘Dream on..’  (Now I don’t know if that was worse.  All I know is that he’s used to it and only laughs to my sarcastic hirits.)  As expected, he further inquired, asking why I thought it was impossible a feat for him.

To set things right, my brother isn’t used yet to race scenarios -  because there barely are any race in Bicol.  The only thing he has up his sleeves is one school homecoming fun run last December where he placed 7th overall.  But as he saw me seriously take up running as a sport, he got interested too.  These past months, he would run 10Ks on weekends, on high hopes that his Ate will tag him along in Manila races sometime this summer.

Back to our pre-race chat, I clarified to him that as normally the case in Manila races, elite runners will be around to claim their lot.  In his usual childlike manner, he funnily painted on his face a reaction of amazed disbelief.  I knew what he was thinking.  He must be telling himself, ‘You will see tomorrow Ate Bibi..’  While I, on the other hand, had this thought running at the back of my mind, ‘You will see tomorrow, young man..’

Fast forward to race day, I became an instant proud Ate.  I knew it’s a test of normalcy not to expect for my brother to land in the top 3, and I passed it.  But I didn’t expect him too to do so well as to prolly rank within the top 20 or top 30 finishers. 

As a bandit runner in that race, I took seriously two things:  1) try run long as I was scheduled for a weekend long run, and 2) take on my photog role with some tinge of competence.  I tried running the race route but as I was after getting in-action photos of my brother I would take shortcuts as needed.  Running along Lawton area I met the elite runners with the motorcylce race escorts already making their way back to the race venue.  The gap between that group and the group of runners trailing them would prolly be a 4-minute chill run for me  (read: quite a gap). 

This is when I discovered that Daryl was serious in wanting to race it.  Running towards the Heritage Park area, I didn’t expect to see him yet -  at least not yet.  I thought he should be somewhere at the upper middle of the pack, at best.  Ohwell, I was caught offguard and the next thing I did was to agitatedly take out my camera and aim it at him.  The pic above is the result -  the only decent in-action photo I managed to take of him, hehehe.

This race start area looking half-trimmed after the 5K runners left and 10K runners wait for the countdown.

And off they went -  the 10K runners.  (Hehe, it’s nice to be by the sideline sometimes and take pics like this.)

Now a 10K race finisher.  A strong one at that.

But of course, with his coach/ yaya Cathletic.

 

 Even Kuya was there to support. 

 

Post-race Scenario:  Bulalo and Swim

Sunday was destined to be a hectic day for us.  After the race, we did one round of freebies hunting (I was only successful at getting Starbucks sample, but t’was good), Daryl went on doing some stretches and I ran three laps of about 400m at the parking lot.  Yes, I was hoping I could still add on to my weekend mileage -  Haha, desperate!  Then we took a few more pics at the finish line area and then left immediately as my other Kuya is waiting for us at Clark. 

What was waiting for us at Clark?  -  this highblood- inducing bulalo and a fun swim at Fontana!! 

Huh, who ever told you that’s the best way to cap a race?!

Bulalo.  Bulalo.  Bulalo. 

At Fontana, waiting for Kuya Boboy who’s getting our tix.

Post-Swim:  I think it comes with being both the youngest siblings that we are also the most ‘pa-cute’ in the family.  Or it may be with the generation.  Our older siblings are with the ’Kodak-film’ generation;  Nono and I are with the ‘digicam’ generation, hehe.

7th Mak Challenge: Great Run, Cozy Afternoon Stroll, plus! Eerie Night Stay

Call me an eager beaver, all right. About three weeks before the race, everyone in my running team were already registered and paid (well, that was really due to the organizers’ instructions to us to get advance reservation). At that time, I was assured of having 13 people in my list. Since they all have paid already, I thought no one’s gonna dare backout anymore – Heck, you don’t go to the street and accidentally pick up stray bills summing up to P350! See there’s plenty of economic principles at work in advance reservation/ registration matters. But two in the team had had to ignore that for some really valid reasons: We missed you in the run, Brian and Nelson!

Anyway, as for the rest of us who pursued and decided to brave the Makiling hills – two thumbs up to us pips! I know you all enjoyed as much as I did. REALLY, I ENJOYED THE EXPERIENCE SO SO MUCH. (Now I’ve got plenty of superlatives to spare from my system today eh!)

The Super Eleven: From left to right: Ryan, Jihan, Dree, Cathy, Rommel, Carla, Mark, Charity, Ivy, Pao, & Francis

This out-of-town race once again affirmed the many cool and funny things that happen to backpackers and that the backpackers, themselves, are able to make happen. Some interesting real anecdotes before, during, and after the race:

Pre-run Preps. I constantly reminded the team to do their own practices as I’ve learned by experience that the race offers an unwanted pressure on the runner – eventhough you’ve already prepped yourself that you’re not really there to compete and you’ll just have fun. Come on, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s instinctive for human beings to be competitive (not necessarily in a negative way) – if not with others, at least with oneself.  This is true, at least for me. I know I cannot really win and get medals nor bring home the cash prizes.  In the races I’ve seen, the ‘real athletes’/ professional runners are always present to claim their lot in the game.  So everytime I do practice run and join races, what’s really up in my head is to outdo myself, do better than my previous run, and constantly look forward to doing even better.  In the real race we call LIFE, that’s really what matters -  to keep on believing that we can be ‘better’ and actually practicing to be ‘better’. 

Anyway -  so much for the profound thoughts! -  my constant buddy in the running practices in UP was Dree, who patiently waited for me until past 8 PM since I would be coming from my time-hungry job in Ortigas.   So we would begin circling the acad oval about 8:30PM on Thursdays then finish after a little less than an hour.  Thu is  the decided practice day because it’s supposed to be time when the Happy Feet runners would also do their practice runs -  so at the very least we can be sure there would be other runners in the vicinity even at that late a time of the day. 

But my last practice run before the race was with Cha and Pao and that was on the Friday before the weekend race.  We finished two rounds of the acad oval and Cha was constantly teasing me about my running style.  Now you don’t ask me or Cha what the style is, if you want us to remain friends.  Ha ha ha!

Backpack trip to Laguna:  Saturday came and as I rose from bed, I knew there were so many tasks lined up for me to attend to and on top of it was the fixing my backpack set.  We were supposed to leave Cubao by 1PM and ride a bus that’s gonna transport us straight to the UPLB kingdom.  I was in Cubao about 12:59PM (Pressure!  Everyone going with me were already there – Dree’s gang (Ivy, Rommel, & Mark), and the Cha&Pao tandem.  Sorry guys, I made you wait.)  So, it was the first time I met the Kalay dudes/ male friends of Dree from Kalay dorm.  

We reached the ‘College’ (that’s UPLB’s codename among the bus manongs) after about two hours.  We hired the jeepney to take us around the campus and bring us to ATI-NTC dorm (our supposed to be shelter for the night).   The dorm is located in the more foresty and secluded side of the campus.  Alright, spell secluded now.  I tell you, it really is, to the point of being eerie.  This explains my having a sleepless night before the race.  Funny to the max.  It’s true I took seriously the one of extra liquid intake and carbo loading, but heck, I didn’t get any sleep at all before the race – not even a pretending nap!  But well, I wasn’t really in bad shape for the next morning’s run.  I guess I was too excited and happy about the race to be in bad shape.  Mind over matter.

For a quick rewind, we strolled the UPLB grounds that afternoon and busied our cameras.  But before that, we put down our backpacks at our rooms in the dorm and immediately went out to take a hurried walk to catch D’tri’s carabao milk products.  We weren’t sure it would still be open when we arrive because they usually close down early on weekends; fortunately, it was.  But after we bought our stuff – two liters of choco carabao milk and the store’s last three cups of carabao milk yogurt -  the store put down its shop windows already.   Good luck was with us. ;D  

The milk-drinking sessions became semi-laugh trips because people began to joke about us getting milk overdose and suffering its aftereffects while racing the next morning.  The thought of it still makes me laugh while I type this.  Ha ha ha!

After D’tri were the leisurely walks and the many photo ops.  No doubt, we had more pre-race pics than the actual and post-race happenings.  Later that night, Mark and Ivy went out to party (Oh yes, party the night before the race!) with high school friends while Dree, Rommel, and I got treated by Roy (Dree’s MBA classmate) to LB square for some more carbo-loading and a quick drive around the campus to check the next morning’s race route.  The Carla-Francis tandem arrived past 9:30PM to join us spend the night in that eerie dorm.The Race:  More than 700 runners registered to the race and we wore really nice maroon singlets.   The race was declared an official UP centennial celebration event the week before the race.   So, I just say, Que Suerte!  The Jihan-Ryan tandem arrived around 5:30AM in the race venue.  They were with another friend, Eric, who’s also Ryan’s fratmate. 

About seven minutes past 6 AM, the gun shot was fired to signal the start of the run.  And the rest is history.  Ha ha.  We started doing our own thing and after sometime each one of us would be clueless as to where another member of the Super Eleven is:  there were too many runners and we were all busy catching our breaths and forcing our leg muscles to not-to-die-out-yet.  What with the steep uphill course!

I finished my 5K in 41 minutes, which is 7 minutes shy of my Davies race record of 34 minutes.  Good thing I could always point to my sleeplessness the previous night and the steep incline as my excuses!  Ha ha ha!  My practice running buddy Dree did better at 39 minutes.  She thought she was just gonna do a “porma” run but she actually did well -  finished first among all females in the our group who did 5K.  Burger!  Burger!

For our brave 10kers – Jihan, Ryan, Mark, Rommel, and Eric – hats off to you guys!  Did you know I was beginning to have guilt attacks while waiting for you guys at the finish line – and you took a while ha!  (Ha ha ha!  Just kidding!  I know the route was no joke; rather, it was a joke for beginners, ha ha!)

Well, I should have more stories to tell, but…   Anyway, I’ll post the pictures real soon and it should tell more stories. 

Here’s looking forward to run more races with you pips! ;D

 

 

 

MAK7 Race Record (Unofficial)

This is my team’s unofficial race record/ time of finish per category.  Mox’s record is my best guess but I am sure he’s the first one to finish among our 10Kers.

5K
Paolo           39:20:37
Dree             39:28:32
Cha              40:59:61
Cathy           41:59:64
Francis         46:43:20
Carla            51:36:66
Ivy                56:15:13

10K
Mox           1:05:46:82

Eric           1:21:46:82
Rommel     1:26:24:58
Jihan         1:38:42:10
Ryan         1:50:51:25

Rain, rain, go away! Please, will you just go away?!

I had it all prepped yesterday.  It was a Thursday – my usual run practice day.  I had my backpacks on while going to the office - never mind if I looked more like a high school kid than an office chic.   I tried pacing things faster so that I can reach Ortigas early, hence, get the license to leave the office earlier than usual in the evening.  And then…

IT RAINED!  Whatta!

I got the weather alert from She, who was supposed to be my running buddy last night.  She texted me while leaving her class in UP (and being stuck in a building because she forgot her umbrella, poor girl!) that it’s been raining hard there since 5PM.  Whatta!  I couldn’t believe what she said because I could still clearly recall how the sun shone brightly as I left the boarding house that morning.  So I quickly checked the glass windows from our 29th floor office to see if there really was any downpour outside –  I swear, staying in a high-rise building makes you less aware of the real weather outside because all you know is that there’s the air-conditioner, bright lightings, and your report deadlines are piled on your desk.    When I checked, it seemed all dry in the EDSA flyover, in the chapel down below, and things are proceeding quite normally.  Heck, it’s not raining, ano bah! 

But after 5 minutes, I peeped outside from the glass wall again and saw rather wet highways this time.  Oh man, it is raining! 

But being my optimist me, I told myself that the downpour will soon stop and I can STILL have my weekly run.  For somebody who dares brave to really strut on the racing scene, my once-a-week run is almost a joke.  Seriously, I think I should find a way to run twice or thrice a week.

Anyway, to cut the story short, when I got off from the bus at Philcoa, it was still raining, almost crazy if I had decided to push on running last night. 

So later, granting it won’t rain, I will really take a quick run, even if I’d be getting up from bed 4AM tomorrow for the GK Tarlac Build…  What a busy life!  Just as I like it. ;D

Addicted.

Certified running addict.  Now I know the symptoms of being addicted to something, beyond reason.

It was raining when I came home last Friday.   I had a run practice plan in mind and I decided that not even the rain will stop me to execute what I had planned to do.  It (the rain) already did stop me the previous day.   I cannot afford to make it too successful in messing up my regular weekly runs.  It just cannot be that way.

Amid the drizzling night sky and my wondering landlady (”what is this girl doing?  it’s raining and she’s still running?!”), I changed to my running clothes and began walking to go to UP acad oval.   On my way home from office, my usual running buddy, Dree (who was on her way to Pampanga with her Dad), already texted me that the rain was pouring rather harder and that she barely saw any jogger/ runner that night.  I swear, with this text message and the weather condition that night, I should have had more than enough excuses to not push through with my running plan that night and just opt for a longer time horizontal training (a.k.a. “sleep”).  To quote part of Dree’s SMS to me. “Cathy,… the campus is awfully quiet tonight…”  Hmm, medyo horror pa ata dating sa kin nun ah!…

But my feet and legs were itching to run.  And I just decided to give in.  By the time I got off the UP Ikot jeep, the rain had already stopped and I felt the heavens had just decided to give me a good run that night.  I finished two rounds – heck, that was 5k! – and realized that there were just about five other runners traversing the acad oval route that night.  It wasn’t exactly “awfully quiet” as there was a mini-concert infront of AS building and there were students walking along that side of the acad oval.  I suspect Dree wasn’t able to notice it as she emerged from her dorm in Sanggumay and just had to pass by the opposite side of the oval.

I tried to time my two rounds of run and I figure myself to have finished rather longer at about 40 minutes.  I wasn’t even able to sustain a continuous run routine as I hardly gasped for breath after one round.  To make things worse, I think I experienced my-first-ever-cramp-while-running (it was awfully bad!) so I didn’t have a choice but to slow down.

As I walked back home, I was filled with thoughts of how I have turned out as a certified running addict.  Upon entering my room, I immediately took out my camera and got for myself a picture in my drenched shirt and pants, and my running shoes.   ‘Eto ang adik sa takbo!

 

Whoever invented the self-timer technology in digicams is a genius for sure.

Official MAK7 Race Record, Finally.

I just came from the GK Tarlac Build this whole weekend and my mind flies to and fro the many nice memories I got from the “build experience” then to analysing the muscle pains in my right arm (which I got from lifting hollow blocks and half-filled sandbags).   I am most excited to write about it but am just glad to be distracted for the moment upon learning that the official MAK7 race record is now available, FINALLY. 

(I’ve been waiting for it last week, but was just left wondering what takes them so looong to upload it when all they needed to do was to encode the stuff.  When you try to think like an economist, you begin to die whining about how slow things are done in this country -  just when it looks too simple to quicken up the pace(!).  I hope this doesn’t sound pure whining to you; it’s reality check, plainly that.

Here’s the official MAK7 record of our team culled from http://www.macrunners.org/?nav=result5km, and http://www.macrunners.org/?nav=result10km

Pao and Cha had their own record of our individual time of finish (check Cha’s site) which showed that we were about 3 minutes faster than our records below.  They say it’s really like that in races, even if you time your run there’ll always be some discrepancy with the official records -  well, good enough the ranking in our group didn’t get messed up naman.

Haha!  I wasn’t so happy with my race performance in MAK7 but at least I made it in the first half of the 5K run finishers – ranked 219 out of 441!  You wouldn’t believe it, the minute I got my rank, I took out the calculator to compute the total number of runners I beat:  222 runners behind me!  Nyahaha!  Talk about simple joys!  ;D

10K
Rank (out of 359 runners)	Runner no.		Name		Time
102	680		Mark D.		1:08:26
215	561		Eric P.		1:21:32
254	681		Romel C.		1:26:23
316	677		Jihan O.		1:38:40
5K
Rank (out of 441 runners)	Runner no.	Name		Time
169	337	Paolo S.		0:41:21
181	334	Lyndree M.		0:42:51
211	336	Charity I.		0:44:38
191	335	(Roy*)		0:43:24
219	333	Catherine D.		0:45:18
263	339	Francis N.		0:50:11
325	332	Ivy C.		0:54:51
371	338	Ma. Carla I.		0:59:42

 

My boss got hers in 67 freakin’ minutes?!

I plan to do my first 10K run before my birthday next month.  If I should rephrase this, it’s going to sound even better -  “Cathy did her first 10K before she turns 25.”  Sounds like a milestone achievement!...  Yeah, yeah, yeah…

OCTOBER 11 is the big day, and that’s just about two weeks from now.  It shall be in the Adidas GK run at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig.  My usual running buddies – Jihan & Ryan, and Dree – won’t be around.  And the thought of it brings chills to my nerves.  Of course that’s uber exaggeration (redundant I know).   But I would have really wished these guys to be around when I do my first ever 10K. 

Dree has a surfing gimmick with Moke and Bless in Baler and it’s been scheduled months ago.  Ryan and Jihan will be out of town somewhere in the North to attend a wedding.  I know I cannot demand from them to cancel these trips.  But this morning I caught myself texting them, “Are you guys pushing through?  I want you to be there cheering me on in my first 10 K in Adidas run…blah, blah“   

Never mind.  I’m sure they’ll be cheering for me, in spirit – okay, does that really help?  Ha ha ha!  I would have wanted them handing me a Gatorade drink at the finish line or getting a nice pic-in-action for me. 

  “How do I sprint my way to finishing my first 10K in less than 2 hours?…”

Good heavens, my boss will be there and right this early, she told me she’ll cheer me on in my first 10K.  This morning, I asked how she did the past weekend’s PMI run in UP Diliman.  Spell “pressure” now – she finished her 10K run in 67 freakin’ minutes!  WHAAAAAATTTTTT????!!!!!

Oh God, I don’t want a two-hour record for my first 10K pleasee…

Some Firsts. (Sports version)

I usually update my Multiply site with blogs on any what-have-you’s that I thought worth discussing, or expressing, at the given moment.  As I thought of writing this, I recalled one blog I posted there in my site entitled “Some Firsts” that was more of an enumeration of my first-time-to-do-this-or-have-this-blah-blahs.

This shall be the “sports version” of that post.  Some firsts in my life as a newbie runner and some first trials of playing a new sport.

#1  My first race bib:  The 5K Davies Paint Unity Run at the Fort.

 

I am glad that my first ever race bib is one with of a sturdy material, which was just right as the race’s sponsor was Davies paint.  When you put this side by side my MAK7 race bib, the latter looked like a rag that’s been useful for over a year it deserves to take the trashcan-rest.

 

#2  My first race singlet:  The 2008 7th Annual Makiling Challenge in UPLB, Laguna.

 

The Davies Paint race was sorta small time that they didn’t even give out race singlets to the paricipating runners.  The MAK7 was a race of bigger proportion attracting runners and sports enthusiasts from Manila and other neighboring towns.  There were over 800 runners who registered in the race and the pros were there to grab the event medals.  This singlet, I love so much.  Aside from the UP@100 marks in the shirt, the maroon color stirs up the UP fire in me. 

 

#3  My first personally-acquired running shoes:  A New Balance 434

Being the pennysaver type that I am, I bought a running shoes (my first ever personal acquisition of a rubber shoes as all my previous shoes were gifts or hand-me-downs from my sister in the States) only when my currently-replaced pair has proven to be too weary, harassed, and ashamed to be on the street.  That pair fell apart one Sunday morning while Dree and I were running in UP.  The turnout was too bad – the shoes’ sole almost completely separated from its body -  my face almost turned red to purplish in shame.  I immediately called up Dree and told her I had stopped because of the ‘emergency situation’.  She came laughing, and upfront she told me, “Cathy, don’t you repair that again – you need a new pair na!”  I bet Dree and my shoes understood each other better.

The item #4 should have been my first beach volleyball game, or pseudo game if you’d like to be more technical about it, he he he!  The only problem is that I cannot find the pic now.  I’ll update this list sometime soon.

 

Philo & Sports

Allow me to do a little philosophy here.  One of the very few things I learned from the Philo 1 class in college is that,

While a=b, it is not necessary that b=a, so that it’s possible that b is NOT = a.

Now you say, ‘how can she afford to be talking of too many nonsense stuff in a post?’

Anyhoo, I just realized yesterday that,

While SPORTS is for EVERYONE, NOT EVERYONE is for SPORTS.   

In my office, the only ones I know to be really sporty are the bosses -  my own boss who is an AVP, the other VPs, and the CEO.   My lady boss has been bugging me to join their Sunday runs in UP.  I feel that I don’t like to.  They’re not my age group.  He he he.  Because sports, like running, is largely a social activity too, we are always gonna talk (chat big time!) during these running sessions.  I am sure I will not be able to relate to their generation’s concerns.  Not that I don’t want to.  But my parents will share more laugh trips with them for sure.

Going back to ‘not everyone is for sports’… I am about to give up now encouraging a few friends in the office to also try doing sports.  They’re just not for it.  I bet you’ll have to lure them of daily free lunches for a whole week before they agree to play volleyball with you or join an upcoming race.  Sometimes, you just wanna think, come on man, it’s for your own sake – so that you’ll get used to a healthier lifestyle!  But you don’t decide for them. 

“Don’t bug me, Cathy.  You see, I’ve already ran miles… in my dreams…”

I’ve given up asking my bestfriend to join me in practice runs and in races.  She laughs it out and says, “Are you kidding?” when she knows I wasn’t.  Turnout is pretty good, I’ve made new friends who are also sports addicts like me.  The process has become simpler and neater.  You tell them, “let’s go do practice run tonight!”, and they reply, “okay, what time?”

I am not really a fan of homogeneity but somehow, sometimes, this stuff makes some things in the world a whole lot simpler.

How my upcoming first 10K affects me…

Real bad!

I am nervous to do it.

I plan my running practice days more carefully – and more seriously – these days.

I will have to do more long runs these days.

I promise to have a better horizontal training (a.k.a. sleep) set-up from now on.

I will have to forego my supposed – Bicol visit/ vacation next weekend to be able to practice more. (But of course there are other reasons, a.k.a. “excuses”)

I have been bugging my running buddies to at least help me do the long run practices as they won’t be around in the actual race (silent ‘hmp!).

But for now…

I will just write more about these tensions and try my best to stay calm. 

EXAG ako minsan sa reaction noh!  I get like this when it comes to personal sports goals in life…

Fully loaded October.

October is always a special month for me.  It takes not much neurons dying to guess why.  October is my birthday month.  Sometimes we just can’t avoid being egotistic, even in our choice of ‘favorite months’ of the year…

Now that I’m into running – and I hope running is also into me (!) – this year’s October will take on an even more special meaning:  IT SHALL BE A RACE-LIKE-CRAZY MONTH for me, granting that all my race plans push through.

Here’s the race plan/ wishlist:

OCT  11 -   Adidas KOTR (King of the Road) – GK Run @ Fort Bonifacio  (if all things shall go well, this will be my introduction race to the 10K category, and I’m all eager to get this promotion)

OCT  19 – Botak Paa-bilisan 10K Road Race  @ Global City

OCT  26  -  OctobeRUN Festival 3k/5k/10k, also at The Fort

These are three consecutive weekends.  So it’s easy to guess what one does in between those weekends.  Anything, except run!  Of course I should be kidding.  Come November, a-now-defunct cartoon character would have become my new idol:  Roadrunner.  Do you even know who the heck Roadrunner is?…

MPG Singlet: Soon to be launched!

This is what happens to someone when she thinks she’d better be out running somewhere instead of trying so hard to analyze company performance data (as at the back of her mind something shouts, “We can’t beat Globe and Smart!  Ano bah!!!)  Actually the CEO’s not that stupid naman to think that we will, at least not yet.

To be out in the market soon:  (And the market size is just about 11 newbie runners, hahahaha!)

… the most gorgeous thing in town!

I know I have plenty of explanations to do.  But I’ll reserve that for my next post.  I’ve just written too many things today.  And the last statement is writing down what’s too obvious.  Harhar!

Running shoes and High-heeled shoes.

I just discovered today one of my strange quirks as a newbie runner.

I am a very feminine runner. 

After coming from a practice run and parking my running shoes, I would decide to wear a high-heeled shoes to work.  I would feel a strange assertion of my femininity after sweating it out on the street trying to mimic the strength of a man’s legs while armed with that boyish running shoes.   

Today, I had my first ever weekday morning run in UP (on weekdays, I usually run late nights).  Now, I am wearing high-heeled sandals to work.  The tito and tita in the boarding house could not help but air their side-comments, seeing me already tall but still wearing tall shoes.  Tito said, “Alam mo malaki din ang kita sa pagmo-model, subukan mo nga…”  And Tita seconded, “Oo nga, yung mga ganyan kapayat, di ba dapat model?”

I didn’t react anymore.  I don’t know how to reply to that.  ;D  Sige na nga, model na lang ng high-heeled running shoes?  Wahahahaha!

Dear Santa, I want this GARMIN Forerunner 50 as birthday & pre-X’mas gift!

I want this.  I want this.  I want this.

                    Dear garminforerunner50, I’m dreaming of you tonight. 

I’ve been looking for a sports device to help me in my run trainings.  Most of the time, our PR monitoring of our practice runs become pure guesswork.  “We’ve covered two rounds of Acad oval…  that’s 5K … great we’ve done 5K … right, we’ve already done 5K … how many minutes?… roughly 35… or 38… 40…”   It’s comfortable to guess.  Because in guessing it’s even more convenient to polish your PR and make it appear like you did well, when you didn’t. 

Somewhere I’ve read (and heard too) that 2 rounds in UP acad oval makes a 5K distance; somewhere I’ve read it doesn’t, just about 4.4K.  Which is which?…  This gadget shall solve my problem.  And the bonus is, I like its looks – humble and suave lang.  Not too catchy to the eye.  And a plus!  Perhaps because it’s not GPS, its price doesn’t scream too loudly at $99, that makes around P4,650 (assuming Forex rate at P47/$). 

For the serious part, here’s the device’s features:  (from https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=10527#)

Jump start your training with Forerunner 50. This sleek sport watch is ideal for running, cycling¹ and other fitness activities, and is available with a wireless heart rate monitor or foot pod or both. Plus it automatically transmits workouts to your computer so you can analyze, store and share data using our online community, Garmin Connect™.

Get the Data You Need

Train inside or outdoors. The affordable Forerunner 50 provides you with instant workout data including training time, pace, distance, lap pace, lap time, lap distance, average and best pace, calories, maximum and average heart rate.² It also records both lap and detailed data. Available in 3 different versions (see versions tab), Forerunner 50 comes bundled with different accessories to help you track your progress for whatever moves you.

Listen to Your Heart

Forerunner 50 with wireless heart rate effectively tracks and records your heart rate while you work out, providing instant feedback about how hard your heart is working. The included digital heart rate monitor continuously tracks heart beats per minute which is wirelessly transmitted to the Forerunner 50. Even train in a certain heart rate zone to improve your fitness level. And well after your workout is done, Forerunner 50 is still working, wirelessly transmitting your training data to your PC.

Measure Speed and Distance

Forerunner 50 packaged with Garmin’s wireless foot pod lets you track your running speed, distance and calories burned while on the treadmill or pavement. Just snap the foot pod into a clip on your shoe laces, and it’s ready to send data to Forerunner 50 as soon as you start moving. After your workout, Forerunner 50 automatically transfers your data to your computer when within range.

Track Your Ride

When paired with an optional speed/cadence sensor, Forerunner 50 tracks the speed and distance of your cycling workouts. The wireless speed/cadence sensor attaches securely to your bike and measures your pedaling cadence and wheel speed as you ride. You can even use it to train indoors because the sensor attaches to your rear wheel.

Run, Sync, Store and Share

You’ve logged the miles and now you want to store them. With Garmin’s innovative optional ANT+™ wireless technology, your workouts are automatically transferred to your computer when your device is within range. No cables, no hookups. The data’s just there, ready for you to analyze, categorize and share through our online community, Garmin Connect, or our Garmin Training Center® software.

¹Bike mount and speed/cadence sensor are available as optional accessories”

 

Haay, find me Santa please…

The THICK line between ‘jogging’ and ‘running’.

A good friend and I was in a sort of SMS marathon one afternoon.  He said, “uy, hobby mo pala talaga ang jogging…”

I knew he meant that comment well.  And whichever angle you look at it -  even minus the fact that I find my running pace slower than what I would have wanted it to be -  there seems to be nothing wrong with the comment.

But I beg to disagree.  And that’s because ‘maangas ako’.  Heck, I can’t find any valid reason to add to that! 

THERE LIES A THICK LINE BETWEEN ‘JOGGING’ AND ‘RUNNING’.   And I say this when everyone else would think otherwise, which is just right.

See, most of runners start from being joggers.  And to this I raise my hand bravely as being one of them.  Yes, I call myself a ‘runner’.  Wala lang ule, angas lang…  If there are stories of runners ending up as joggers, they must have been those who unfortunately injured their ankles and knees really badly that they had needed to be demoted – just kidding, folks!

I started as a jogger so I know what difference it made in me when I became, which is also my current status now, a newbie runner. 

Jogging is aimless, for the most part; running is complicated it makes you a complicated person.   In jogging…

you don’t time your runs,

you never compute your speed,

you don’t research about running techniques and running shoes technology, 

you don’t feel as much pressure to buy good quality running gear,

you don’t need to carefully plan your run trainings shifting from short runs and long runs alternately (and you don’t even need to know the difference!),

and most of all - 

YOU DON’T NEED TO WAKE UP 4 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING JUST TO JOIN A RACE! 

In jogging, all you have in mind is to get to the bouncing motion while advancing in distance – however, whichever, whenever –  and sweat out those excess fats from the body. 

Now I know plenty of joggers are gonna hate me from now on.  Whew!

Building my PR database.

I should be ashamed to show this.  But there’s nothing better than sincerity.

I have just decided to keep track of my personal record (PR).  ‘Thought of starting with my race baptism last Aug. 3 in the Davies run even if I surely have ran a few times before that running event as prep.  What’s consistent in all of these is that I average on finishing a 5K run in 40 minutes.  That doesn’t distinguish me far from the joggers society of the world.  Then again I have the nerve to join races while they don’t.  Bwahahaha!  ;D

TIME	DATE	DURATION	DIST       (KM)	RACE/ LOCATION	TOTAL (KM)
6:00 AM	AUG-03-2008	34:00:00	5.0	DAVIES 5K UNITY RUN, THE FORT	5.0
8:20 PM	AUG-28-2008	41:00:00	4.4	UP ACAD OVAL	9.4
8:35 PM	SEP-04-2008	38:00:00	4.4	UP ACAD OVAL	13.8
9:05 PM	SEP-12-2008	42:00:00	4.4	UP ACAD OVAL	18.2
6:00 AM	SEP-14-2008	45:00:00	5.0	MAKILING CHALLENGE 7	23.2
8:45 PM	SEP-19-2008	38:00:00	4.4	UP ACAD OVAL	27.6
5:25 AM	SEP-20-2008	85:00:00	10.0	UP ACAD OVAL	37.6
5:42 AM	SEP-22-2008	36:00:00	4.0	UP ACAD OVAL	41.6

Down with those side-stitches!

I had a bad run last Friday morning.  Today, I already finished running a 4K distance before I read a sign that something was coming up again to make my otherwise-good-run this morning a bad one.

SIDE-STITCHES!!!

I don’t know if it’s a runners jargon, but my guess is that it is.  I only got familiar of the term after about two months of being a newbie runner.  So my best guess is that it is.

It’s the bad, bad thing that aches right down on your stomach –  left or right but mostly right -  on that part of the abdomen just below the rib cage.  It’s one of the pains in running that can hit you really bad sometimes you get no other option but to slow down and walk - or worse, decide to call it a day and head home.

It’s been bothering me for sometime now so I’ve been devoting some minutes everyday researching about it over the net.  It turns out to be a common problem especially among newbies in running.  I am not alone in this dilemma.  As if that was supposed to console me.  Nah!

I’d like to share this link which to me has proven to be the best read in terms of understanding the side-stitches problem in runners: http://www.makeithappen.com/wis/readings/sidest.html  The problem is tackled and the solution demonstrated in a rather simple and clear cut way.  DO CHECK THIS OUT AND GET YOURSELF A BETTER RUN -  DOWN WITH SIDE-STITCHES!!!

Registered. No backing out now for my first 10K in Adidas KOTR!

Called up Podium to ask if they still have race bibs for 10K and medium-size singlets for women.  NONE.  Asked when the next deliveries are coming.  THEY HAVE NO IDEA.

Oh, forget Podium now, Cathy!  They’re not much of a help to you now, at least now.

Called up Adidas in SM Megmall.  LUCK FLASHES A SMILE ON ME!  They have 10K race bibs and medium-size singlets for women.  The saleslady on the phone added, “wala na pong small for women…”  And I thought, OK lang, ang liit na kaya ng medium-size nyo, ga’no pa ba ka-small yang small na yan…

Rushed to get an FX to bring me to Megamall.  Found Adidas and saw a couple of other runners – in office attires though – registering for their groups.  One guy had over 12 names in his list.  I thought to myself, it’s gonna be a huge race… plenty of ‘yayaans’ among office people, I noticed everyone in his list are doing just 5K.

I thought I’d be be waiting in line for a long time since the girl ahead of me was also registering for her officemates.  Good thing she decided to take lunch first and just come back after getting her stomach fill.  So I was promoted to second in the line.  After two minutes, it became my turn to claim my race bib and get my singlet.  Haaay!  FINALLY.

I so like my Adidas singlet.  This shall be my promotion running gear on the 11th.  So how can I not love it?

When the weather destroys it all… (Part 1)

Sentiments rolling in the mind by 10:48 AM.  Stormy Wednesday Holiday in Manila.

We were supposed to do trail running this morning at the La Mesa Eco Park.  I was excited like what.  I carbo-loaded the day before and this early morning when I woke up.  I skipped coffee (almost a mortal sin for me!  haha!) and just drank plenty of water to match the slices of bread I consumed this morning in fear of coffee causing me to be dehydrated during the run.  I even recall excitedly preparing my outfit the night before -  a white fitted shirt plus the Adidas KOTR singlet on top of it, and a white running shorts.  I should look squeaky clean with it!, so I thought.

Dree broke into pieces my trail running dream  with this text, “Cathy, Romel texted asking kung tuloy pa tayo… umuulan kasi daw sa kanila.. I told him na di na nga siguro so he’s in Bulacan now…”  I replied, “Ha?  But it’s not raining here, tuloy tayo…”  After that SMS, I heard a weird sound from outside my bedroom window.  It just began drizzling outside.  To cut the story short, our plan of trail running did not materialize.  Shame on you, rain! 

I later learned from my landlady that Manila was, in fact, on a signal no. 2 storm alert today.  Whew!  How can I be so clueless about weather news sometimes? 

So the next best thing -  when the weather corrupts your training plan -  is to resort to horizontal training (a.k.a. “sleep”), the power of which one should never underestimate.  So I went back to bed at 6:10 AM and finished my horizontal training at around 10:25 AM.  That was plenty of training already, for an otherwise hardworking runner who was obliged to be lazy on her training day because of the weather.

Oh, when the weather destroys it all…  Then again, I’d be gladly stepping outside today the very moment the rain stops.  I even thought of getting my self a raincoat, AND WEAR IT WHILE RUNNING, to adjust to rainy days like today.  By the way, I just forget it’s not just a rainy day today; a  stormy day even.

When the weather [CANNOT] destroy it all… Part 2

Sentiments zigzagging the mind, 11:29 of Oct 2.  The morning after the stormy braveheart run yesterday.

Today, I got surprised seeing plenty of e-mail exchanges in the MPG runners’ thread about the Running Aid3 workshops.  Actually, Carla, Jihan, Dree, & Cha (the core group of MPG runners) were talking of several different things other than Running Aid3 -  topics like plans on doing rock climbing to selling her climbing shoes at ebay, to getting news if the group pushed through with the trail running plan at La Mesa, to teasing each one if we were indeed just MPGs or ” Hardcore” now…  and to rumors like this:  

Dree:  “ I spoke too soon, no one’s/nothing’s stopping Cathy.  She ran around lunch time today under the rains.  Iba talaga powers ni El Presidente.  “    (Oct. 1, 4:40PM)

But of course that wasn’t a rumor!  Truth is, I just didn’t have any idea my running buddies were already talking about my loony run yesterday in e-mails. 

I had a loony run yesterday.  I told a friend in SMS, “you know there are always weird things in UP everyday; today I decided to be that” when he got pretty shocked about my running despite the rain.  My running buddy, Dree, could not stop laughing at my budding running addiction (I wonder though if it’s still ‘budding’ as it almost seems to be on its greatest heights now, hahahaha!), and I’m beginning to wonder if she’s finding me the bizarre type already.  That cannot be!  I still need Dree for my pseudo locker room benefits whenever I do my evening runs in UP!!!  (Just kidding, Dree.  ;D  You know just how glad am I to find somebody who’s so easy to drag in practice runs and races!  And you’re one of my best buddies on earth, Ms Dree!)

Anyway, for a short recap of my braveheart a.k.a. loony run yesterday:

*  The day won’t end with me defeated.  Woke up for the second time at 10:25, did more carbo-loading (this time I finished the whole loaf of bread ) and drank more water.  I figured the rain was going to get tired anytime soon so I should be ready to step out and get a quick run despite the drizzling skies.  After 10 minutes of eating, scanning TV channels, and chitchatting with my housemates about the typhoon, I got my clothes ready and texted Dree, “Get ready.  We’re running.  I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”  That sounded more like a military order, I know. 

*  Lone runner too.  Aside from being a loony runner, I, too had to be a lonerunner yesterday.  Dree had to cope with her hassle-of-femininity-cycle and could not run.  But I had to drop by her dorm to get my pseudo locker benefits.  Let’s say some people are just really kindly to me, hahahaha! 

*  Scandal begins.  When I began my run, it was around 12:25PM, the rain poured a rather little harder it couldn’t be called drizzle anymore.  Some people began staring at me.  There’s a crazy girl over there running under this downpour!  What did I care, I was in my nice new Adidas singlet for the KOTR race -  I was invincible!  Bwahahaha!   

*  Confined to Acad Oval, for now.  I had previously planned of trying a different route in the campus.  Hmm, medyo nasusuka na kasi ako sa Oval ngayon… I run there every other morning I want a different scenery this time!  But with the course of events yesterday, I changed my mind and opted to circle the oval again.  Taking the other routes I had in mind would mean meeting along more cars and jeepneys on the road while running.  Heck!  The fact that I was running on a stormy day was scandalous enough I wouldn’t possibly desire to attract more audience!

*  Happy but Heavy Feet.  I finished one round of the oval and my feet began feeling heavy when I reached Vargas museum.  My running shoes has a breathing technology on the front side which is tantamount to saying it’s ultra porous when it’s raining.  I felt like I was helping heap up water from the streets with the amount if water that got into my shoes!  After one lap, my feet became all heavy I had to stop running and began walking instead.  Upon reaching Oble, the loony runner in me struck again and I suddenly decided to try the U Ave. route, then crossing to ISSI, passing by gym, university theater, then back to the oval. 

*  Search for the Stairs.  The reason why I had to go back to the acad oval was not to run some more.  I wanted to do the stairs workout, either at AS steps or Eng’g steps.  Good thing I even had two options with these twin-looking buildings.  I thought I should go for Eng’g as there were still students in AS, yes, even on a stormy day like yesterday!  When I reached Eng’g, it looked perfect as there was literally no one around but a red car temporarily parked infront of the steps with its machine on, obviously waiting for someone.  I walked slowly to be sure it would have left the Eng’g steps by the time I approach the area.  The red car wouldn’t leave.  I waited some more but it wouldn’t.  Hmp!  So I crossed to AS thru the Beta walkway that was supposed to be scary to traverse except for the fact that there was another girl walking ahead of me on the path.  When I reached AS steps, I realized I would have a different set of audience for my stairs workout.  The As front was under renovation and there were Manongs everywehere!  Hay naku! 

*  Panhik-panahog, finally!  So I crossed back to Eng’g thru Beta way and this time I ran;  I sprinted, actually.  The red car was still there when I was approaching the steps but I saw a girl with umbrella hopping into the car.  I muttered, she must be it!,  the person they were waiting for… okay red car, take your leave now and let me do my stairs workout in peace, oh pleasssse!   True enough, the red car left and I eagerly began my up-and-down traversing of the stairs.  I finished 20 sets (1 set consist of one all-up and one all-down) in about 2 minutes and I realized I was gasping for breath like I just finished two laps of the oval.  I think it’s an effective workout.  I felt something tingling at the back of my legs while walking back to Dree’s dorm to get my things.  I want that feeling I think I’ll do more stairs workout from now on. 

*  Roaming photogs bother me!  By the way, there was also this funny incident while I was doing my stairs workout on Eng’g steps.  On about my 12th set, I saw two guys passing by Eng’g building armed with an umbrella and, SLR cameras!  As I had feared, the guy holding the SLR camera began aiming his shot on me while I was doing the “panik-panahog” exercise on the stairs.  Gosh!  The world won’t leave me alone in this loony run and workout!  I changed my angle so that from his view I’d be blocked by the bushes bordering the right side of the steps.  I guess they noticed I was trying to hide from their view so after about 3 minutes, they left.  Had they been successful in immortalizing my loony attack that day through pictures, I wouldn’t really know… 

*  Any craze has an end too.  At 1:34 I was back in Sanggumay dorm and Dree greeted me with an excited face, perhaps all too curious of hwow things turned out for me.  I told her stories of my loony run that day.  When I arrived home, it was already past 2 o’clock and after changing to dry clothes, I went straight to the kitchen and declared a foodfest to myself.  I finished one entire serving of Hawaiian chicken, one full serving of sauteed ampalaya, and one cup of rice.  After finishing a good run, I stuff my belly with the appetite of a carpenter!  And I know there’s no reason to be guilty as I just splattered my sweat all over the streets.  ;D

The foodfest though had to be quick as I had another appointment by 4PM yesterday – an outreach to a drug users rehab in Bicutan.  This was unexpectedly another adventurous streak for the day.  We rode atop an open truck from QC to Bicutan – amidst the winds, the drizzling sky, and the pollutions! 

Life is like riding an open truck.  You never know what sky has to offer you for the day.  Ride it in good cheer anyhoo.  ;D 

Vanity, vanity, vanity: Photo-op w/ Adidas KOTR singlet

Here’s sports vanity personified.  Haha.  Just too excited trying out my singlets.

Missed run.

I had planned to go to bed early last night, because I was scheduled to run this morning.  Go to bed early, I did.  The problem is, going to bed early is, in actuality, really different from sleeping early. 

I tossed and turned like crazy, but I couldn’t sleep.  After an hour and a half of doing just that, I decided I shall skip running the next day.  Never in my dreams did I plan of becoming a sleep-deprived runner.  That is just so unhealthy.  Really unhealthy.

Not being able to sleep when you badly want to already is like having a fractured ankle when the legs are itching to run.  What was it I was thinking about last night?  Hmm, I want better sleeping nights in the coming days, definitely.

Runner. Washer.

Last night after having dinner, I found myself in the laundry area at the back of the house doing what else but WASH CLOTHES.  And what clothes?  RUNNING CLOTHES. 

Becoming a runner [even the newbie that I am] also translates to becoming a hardworking washer, or laundrywoman, or whatsoever you call it as long as the acts gets done -  that is, have your running clothes washed, dried, and ready before your next schedule of practice run.

I realized my running shirts and shorts would soon be (they already are, actually) the most battered set of clothes in my closet.  These garments will have to go through the entire process of :   getting soaked in my sweat :  pre-soaked in water :  washed :  dried :  just to be worn and sweated again AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK.   I know it’s much stress for the fabric, but I guess that is the purpose of their existence. 

On my part, I am also just beginning to cope with having to visit the laundry area every three days to wash my running clothes.  ;D

OCT4: Sat Long Run & Stroll

Running brings you just anywhere.  And that’s literally.

It was Cha and Pao’s turn to accompany me in the long run practice last Saturday.  Yes, it almost sounds like it’r something the MPG runners need to comply with – to help me practice.  Guys, that’s what you get for choosing to leave me alone in the Adidas KOTR when I’m beginning to dread (excited at the same time, actually) my first 10K! 

Before they arrived in UP, I already finished around 3K of continuous run around the oval.  I told them beforehand that I wanted to take a different route around the campus.  Cha and Pao were in no way disagreeing with me.  They must have thought all the time, Cathy needs this practice so let’s leave it to her to decide where to run, what pace, and when.   I had thought this as these two kept on telling me, whenever I’d run fast and then stop to wait for them, that I should just push forward and don’t mind waiting for them as I badly needed that training.  Later on in the run, the opposite of this would take place.  I’d be lagging behind, even bargainining for a shorter distance, and complaining of being dehydrated.  Nyarks!  Nakakahiya ako… 

Anyway, we did take on a different running route around the campus – passing by Law, then Arcade, Shopping Center, Kalay dorm, turning right after Molave dorm, passing by Film Center, University Theater, and then, STOP!  Cathy declares truce with her dry throat.   I called up Pao to slow down and that I thought we should go back to oval as I badly needed a drink.  To cut the story the story short, we had a water break, resumed running around the oval again, and suddenly Pao suggested we should go to QC circle.  Cha readily agreed.  I was already tired but I delighted in the idea of running the U Ave. stretch and discovering what’s in QC circle. 

Yes, weird as it may sound to you, I’ve been in Diliman for over eight years now but I haven’t really gone inside QC circle to explore it.  The only time I was there was to have a lunchout with friends but, by car.  So as you would have suspected for sure, I wasn’t able to see anything but the Serye side of the QC circle.   The tall white structure in its center has remained a mystery for me all these years -  until last Saturday when I was able to see it uplcose. 

Anyway, the run/walk to QC circle became more of a leisurely sightseeing session for us.  And did I have so many new discoveries (!) which we were able to document through our camera phones.  A friend of mine, who I met with in the afternoon of the same day, asked – ‘So you bring cameras with you whenever you run?’  I replied, ‘Ay, hindi naman, we bring our phones for its comm and music functions, and incidentally it has a camera too!’  Did she really think this running hobby of ours was all about vanity!  Well, she almost got it right 10%, hahahaha!

Some photos from our QC circle invasion: (BTW, I just discovered that the pics actually grow big when you click, or double-click on it, hehe, I don’t know know now which one it is.)

Nah!  Parang namasyal lang o!  (This is the last pic we took.  It was about 10AM already.  Such a long run.  Hehe.)

There’s an underpass going to Quezon City Circle!  Never had I thought, really.

And there’s even a museum underneath that tall white marble structure at the center of QC circle!  (Note: Taking pics are prohibited inside the museum and Pao was the only law abider type among us.  So ayan, lugi s’ya samin ni Cha, hahaha!)

Do you have an idea just how handsome this Quezon man is?… 

A-la-’invincible’ pose at the QC City Hall to QC Circle underpass.  And yes, to the manong guard’s perplexed face, we kept on taking pictures that the actual crossing time of the underpass took us more than 5 minutes!  Hahaha!

Things looked forward to this week.

The main highlight is obviously the Adidas KOTR race on the 11th, SATURDAY. 

Nothing beats the excitement, the anxiety, and a sort of happy fear – with my first ever entry to the 10K category in a race event.

Before that climax are a series of prep events:

*  MONDAY -  Had a quick run with Dree last night.  It was drizzling a bit when I arrived in UP, but all throughout the run, the evening sky was quite friendly.  I figured that last night was supposed to be my second to the last practice run before Saturday.

*  TUESDAY -  Today will be a rest day for me as I need to be in the CLP seminar to support my SFC family.  Also a semi-laundry night, to wash a few pieces of my running clothes.

*  WEDNESDAY – To do a practice run in Ultra.  And I cannot be more excited to try it there!  For one, I had never been there before.  And NEW is always exciting!

*  THURSDAY – To attend Running Aid 3 workshop by Pinoy Ultra Runners in Makati.  This one I think I will benefit from, a lot.  And I’m raring to see other runners’ faces in the workshop. 

*  FRIDAY -  As should be, it is a carbo-loading and rest day for me, to be prepped for the next day’s race.  Do I need to state that it might also turn out to be a high-anxiety day for me?  Kabug! kabug! kabug!

Now I should get back to serious work as seeing how busy this week shall be already stresses me out in part.  Hahaha!

Another ‘MUST SHARE’: Race Mistakes to Avoid

This is culled from Runners World  (check:  http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-380-381–11941-0,00.html) and is a certified good and useful read. 

Look–and run–like a road-racing vet by avoiding these three common newbie mistakes

By Kristen Wolfe Bieler

PUBLISHED 06/08/2007

Mistake: Too fast, too soon
“Most first-time racers go out too fast and are miserable by the second mile,” says women’s running coach Jane Serues. Even veteran runners get caught up in the race-day enthusiasm–and other faster racers.

Easy Fix:
“Start out at a comfortable pace,” says Serues, “a pace where you’re not killing yourself and can still converse with deep breaths in between sentences. No huffing and puffing.” Then try to run each mile just a little bit faster, so that your last mile is the fastest. “A strong finish leaves a better taste in your mouth than a great first mile with a cross-eyed finish,” says Chris Carmichael of Carmichael Training Systems.

Mistake: Too much food
RW columnist Jeff Galloway says many first-timers eat too much before a race, particularly the night before. Carmichael agrees. “You don’t need to carbo-load for a 5-K,” he says. Most people have enough stored energy in their bodies to run a 5-K without taking in any additional calories.

Easy Fix:
“Eat less than normal before the race,” says Serues. Try small meals the day before, and something as simple as a banana and a glass of skim milk on race morning. “The key is choosing something easy to digest,” says Serues. “Not ham and eggs, which your body has to work hard to break down.”

Mistake: Too little warmup/cooldown
Your body needs to warm up properly before it can run well at the higher intensity required to race a 5-K. And a postrace cooldown helps you recover more quickly so that you’ll feel better the day after the race.

Easy Fix:
Include a 15-minute warmup before the race, and a 15-minute cooldown afterward, says Carmichael. For both, mix walking and jogging to help ease into and out of your race pace

It’s a Date! Running Aid3 on Oct 9

I SHALL HAVE TO BE HERE. 

click on the image for larger view 

 

Running Aid 3
Beginners Guide to Injury-free Running
October 9, 2008, 7:30pm
R.O.X. Fort Bonifacio High Street

Running Form and Technique Demonstration
  Neville Manaois, Pinoy Ultra Runner, Team Principal
  Dr.Paolo Punsalan, Orthopedic Surgeon

Treadmills will be provided as they demostrate the different running techniques and forms as well as other running essentials.  Best of all, admission is FREE.

Register by sending an email to Pinoyultrarunners@yahoo.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or rox.cs@primergrp.com. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   You can also register in person at R.O.X..

This is in cooperation with R.O.X., Pocari Sweat, Chris Sports and The North Face.

Visit www.pinoyultrarunners.multiply.com for additional info and updates.

ULTRA Tonight. Sounds like news, hahaha!

Do you know what are the things that make me go to the office unusually early?

*  One.  When I have to go to Bicol later in the evening and I bring all my travel stuff to office so that I would directly proceed to the terminal after work.

*  Two.  When I have to go out-of-town with friends during the weekend and we start the vacation mode early by leaving Manila Friday night.

*  Three, and the most prevalent among them all THESE DAYS.   When I have a practice run after work. 

TODAY’s unusually early time-in to work by Cathletic falls under Category 3.  Today is my first ever practice run in Ultra.  I cannot be more excited.  I don’t know what’s in there and how things go there.  And NEW is always EXCITING! 

I am so excited I even brought a camera with me today.  And my bestfriend is coming – or running (?) – along with us, for the first time.

First time in Ultra.

It was my first time to ever see Ultra’s open field and run in its track oval.  The only time I went to the same location was to catch a UAAP game so all I know about it is its indoor sports coliseum.  Anyway, I was mesmerized by Ultra Open Field’s charm.  It’s nicer than I previously thought, given that the government runs it.  Okay, am I bad in trying to call a spade a spade!

The track is so runner-friendly, which explains why the place is actually a common noun among running enthusiasts in Manila.  Last night, I was with Dree, Bless, Cha, and Pao – all first timers in Ultra! – doing a practice run from 8PM to 9PM.  There were other groups of runners around who I think came much earlier than us.  All in all, we could sum to around 50 people sharing the track oval.

For a first timer like me, Ultra was a pleasant and comfy run.  Side by side UP’s acad oval, my UP runs would always possess more challenging elements in it -  ground is more uneven, there are plenty of cars and passersby along the track, it’s not well-lit in the evening so sometimes you also begin to scare your self with campus crime dramas,  there could be catterpillars and what-have-you’s falling from the trees, etcetera, etceteta…

Anyway, we finished off our Ultra run with a nice fun dinner at Mcdo in Ortigas.  I am a clumsy creature.  The strawberry milkshake that Bless and I were drooling over, I accidentally spilled, to the whole Mcdo environ’s surprise!  Clumsy me!!!  Anyway, they were gracious enough to replace it.  Hmm, customer service. ;D

Promoted! First 10K race @ Adidas KOTR

 “Guys I survived it!  Unofficial time of 73 minutes for my first ever 10K!  Thanks for helping me practice, and for the prayers.  10K category conquered!” 

 

Thus, went my group SMS to my beloved MPG runners, boss, officemates, and friends about an hour after the Adidas KOTR race at The Fort last Saturday morning.  I couldn’t yet send the same message to my parents or my father will surely scold me for overstressing my legs in running a 10K distance (I would know because he already showed a perplexed reaction when I told him I joined a 5K race before.  Parents will always tend to overprotect their children, which is just understandable.) 

 

First time 10K Finisher.  Yebah!

Big-time Race.  The KOTR race was the biggest ever race I’ve seen this year.  The race venue was literally packed with runners it was hard to locate your companions after your run.  Perhaps due to exhaustion (I was almost dizzily tired!) and the scorching heat, when I reached the finish line everything/ person began to look all the same to me -  sweaty runners dressed in powder blue Adidas race singlets.  I anticipated to get lost in the crowd (there were about a thousand runners!) and I thought I’d have a difficult time searching for Carla and Francis until I heard them shout my name and wave ‘Hi’ while I was exiting the railings where a lady took the bar code off my race bib for my race record.  Carla and Francis were in one of those long queues of runners for  I-don’t-know-what freebies and I proceeded to their direction immediately.  Later on, when I reunited with them in the line, I learned they were trying to get race souvenirs which weren’t actually there (or weren’t there anymore) when it came our turn to claim ours.  All we got were some sweet oatmeal energy bars which I later on personally judged to be too hard and too coarse as post-race food.  You should know that one of the best post-run food is ‘goto’.  The rationale goes:  after pounding much effort from your self in running, you need that sort of food that requires literally no, or minimal amount of, effort to eat.  So Chowking ‘goto’ finished off with their petite ‘halo-halo’ is my idea of a post-race tummy treat.

30 Minutes Late!  Anyway, I realized there is no race other than Adidas KOTR that could better host my first 10K.  With the huge crowd of runners, good-looking race singlets, and the rather challenging route (hey, hey, hey, we crossed Buendia flyover all the way to Makati Ave., U-turn at Reposo and back to The Fort!), I’d say I had a superb run!  And my training (long practice runs with MPG runners) paid off!  The first 5K went quite easy for me that I ran continuously at a comfortable pace all the way to the U-turn at Reposo.  The short walks in between runs began after that U-turn, when I felt I was getting dehydrated and to my disappointment (!), there were very few water stations -  only three stations and two of them were practically useless to me as there were no more water when I passed by.  For your information, Carla, Francis and I arrived in the race venue 30 minutes late(!) so by the time I was crossing the Buendia flyover, I met along the 95% of runners who started on time and were traversing the other side of the street going their way back to The Fort.  Had I got some great deal of exposure!  I am sure there were still other runners behind me but most of the time, I was the lone person running my pace.  That is why, all the time I felt that the runners distribution on the right and left side of the street was 99:1.  I didn’t care what they had in mind (”oh she’s so slow she hadn’t got to the U-turn yet…”) as I know I was 30 minutes late (even 42 minutes as was indicated in the clock at the starting line). 

Bravely sticking to the Plan.  Truth is, I was even tempted to go the 5K route instead, for fear of getting lost in the 10K route since almost the entire pack of 10K runners has already gone ahead (way ahead of me!) so I’d be doing the drama of a lone runner clueless of which way to go and which turns to make.  But I braved it to pursue the 10K as I psyched myself, ‘man, I’ve been doing long run practices for this in the past two weeks, and now for nothing?!’  And this explains why I ran tall, figuratively and literally, and pretty relaxed the entire run -  despite the situation.  I was setting a personal record for myself.  I was there to do my first 10K. And to finish it with a decent enough record.  And with God’s goodness, I did survive my first 10K race -  and 73 minutes isn’t bad!  Yahooo!  Honestly, I had initially prepped myself to get it 80 or 90 minutes, as this is really what showed in my 10K run practices.  But the training, the carbo-loading the previous day, and the eagerness did me good!  And most likely, the tardiness in coming to the race venue did, too!  What else can make you run faster than the knowledge that most of the other runners are ahead of you – better put in Tagalog, ‘na napag-iiwanan ka na…” ?  And that knowledge even pops before your face as you meet along the 95% of the pack who are already going their way back to the finish line.  Pressure!  Pressure!

My race companions, and hosts - Carla & Frans.

 Running counterflow.  And you know what’s good in running counterflow the majority of runners you’re supposed to race with?  You see celebrities and other runner-friends face to face -  and they can wave ‘Hi’ to you and you to them -  which you wouldn’t perhaps be able to do so in that crowded race venue.  While going the slightly uphill course of the flyover, I saw on the other side of the road the mestizo Ayala old man, and a little later on while descending, Paolo Abrera.  I also saw my lady boss who was too concentrated in her running that I had to cross the other side of the road (to the amazement of some people running beside her) and run towards her just to say ‘Hi’.  I think I caught her in shock, haha!, but I knew she was happy to see me there (she, being my prime instrument in my getting to this sport).  A little later on, I caught a glimpse of our CEO who was difficult to miss among any crowd of people because of his 6′2″ height and huge built.  Later on in the afternoon during the company badminton tourney, he jokingly scolded me for not saying ‘Hi’ to him.  Another surprise greeting came from someone on the other side of the road who suddenly snapped his arms sideways close to me (to my shock!) in a gesture to say ‘Hi’.  I didn’t see the face but I quickly figured in mind that it must have been Eric so I immediately shouted back ‘Hey!’ in recognition.  A few minutes more, the surprise didn’t anymore come from the other side of the road but from behind me.  Francis, who called himself a diesel runner, had already caught up with me around 200M before the U-turn.  We exchanged a few words and then I asked him to go his pace as the diesel runner has already got his momentum by that time for sure.  As usual, I was going my comfortable slo-mo pace trying to keep my stride short but my cadence faster. 

Invincible, almost. Go MPG!

Waterless, NADA!  At the U-turn in Reposo, I was disappointed to see race marshalls handing in just the plastic straw (to put around your neck as a sign that you’ve reached the first 5K mark) and NO water – nada!  Note that by this time, I already finished running 5K distance and I have not yet gotten for myself any water station benefits!  I thought I passed by one along the 3K mark but the water station was emptied – no one tending it and no water too!  I could not be thankful enough that this time I wore a beltbag that housed a small Listerine bottle filled with sportsdrink, and funnily, some Mentos candies.  The Mentos candies are surely a joke!  As I was putting them inside the bag, I thought to myself, ‘what a nice run I shall have! running while chewing my favorite menthol candies!’.  Anyway, one thing I realized is that you couldn’t be possibly gasping hard for breath while running and ‘chewing-your-favorite-menthol-candies’ at the same time.  Try it and see for yourself that it’s not compatible, na-ah.

Pee Pressure.  Okay now, for the excuses part -  no one could possibly end a race recap without putting forward some excuses on why she hadn’t ran as well as she had planned to (just kidding!).  But this time, I honestly have an excuse:  The moment I crossed the starting line, I realized I should have peed first.  I thought at first that it was something just in the mind as i was too excited; but later on, I soon realized it was something physiological and it just began haunting me.  I brushed it off and just kept on running.  But by the time I made the U-turn, I was already dreading three things:  one is feeling dehydrated, second is the scorching heat (the sun by then shone like it does in mid-morning when it wasn’t yet) and worst of all, I felt more the ‘need-to-pee’ pressure whenever I’d force my self to run some more.  The pounding motion of the body while running made my gall bladder act like crazy I felt it was going to pour if I push it too hard to keep running.  And ladies and gentlemen, this is what you now call the Pee Pressure.  Hahahaha!.  Several times while running and trying so hard to keep the pace, I would be forced to slow down and then walk because the Pee Pressure tells me to.  And that explains the walks-in-between my runs.  Next time, after learning it the hard way, I shall pay a visit to the toilet before crossing the starting.  And this shall be included in the ‘MUST DO’s’ list. 

Acknowledgments:  Thanks to Carla and Francis for hosting me and for understanding all my “eager-beaver”-ness prior to and during the race.   I spent the night before the race at Carla’s home in BF Parañaque.  Together, we shared our pre-race regimens and I thought she was carefully watching me do my rituals evening before a race.  I told  her though that I don’t have such.  Hahaha!  (Just pure carbo-loading, extra hydration, and good sleep)  Anyway, Francis, being the triathlete that he is, was more scientific in these stuffs and he guided us in choosing a sportsdrink and buying pre-race breakfast goodies, and constantly reminded us “not to do try anything different the night before the race” – which to me just sounded so wise.  Also, he bought bananas that the three of us shared and ate heartily during the evening dinner, breakfast the next morning, and moments after the race.  We were running bananas personified.  Hahahaha!

The ‘bara-bara’ runner in her first morning run at ULTRA

Yesterday, I had another first:  Morning run at ULTRA.  My friends and I have already tried running there about two weeks ago but in the evening, after work and after some unplanned mini-shopping in Gale. 

I had told Eric I’ll join him one morning to run in ULTRA because I wanted to see how it looks like in the morning.  During evenings, at least for the one time we were there, the people I saw running were mostly yuppies and some runners group – but they still looked like yuppies and mid-adults anyway.  Well, yesterday morning, when I came to run in ULTRA I saw younger faces, most of them university athletes -  and my own school’s track and field team was there, practicing with their new coach, Elma Muros.  Oh that lady, already in her forties I think, looks rather cute for her age!  I had thought that when I see her face-to-face I’ll find her too masculine-looking for my taste.  But na-ah, she’s got a youthful womanly face.  Somehow, I really just like women who keep in touch with their feminine side even when their muscles already bulge like that of men because of their workouts. 

Anyhoo, I also got to see Maricel there, our roommate in MAK7, who’s a real athlete herself (and a good one at that as she always bags the 1st to 3rd prize in every race category she joins).   She was [more] surprised seeing me there [than I was seeing her there] that she asked, “what are you doing here?”  Later on, when we had a longer chat in the ladies’ shower room, I would learn that she goes to ULTRA every single morning to practice.  And that explained the puzzled look on her face upon seeing me there in complete running gear (Oh!  But I think I was wearing a rather girly blouse then, that could pass as sporty anyway).   Maricel, I find to be a gracious person.  I think she had all the reasons to ridicule me (exaggerated of course!) being there so early in the morning to run, ALONGSIDE real athletes!  Oh, but I’m a true-blooded MPG runner anyway.  Anyway, she would smile at me everytime she passes by me at the track oval -  and in the shower room, she chatted with me like we were longtime friends.  Plenty of encouraging words and some running tips – Oh!  It’s just cool to have a real athlete as a friend. 

The morning run in ULTRA was really an experiment to me.  Aside from wanting to have a taste of “ULTRA track in the morning”, I also wanted to discover how the setup should go for me considering that I had to come all the way from UP.  I was supposed to go for a morning run in UP that morning but I told Eric I could go to ULTRA instead.  With this, I had imagined myself waiting for the first train ride in MRT at 5:30 AM and checking to see if there’s an FX in Megamall that early, plying the same route to Pasig and passing by ULTRA.  I also inquired if there’s a shower room in ULTRA as I’d obviously need to go straight to the office after the run lest I lose my job sooner than my second 10K race, hahaha! 

The experiment worked quite well, except that I was a bit late in leaving the house than planned.  I rode the MRT around 6:05 AM, was at Megamall at around 6:20, and arrived in ULTRA by 6:35.   Before I even spotted Eric, who already began doing his warm-up jog with his runningmates, the surprise meeting with Maricel took place.  It was such a comfort to see somebody you know among a crowd of youthful university athletes, most of which though were Maroon varsity players for track and field.  After exchanging Hi’s and Hello’s with Maricel and greeting Eric when they passed me by running, I just tied my hair up in ponytail and then started my warm-up run.  Basically, I did my own stuff there.  I didn’t have the guts to join Eric’s group who obviously looked like they had a set training plan for the day and were serious in getting it done.  Eric told me the night before he was supposed to do some drills and stairs workouts.  Uh-oh!  Okay, just go on pals -  I think I’ll stick to my own stuff for the moment.  I finished around 7 rounds of the track oval running - that’s about 3km – and then topped it off with one more round just plain walking for my cool down. 

By 7:20 AM, I decided my run exercise for the morning as over and I retreated to the shower room just half-drenched in sweat.  I sure could run more but that’d be risking my officetime.  I finished my bath regimen and fixing up in 25 minutes or so, and then I suddenly found myself already looking every inch like an officegirl than a runner (or runner-wannabie) by around 8 AM.  As usual, I was wearing high-heeled shoes (after a run!) and nobody could suspect I was there earlier in the track oval pretending and feeling like a professional runner amid a whole pack of track and field athletes.   

Funny when Eric later on commented thru SMS, “what was it you ended up doing earlier?” – perhaps struck by how simplistic my training looks like  (hahaha!) – and I replied, “Hah?!?  I just did what I usually do which is to just run and time myself, hahaha!  [Or] am I crazily unscientific in my training?”   

 

Apparently, there should be more science in trainings like these and a newbie like me only knows the ‘bara-bara’ ways of doing it.   

Badminton tourney after a 10K race

Almost a hundred-percent of my entries here chronicles my life as a newbie runner.  But as you would have guessed, there are plenty other sports I love to do and get to do.  But since I’m so a newbie in running and I show all the symptons of ‘overexcitement’ due to neophytes, all my blah-blahs lately are about it.

Last Saturday, when I had my first ever 10K race at KOTR, I struggled again over that post-run stress that I usually get after doing long runs.  The last time I had it, after a long run practice one Saturday morning, I spent the entire day flat in bed, still trying to do other things (like read a book and watch a DVD of ”Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants I”) –   BUT FLAT IN BED -  almost all throughout.   The post-KOTR race was, of course, no different.  And since the pressure you feel in actual race scenario is almost double that of practice runs, my ‘flatness’ in bed is coupled with closed eyes.  After taking a shower when I arrived home from the race, I munched some more bread, then I gave in to the mixed sensations of EXHAUSTION and SLEEPINESS that I was battling with.  I was all sleepy so I slept.  And I slept well.

Then came an SMS 11:20 AM from my work colleague, then from my boss, urging me to rush to Smashville and they need me to play badminton in the company tourney.  Anak ng tipaklong!, pagod pa ko…  But I could not say that as I was really in the official lineup of our badminton team.  My boss herself who also did 10K in KOTR was already playing in the tourney that same morning (she obviously had better muscle powers than me!).  I could not complain.  Heck. 

So I dragged myself up from bed and took lunch.  Then I put on my violet T-rex team shirt and my running shorts (!), packed my knapsack bag, and told my landlady I had to be out again as I was ordered by my boss to play in the company tourney.  Naawa na yata s’ya sa kin, as she said, “sabihin mo sa kanila pagod ka pa…”  I just smiled and went my way out.

I took a cab going to Autocamp in Pasig, where Smashville is, as I was already late for the afternoon games.  I arrived to the venue around 1:20 PM and I proceeded straight to the washroom.  When I came out, the CEO was also coming out from the male washroom, and surprised he said, “Oh, you’re playing for our team too?  That’s great!”  That was such an upper knowing that this man, a lot older than I am, was also there playing badminton for my team when I had just seen him earlier during the day also sweating himself out in KOTR.  These people got superb powers in their bones!

Anyway, I am so for outdoors that even in badminton, what I know how to play (and can be good at) is the ‘outdoor badminton’ version, with almost no rules and no court lines to say when a hit is ‘outside’.  I know I hit the shuttlecock hard and since I’m tall I can make it go far, so for the most part what I got used to is doing powerplays in outdoor badminton games.  The technicalities of indoor badminton I so don’t like, but then in real professional games, this is exactly what you have. 

To cut it short, I lost my first game.  But my partner, Ran, and I were simply doing laugh trips during the game because our opponent seem to have this persistent type of attack which we never deciphered how to counter.  So we’d just stare at each other perplexed whenever we’d miss those strategic shots from the opposite side.  And then we’d smile, and alternatingly we would say, ‘Ok lang yan!’    Good thing that in the second game we won, by default.  Hahaha!  I figured I wouldn’t win it any other way.  Hahaha!  My shots would be invalid as it would often go ‘outside’ and my service’s were bad. 

Oh! but there’s no way but up, which means I have to play better for the next Saturdays.  So far, my OCEO/ Mktg team ranks #1 from last Saturday’s game results.  Our male players are soooo outstandingly good!  Thanks, guys, for saving the team!

Upcoming Races! OctobeRun @ The Fort & NB Power Race in Clark

Six days after KOTR, I already had two running sessions  – one in ULTRA last Wed morning and another one last night in UP.  Thou shalt not skip thy running training days, that seems to be latest working mantra for me. 

And needless to say, the practice runs become more fun – and way more FOCUSED - when you know you’re looking forward to a road race soon.

These are what excite my run trainings now:

* OCT 26  – OctobeRun Festival, The Fort.  I’m running 10K and first-time in McKinley Hills race route.  I AM EXCITED.   I wonder how steep the hilly course shall be.

* NOV 16  -  New Balance Power Race, Clark.  Already registered for 10K.  Big-time reunion race for most MPG pips!  Wohooo!  Masaya to!

This weekend, I shall get myself a nice provincial long run practice as I’m homebound for Bicol to meet face-to-face, for the first time, my cute baby nephew – John Raphael.  I decided that when he grows up, I’ll train him to race with me, hehehe!

‘Kala ko magaling ka?

I’ve had an extraordinarily busy weekend and start of the week.  But I wasn’t RUN-less.

Friday night, I left GCC in Ortigas quarter to seven o’clock, then hired a cab to speed off to Cubao bus terminal right in front of Ali Mall.  I was going to have that night bus trip to Bicol with my older brother and his girlfriend, who went with him so that my parents could finally meet her.  As I got my seat number and ticket, I spent 30 minutes or so roaming around Ali Mall while waiting for my travel companions to arrive.  In Ali Mall, I almost got so tempted in taking home a black Converse hooded jacket that was on sale at 50% discount.  The rational self prevailed - ‘Cathy!  You have too many hooded jackets in your closet that you barely use!’ – and I left the Converse store almost half-convinced that it was the right choice to make.   

Anyway, I was in Bicol early morning of Saturday and as I had previously planned to do my long run there, I was cooking up in mind how, when, and where I shall have it.  After attending a family affair in Naga (which was the main reason why we were in Bicol, by the way), and chitchatting with my parents and siblings, I jumped to bed around 4 PM to get a quick nap with the intention of going for a late afternoon/ early evening run around 5:30 PM.  Things went amiss as my younger bro, who was supposed to be my running buddy, was still getting his haircut when I woke up and when he finally returned, it was nearing 7 PM and my parents wouldn’t permit us to go.  And mama says, ‘this is not like in UP where it’s OK to run even on late evenings…’  (in Bicolano, of course).  Late evening?!  It was just 7PM!!!  And I usually start my runs in UP at 8:20 PM the earliest?!  OH,..  Then again, I’m not in UP.  Not even in Manila.   Where people appear to have greater tolerance for weird behaviors.  Hahaha!

So my long run was moved to Sunday morning.  My brother and I drove to an elementary school at the town proper where there’s a track oval.  I was glad to see other joggers in the area, young and old alike, sweating it out round the track oval at varying paces -  a fourth of them just doing leisurely walk.  We did basic stretching and as I recall it, I kept on giving running tips to my brother while we were warming up.  Later on, I’d be so ashamed to see him do far better in that run practice than I did. 

The track oval was probably 500M long and so I told my brother we had to complete 20 rounds of continuous running.  Shame on me!  By my eighth round, I got terrible leg cramps so I suddenly slowed down, then walked, moved to the side, and sat by the grass with my legs all stretched horizontally, hoping the pain would subside.  It did, but only after 3 minutes or so – which I found to be long as I thought the aching sensation should leave me the very moment I sit down and rest my legs.  Na-ah.  Not that easy afterall.  Then I began wondering what I did wrong.  I think I hydrated my self well and I even did some stretching before running (in past, I wouldn’t even do any!)…

I rested some more and did some stretching while I watched my brother – I was all green in envy! – go round the track oval several times, all merrily enjoying his run, and I thought to myself that he glided rather smoothly all throughout!  What a lucky boy! 

I tried to do two more rounds and then called it quits.  It wasn’t a very good day to run for me as I felt another cramp attack was on the way while I pushed for a second attempt to do continuous running. 

And I was selfish as I went on calling Daryl to stop from running already and begin cooling down as I thought it’s time to go home already.  Hehe!  Perhaps, deep inside I was kinda ‘bad trip’.  My brother enjoyed his run so much that he haggled twice that we was gonna do one more round.  In short, from the moment I prodded him to stop, I actually waited for him to finish three more rounds.  Didn’t he enjoy so so much!  ;D

And when he finally stopped running, he came to me bearing this nice comment:  “O, akala ko magaling ka?… Hihihi!…”  So I snapped back at him, “nagka-cramps ako noh!  yabang mo, hmp!”   Inside my head, I said, “Buwisit ‘tong batang to ah!”

Runner-turned-sirkera @ Mimosa

After Bicol comes Mimosa in Clark.  Nope, it’s not like these two areas are adjacent; they’re not even near to each one.  But the past weekend until yesterday, I shuttled between Manila and Bicol, and then coming back from Bicol, doing a quick one-hour stop in Manila, and then shuttling forth to Clark.  Okay, I know I’m the adventurous type but this isn’t a ‘trip-trip’ thing.  The Bicol weekend was for family affair and last Monday I had to catch my group for our team planning in Mimosa.  I had previously planned of just following them and commuting alone to Clark as I wouldn’t be sure what time on Monday I’d arrive in Manila from Bicol.  So I was prepped too for that adventure. 

Saved by coffee.  But since we arrived in Cubao at around 4:30 AM – much earlier than I expected -  I figured I could get to UP in a few minutes, repack my backpack and freshen up a bit in 30 minutes, and be picked up by my team at SM North at around 6:15 AM.  Sounded just right.  So these things I did and things went on pretty well, except that when afternoon came I felt too drowsy already that I finished two cups of coffee to perk me up so that I can still be useful in the discussions. 

Mimosa run!  One of the things I was looking forward to in this Mimosa planning is to get try a different route for a morning run.  This too, I/we did.  I had already commissioned my officemates to join me do this morning run while in Mimosa, and they happily complied.  So the youngsters in the group (us), just sang a few songs during the videoke get-together on Monday – and munched plenty of chips and nuts! – and by 10 PM, we bid goodbye to our boss as we told her we were getting up early the next day to jog/run. 

More rituals.  By 4:30 AM, all the five of us in the house - Ian, Jec, Joanne, Joyce, and myself – were already up.  They, too, were excited to get to roam around Mimosa that early time of the day.  I realized I had more pre-run rituals as I was the one who took the longest time to prepare.  I was still fixing the stuffs inside my beltbag and carefully applying sunblock while all the four of them were already downstairs, clad in running clothes but idly watching television and bearing that sort of face that says, ‘you know I’d really prefer staying on this couch while channel-switching than running…’  True enough, they told me exactly this when I finally finished my rituals and I went downstairs to join them: ‘Cathy, nood na lang tayo ng TV, kakatamad…”   I went GRRR! jokingly and then I prodded them that we step out of the house and begin our run.  That was 5 AM.  It was still dark outside.  And I realized we were such ‘bibo kids’.   Wahaha!

Discoveries.  Running became kinda difficult as these people weren’t into jogging – and weren’t even sporty.  Then again, I like the idea of influencing people to try sports and learn to love it.  At first, I tried to pace Joanne and Joyce since Ian and Jec stood firm about doing just leisurely walk.  Anyway, as anticipated I had to run ahead most of the time and then I’d run back to where they are, just to end up running ahead again.  We covered the long straight roads in Mimosa and then after about 30 minutes we discovered a track oval right outside one of Mimosa’s side gates.  I think it was a track oval inside the Air Force City in Clark.  I was sooo happy that we saw it since there were plenty of other runners, joggers (ok, I just know by now how to distinguish one from the other.  don’t ask how, i just know) and American and Filipino military men doing their training in the area. 

Anyway, here are some of the pics:

 

 At Acacia St. in Mimosa right infront of our house.

 At the Air Force City track oval.  There’s Joan & Joyce (the nearest two human figures facing back).

PAGOD, all caps.  Taken after I challenged Joanne race with me for a short-distance sprint.  This girl has quicker feet than I have, and she almost beat me here.  I had to counter her quick feet with my longer strides.  Hehehe!  Wais!

Post-run photo op.  With Joanne here, infront our house in Mimosa.

Who’d think we’ll do Amazing Race as team-building activity that same morning!  Because of the morning run, I was all prepped and my team won it!  Yebah!  This pic was taken before the physical challenges.

Turned SIRKERA.  Traversing a rope while elevated from the ground 3-storeys high.  Wew!  My knees were all trembling here.  Promise I’d rather do a 10K in MAK8 than do this again.  Hahahaha!  Scary!

Not a streaker. NEVER.

I was back in Manila Tuesday night, after the two-day team planning in Mimosa.  I had planned to call it “rest days” until Friday -  when I plan to have a ‘run & eat’ birthday celebration with my runner-friends -  but a friend in need (of a run practice) disrupted my supposed rest days plan.  Last Tuesday night, Dree sent me an SMS asking if I would join her run the next morning or later at night the next day.  Hmm.  I paused and reflected.  She must need this  run.  So despite my previous plans of getting to bed earlier than usual and resting my legs until Friday, I replied: “Ok, let’s run tomorrow night.”

Usually, it is I who ask Dree to accompany me do late evening runs in UP.  And she happily complies because she also wants to.  But the initiative almost always comes from me.

So the other day’s run invite from her was sort of an SOS alarm to me.  She needed to run, I thought.  So despite all the groginess personified in me, after that consecutive Bicol & Clark activities, I gave in to help a friend in need.  Again, – of a run.  Funny how it becomes a need!  Hahaha!

So last night we ran together and I noticed there were plenty of other joggers in the area.  I did a 3K continuous run (I had planned it to be an easy run after the Clark exhaustion) and about 2K of short run bursts, for speed training (?).  Hehe.  Dree did a continuous 5K run on a race-pace. 

While we walked to cool down, I told her about my apprehension of running that night – since I just ran the other day  (I ran Tue morning in Clark and then ran again last night).  But I told her that since we did it in the evening it looked like I had a good rest time in between anyway.  I said I have no plans of being a streaker.

And she asked, “What is a streaker?”

I replied, “It’s someone who runs everyday and never misses.  You know rest days are just as important as training days because the body badly needs to rest too.”

But I guess she got more amazed with the term ’streaker’ as she reacted, “Oh… streaker pala tawag dun…”  (in a thoughtful mood).

This morning I researched over the net the meanings of the word ’streaker’, and here’s what I got.  AMAZING!  They are two different things, and in both meanings I DO NOT INTEND TO BE A STREAKER-  NEVAH!

 

definition 1: 

  Streaker 

A runner who runs seven days a week and never misses, not just usually, but ever.  There are runners who have gone on for many years without a day off.  The longest known streak is held by Bob Ray, of Maryland, who has run every day since April 4, 1967. A local runner, Craig Davison, has run every day since November 11, 1978.  To date he has finished 123 marathons, 76 of them sub-3:00, often winning or at least getting age group hardware.  One of his goals is to run 100 sub-3:00 marathons.  (http://www.lynndavidnewton.com/run/rttm/ha1.html#streaker)

 

definition 2: 

  Streaker 

Someone who takes off all their clothes and runs naked through a public place.  (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/streaker)

 

 

Torn between two goods

Tomorrow I shall turn 18.  Nah!  Am too old to be a liar.  Anyway, it’s really my birthday tomorrow and I shall celebrate it with my best/ closest friends all way back since college – and now they got the value-adding property of being my constant running buddies too! 

In MPG, I suggested that we begin a birthday celeb tradition, and we could choose if we want the eat-&-run version, or the opposite, run-&-eat.  Of course, the second sounded more logical lest we want to risk it fainting on the track oval having pushed ourselves to run with our bellies all stuffed with sisig and bulging with iced tea.

For tomorrow night, we choose between an Ultra run & dinner in some pasta-rich resto - OR – (the equally tempting!) run in UP Dil then dinner at Mang Jimmy’s (oh! how we missed you Mang Jimmy!).

This has so far remained undecided.  We shall know by tomorrow.

For Option 1, the ‘ULTRA’ run is the main ‘pro’ to me (since some of the MPG runners haven’t been there yet) while for option 2, the ‘Mang Jimmy’ factor is soooo delectable to the senses (their tapa is simply amazing!).

Hmm… torn, torn, torn.  Gee, aren’t we happy we usually have plenty of equally good choices in this life!  ;D   So many things to thank God for! -  and one of them is His giving me these strong pair of legs to discover and pursue this sport I have come to love, which has also helped me nurture these many good friendships and even build new ones.

OH! And I must shut up now before I totally turn you off with my cheesiness.

ULTRA option won. Heypi Bertdey to me!

We shall run at ULTRA later.  It’s final.  Am excited to see how my friends will marvel at how beautiful the place is –  a haven for runners!  –  given that the government runs it.  Again, please don’t punish me for being this candid.

Birthday thoughts, birthday thoughts, birthday thoughts…  Nothing much actually, except that I have this feeling of immense gratitude to the One up there for the many blessings – all of the which are clearly undeserved.  And I wish to remain this grateful, if not more, all my life.   

Running-shoe-shaped birthday cake, anyone?

Jokingly, I have made it a personal sports goal to promote myself to the 10K category in official racing events before I reach 25 (I was supposed to put asterisks there, until I got hold of myself and realized that 25 is young!  At least, I feel young about it.) .  Seriously, I made it happen in the Adidas KOTR last October 11.  A feat, I must say.  And that gladdens me.

When I did KOTR, friends kept on congratulating me for finishing my first 10K, but one of them – a sports buff siren – didn’t finish her congratulatory greetings without ending with this huge challenge:  “From now on, you can’t run a race that’s less than 10K, Nevarr! … insulto na lang yan sa sarili…”

That was really my plan anyway – to run 10K in all my other succeeding races after I finish my first.  Then again, it feels different when the challenge comes from somebody else.  Unlike Janina San Miguel, I could easily muster the words, “Owww… I feel greyt preyshur rayt naw!” 

My OctobeRun race this Sunday is like a birthday race to me so with God’s goodness, I’d like to get for myself a PR.  Wew!  Dream big Cathy!  If I still don’t make it this time, the NB Power Race in Clark will have to give me just that.  A-S-A.

Starting the Run-&-Eat Tradition

I had a blast with MPG runners – who are also my super friends from way back UP days - last night in my run&eat birthday celebration. As expected, the first timers in ULTRA were amazed at discovering such a gorgeous running place in Pasig. I, too, was kinda surprised at how beaming an atmo ULTRA had last night – considering it was a Friday night. I had thought for most runner-yuppies who usually train there to be somewhere else hanging out (read: NOT running) – and getting themselves a life! (Hahaha! But of course there’s an active social life among the runners community!) Part of the reason why ULTRA was so lively last night was the fact that there was an ongoing soccer games by high school girls at the center of the track oval – and the bleachers were half-filled with their families and friends watching their game.

Except for a few people’s misadventures last night (sshh… ‘bandana runner’ got lost in Ortigas! Ayan, southerner ka kasi e!), everything pretty well went on as planned. We spent around an hour and a half running in ULTRA, a few kulitans on the side, and some group pictures. I think I finished around 12 or 13 rounds on the track oval (roughly 5K), Jihan had 10, Carla had 4 or 5 (?), and for Cha and Pao… I am clueless. The ChaPao tandem, like me, also began running early (since we were the ‘early birds’) but I could not keep track of how they’d ran as I would see them stop and stay on the sides for some minutes, then resume to running every now and then, so… there… (exactly, how much/long did you run guys? …)

At around 9:30 PM, we left ULTRA with mouths hungry for water (at least I could speak for myself: I WAS BADLY THIRSTY that I had to semi-grab Pao’s Minute Maid drink which was the only liquid stuff left to us) and solid food. It was time for carbo-reloading, as well as do the birthday celeb the traditional way – EAT! We headed to SM Megamall and had our fill of food and chitchat. And chitchats to the max(!), some topics were even bordering on chismis (not evilish though, we’re not that). ‘So who among our batch are married now? … Whaaaat???!!! He’s married? How come?!!!… So are they still together?… Oh no, they broke up na?!… Somebody thinks you’re not ETC and you’re ******?!… Gee, what’s that – they think you’re too socy to be in ETC?… or they think you’re NOT relevant? or you’re NOT conscious?!…. Wahahahaha!!!!’ And the banter went on and on until we realized Megamall’s gates had began closing and we had had to find our way to the building’s main entrance just to get out. By then it was already nearly 12MN and we thought it should be bye-bye time already.

Dree also just finished her get-together dinner with her former MBA classmates and met up with us outside the mall to introduce her friends to us, the MPG runners. Her friends were bit amazed at the ‘run&eat’ gimmick as one of them remarked (I suppose directed to me): “Talagang tumakbo ka pa for your birthday ha!…” I got pretty ashamed as I thought he surveyed my outfit (!) – take note, I was the only one who still wore my running shorts during my post-run birthday dinner as the others have changed back to their office attire and were more decent-looking. Yikes, but it’s my party anyway – no one’s gonna shoo me away!

Anyway, to that comment, I replied: “Oo, it’s tradition…” Blessie snapped: “Anong tradition, e first time nga to eh!” I almost pulled her hair, and then I corrected my self: “I mean, we’re trying to start a tradition in the group…”

Then again, I’m really clueless as to whether the other people in MPG will find it okay to get sweaty from running on their birthday…

OctobeRun @ The Fort. 10.26.2008

Same gang, same venue.  Racing in OctobeRun yesterday was sorta reminiscent of my first ever race in 5K Davies Paint Fun Run last August.  I was with the same company –  Jihan & Ryan -  and same race venue (but different race route this time!).   This couple are gracious, gracious persons.  My ride arrangement for the race was made easy as Ryan had me picked up in Philcoa at around 4:30 AM.  It’s usually that super-early morning transpo to the race venue that’s complicated to a car-less person like me, but some people go all the way to facilitating things for others -  and it’s more touching when they do it without your asking them to.

 

Gee, isn’t this more like a Binibini pose than a runner pose!  (I need coaching in runners photo-ops!)

Early Birds:  Cathletic with Jihan & Ryan.

Plus Points!   This race though was twice bigger than Davies Paint and a fourth of Adidas KOTR’s crowd – about a thousand runners, more or less, yesterday.  Personally, there were many positive points in this race and I say this despite my getting a really BAD time record yesterday.

*  Yep, systematic, they were.   Things at the race venue were pretty much organized and there’s the ever ‘kuleeeet’ emcee re-playing the announcement of instructions OVER AND OVER AGAIN (he had me almost irritated..) so all of your questions get answered even before you can utter them.

*  Byebye Pee Pressure.  There were CLEAN portalets (highlight on CLEAN). So, no pee pressures for me during the race!

*  Lotsa Water.  There were about 5 water stations for 10K – so that’s one water station every 2K (which is the advisable thing to do for race organizers). And, unlike in KOTR where water came from ’balde-and-tabo‘ (!), the water supply yesterday were taken from distilled bottled water poured into plastic cups. On our way back after the U-turn, the water stations would even give out the entire huge bottled water (about half a Liter size, I think) to the runners who wanted them – I DIDN’T get as I could barely run then and wasn’t in need of extra baggage.

*  New Route.  The race route was NEW to me! And its long uphill course was pretty challenging – almost equal in difficulty to that in KOTR’s ‘flyover uphill’ but was milder as in this route there were at least some trees bordering the roadsides you can get yourself some shade from the sun.

*  Freebies!   There were plenty of freebies at the Finish Line!!!  And there were ladies, take note: smiling ladies, delivering this nice [memorized] script: “Hi Ma’am, congrats, please get your drinks, and you have a free DVD on running and a certificate! “   I got a bottled water, Fit n Right, and Rush – all of these I find good-tasting… so, pretty much a treat for a thirsty runner!  And the DVD…. Hahaha!  Promise, NAKAKATUWA S’YA! It’s locally made and I could still emember having seen in the barricades one of the actors/ hosts in the video- hahaha!

As for performance - and in MPG, we only talk about this in the last portion of the race recap as we talk of BETTER things first, hahaha! -Jihan did best finishing her 10K in 66 mins, Ryan in 76 mins, and yours truly, finishing last with 78 mins (unofficial record).  Okay, I know I did worse here as my KOTR is 77 and now I’m even a minute late pa (bwisit! hahaha!).  But the running video might just help me beat Jihan in Clark.  A-S-A! Ryan, tuloy ang laban!  hahaha!

Post race photo-op.  ;D

True-blooded MPGs.  A manifestion of our being MPG: The emcee yesterday kept on reminding the runners, already in formation for the start of the race, that the fast ones should stay in front while the recreational runners (of course we’re NOT that!) should stay at the back.  WELL, as you have guessed right, WE WERE IN FRONT, almost in the same pack as Maricel (the athlete-winner in MAK7)  that I even waved ‘Hi!’ to her.  And this is doing it ‘the MPG way’. Awryt! ;D

 

Currently a city runner.  But I’d wanna try the trails.  When I get stronger, I think.

On running forms

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”   I get a selective amnesia in recalling things learned from workshops and seminars so what usually stick in my head are a few catchy remarks I find relevant to my personal situation.  Call me egotistic, and just who isn’t anyway.  Hahaha.   From the Running Aid 3 clinic at ROX about three weeks ago, it’s one of those lines a doctor-speaker repeatedly uttered that stuck to my head:  “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”    And he’d often say it while critiquing, rather politely, on people’s running forms.

 

My running form is far from perfect;  in fact, it probably is so bad that my friends comment on it even without my asking. 

>  The ‘Hippy Form’:   Defined as ‘running with catchy but unintended hip sways that can be potently distracting, enough to slow down possible opponents’   (at least that’s how my friends put it)

   Look, I am not at all happy about it :  highlight on UNINTENDED.   Am not even aware that’s how I run!  Bwisit!  Ayoko kaya ng ganyan!   So, yep, I’ve been trying so hard to be consciously controlling the hip sways.  But during races, I couldn’t care less about my form as I have enough worries to attend to -  and on top of it is how to stay running and keep myself from walking.

 >  The ‘Weird Right Foot Stride’ :  And again, they all agree my right leg moves weirdly.  First, Maricel (my althlete friend who’s a staple winner in races)  commented on this when she saw me running in ULTRA.  She said, “alam mo, okey yung kaliwa mo diretso ang landing nya sa ground, pero yung KANAN, parang lumiliko, basta hindi diretso ang bagsak… dapat diretso lang…”    Surprised at the comment, I just said, “Ahhh… Talaga?…”  That’s when I first became aware of it.  

Then in Clark, when my officemates saw me run, they said there’s some “arte” effect in my running and that my right leg does the “arte” thing -  that it’s too “pa-girl”.    I, being aware of it already, told them it’s a defect I need to solve.  And one of them replies, ” Ah talaga?!  Akala ko ganun talaga dapat, ‘kala ko technique yun!”   NGEKS!  It’s not a technique okay – it’s a DEFECT.  Ahahaha!   During my birthday run-and-eat celeb, the MPG runners verified it.  My right foot is weird.  FINE THEN, it is.  Now you guys tell me how to fix it.  Hmp.

Then again, I wonder if I’m broken – if my running form is – and if I needed the ‘fixing’.  The thing is, I’ve been running regularly and I feel strong, I’ve trained for and successfully finished my first two 10K races injury-free (now I’m not really sure if people should be injured in running just 10K distances, hehehehe!), and I don’t feel weird pains after doing long runs (or are my runs isn’t really ‘long’ in the first place?… owww).

Anyway, I think I need ‘fixing’ because I’m darn SLOW (!) I couldn’t even do a sub-75 minutes for 10K runs.  Gee, I have such bad time record in races I shouldn’t even be writing about it.  Sheesh.

Experimentations

I went out for a quick run this morning.  I arose from bed 5:20 and got out of the house by 5:40 AM.  I walked-jogged my way to UP Acad Oval for roughly 5 minutes, did basic stretching, and began my run.

I had initially planned to do a 5K.  My bigggest limitation in doing morning runs is time  as I would need to be back in the house before 6:30 so that I keep my day job and keep my boss smiling. 

In actuality, I just finished 3K – okay, it’s what you call the very, very short run.  There’s one thing I did today that I don’t usually do.  I EXPERIMENTED WITH EVERYTHING -  the length of my stride, my pacing, my form, breathing…  And now I realize this is what happens when there is hardly any science in your training –  that is, you go for the only approach you know how to do, which is TRIAL and ERROR. 

The Bara-bara runner does it her way again.  And after running 3K, with plenty of these experimentations in between, I got side-stitches which suddenly got me lazy to go on running and so I started walking back home at around 6:20 AM.

The target “fix” I had been wanting to make is how to lengthen my stride –  just to take advantage of my longer limbs -  and make it my comfortable pace in training runs and in actual races.  I have gotten used to this other “comfy pace”  (which keeps my breathing stable)  that takes short strides but greater emphasis on higher running cadence.   In the past, my goal was to get a quicker feet despite the shorter step. 

But a friend of mine tells me I still could lengthen my stride as my legs are longer anyway.  And seeing her run faster with longer strides (and she would run past me in races!) made me grow envious, and I thought I should take her advice.  But then, from this morning’s experimentation, I realized my comfy pace still works better for me as I’d grow so easily tired with trying to run with longer strides.  I feel I’m not cut out for that as I had ended up short of breath and whining of side-stitches -  instead of getting improved running performance. 

I feel I have to revert to my old comfy form and pace.  At least for now that what’s I know I should do…

Runner with a bruised ego

 

OctobeRun results are out.  And seeing it made me NOT enjoy my lunch and gave me this DISTURBED feeling that makes me want to jump off my 29th floor office to run on the street and train.  And train.  And train.  Until I could beat Fernando ZdA and Lance G.  in 10K races.

I was literally at the back of the pack, with only 54 runners behind me.  Between Ryan and I, there were seven runners (huh, pwede!) but between Jihan and I…  about 134 runners (!) I really ate up her dust, darn!

Honestly, I have just exaggerated on the “frustrated” reaction.   The “challenged” feeling is more dominating in me now that all I think about is how to train harder so that I’ll do better in my next race.   Though I may not be a born runner;  a born FIGHTER, I am.

Back2Bikes

Runner-friends going to Baler to surf on an Adidas KOTR race weekend made me think of this one word:  VARIETY.   And while shopping around over the net for ideas on running training programs, I encountered the word:  CROSS-TRAINING.  So much for intro.  Haha.

Being a bara-bara runner, all I’ve done in the past as regard practices is simply base training, which is running –  just running as long and as far as you can hold it.  There are plenty of merits here, nonetheless, as this is supposed to test your endurance and then, after knowing just how short a time you can so far endure continuous running, that’s when you begin to seriously work on it. 

But this weekend, I put my ‘running addiction’ on hold and decided I should give it a shot to cross-train through mountain biking.   Truth is I’m no alien to cycling as in the past, I was really a mix of jogger-cyclist.  I do just whichever I feel like doing at the moment.  This time, however, when I decided to go cycling for my cross-training during my weekend sojourn in Bicol (for the Undas), my purpose was really that: to cross-train, that is, for cycling to serve my “running career” (if ever I have one to call as such, hahaha!).

The Bike Route:  Wowowee!  This is the via Dolorosa road, farther south of Nabua town proper.

So there we biked yesterday afternoon – a total of about 15k, with a quick visit to a relative and several photo-ops in between.  I was, as usual, with my brother, Daryl, who is my fave sports buddy whenever I’m home in Bicol.  This young man though has repeatedly jokingly complained about my slowness in pedaling that by the time we were finishing off the 15K distance and I had told him that we should go slower already for our “cool down”, the boy said:  “Eh kanina pa kaya tayo nagko-cool down!… Hehe!”  (with matching evilish grin).   AYUN, sapul na naman si Ate! 

We left the house around 3:30 PM and was back after two hours.  We spanned four barangays and the route was just perfect for biking – not too many cars passing by, air was fresh like what, plenty of shade from the trees alongside the road, and nice view.   Yesterday’s biking experience, minus the “ngalay effect” in the upper body, was surely a treat to me.

 

That’s Daryl riding tall on the yellow bike.

Refreshing view.  Makes you not-wanna-go-back to Manila.

Go Ate!

Above is my trainee, who apparently is better than me. 

She’s back to biking!

My NOV meal: Three races

Last October, my meal consisted of my first two 10Ks -  a baptismal race to the 10K category in Adidas KOTR (Oct. 11), and my second 10K in a medium-scale race in OctobeRun Festival (Oct. 26), both at The Fort.

And all the while, I thought October was supposed to be the busiest for me.  Come this month, November, though, I find myself hooked to join these three races, at least:

Nov. 16 – New Balance Power Race at Clark, Pampanga. Registered for 10K.

Nov. 22 – Race for Life (race for the benefit of Real Life Foundation) at The Fort.  Registered online but haven’t claimed my race kit yet.

Nov. 30 – DMPI (Sun Cellular) Fun Run at UP Diliman.  An exclusive race for its company employees.  I will be almost forced (gladly though) to do this as my boss will surely require me to run with them.  So, it’s almost a sure thing for me.

Wowee.  Never thought November’s gonna be this race-busy.  Gee.  ‘Too much rhyming in hee.

Craving for ULTRA

Tomorrow morning, if all things go well, I shall have my second ULTRA [morning] experience.

The plus?  A new recruit to the MPG runners group.  WELKAM CLA!  

I’ll be running with our new recruit tomorrow.  I know the MPG pips can’t wait to get to race with her na din.  Now we got for ourselves a proven clown darling in the gang!

 

Nov. 5, 8:44 AM, Cathletic arriving to the office:

Haaay… things didn’t push through as planned.   Cla suddenly had the girly red alert, while I, who was supposed to take plan B instead (a morning run in UP),  had found it too nice to pass up on a golden opportunity to stay on my warm bed and savor the cool early morning breeze with more ZZzzzzs …  Boo!  Lazy me! 

What running has done to me so far [1 of n]

And let’s start with the most obvious ones…

  # 1   I’ve developed my calf muscles and my parents find it a bit disturbing that my legs were starting to look like that of a man. 

  # 2   I’ve grown darker in complexion.  Last night, over dinner with friends in UP and IDEA, I realized I am affected with their almost chorus comment, “Cathy, ang itim mo na!”     I know I went to the beach several times this summer, but there is no doubt that the MAK7 race and THAT-KOTR-SUPER-INIT!-RACE toasted my skin like what I could still see tan lines on my legs and arms until now.   In both races, I never applied a sunblock – so who’s to blame anyway…

  # 3   I became more race-hungry that I realized running and racing can be oh-so-easily addictive. 

  # 4   I gained weight.  Hehe.  Something I so like because I always wanted how it is to experience gaining weight.  Friends would tell me I’m so genetically blessed with a lean frame as I never ever get fat no matter how much and how often I eat in a day.  Believe me, my metabolism, if he/she were a person, is also race-crazy:  it works reeeeally fast! 

These are what I have thought of, so far.   I’m sure this list is going a long way – literally -  as long as I remain addicted to running.

There’s Math in running

 

Just because I’m a frustrated Mathematician, I figured that even in running sports there are plenty of mathematical operations at play.   For now I could at least enumerate those I had personal encounters with.

Additions/ Plus’es:   Running shoes (parked my regular rubber shoes), running shorts, sportswatch, weekly running plan, my own runners group, this blogsite, receipts of sportsdrink purchases, new runner friends, melanin (tanner complexion)

Subtractions/ Minus’es:  Free time on weekends, disposable income (due to purchase of new gears/gadgets), laziness, dullness

Multiplication/ Times:  “Angas” points, race certificates, knowledge of running blogsites, race photos, clothes for laundy pile

Division:  *Can’t think of a good one now but I hope someday I can say – PR!!!

Nangalawang.

Having lingered too long in the lazyland, I could barely finish one complete round of the Acad Oval in UP this morning. It’s been seven run-less days for me. The biking last Sunday didn’t count. Base training is really fundamental, and duh!, that’s redundant I know.

I finished only two rounds of the acad oval when I was supposed to run at least four (four rounds is roughly 8.8K). I decided I should just give in to a friend’s offer that we do a long run together in Pampanga. Whattheheck, it should go better that way as I know myself as someone who’s ever excited to try a different route everytime. To be honest, part of the reason isn’t even related to running – just plain excitement in discovering new places.

So I did an easy run instead, that turned out to be not so easy actually as I figured I was in the “nangalawang” mode. While I was doing a warm-up jog, something already ached on my left foot. That was too soon a coming for a bad sign.

Now I’m in Clark with my brothers and currently in a dreamy mode visualizing how the morning long run tomorrow, the Pampanga way, will look like. I’ve suggested that we do a practice run on the 10K route for the NB Power Race next weekend – clever eh! Then again I’m spending the night in SF and proceeding with the idea means getting back to Clark so early in the morning tomorrow when the Pampanga Sports Complex comes in more handy. Anyhow, SF or Clark, it shall be a Pampanga run tomorrow.

Running in SF

First of all, that is not San Francisco, USA.  (I wish, I wish.)  But the local version you find closest to home an hour and a half from Manila thru NLEX – tadaaan… San Fernando, Pampanga.

So Saturday afternoon I was at the Clark Air Base with my brothers.  It was supposed to be just a short-time get-together with siblings and that night I would be proceeding to Dree’s house in SF.  Dree and I had planned to do a morning run either in Clark (to test run the 10K NB race route) or just around SF in Pampanga Sports Complex.  The clock ticked 5PM and still my brothers were still out in the autoshop and I had grown tired of the showbiz talk show program I felt I had been compelled to watch.  Trivial stuffs and all, it felt weirdly amazing to get tidbits of info about local showbiz, haha. 

Anyway, my brothers had to stay longer in the autoshop (they brought the car for repair) and I had grown weary of waiting up on them that I decided to take on a mini-adventure and head to SF all alone with just my braveheart to guide me.  That was me just kidding of course.  Fact is, I had to call up my brother several times to get instructions on how to ride to SM Clark, where to find Terminal 2, and where to get off in SF.  T’was a cool mini-adventure except that I often forget people in Pampanga speak their dialect instead of Tagalog and I would get overwhelmed hearing too many “keni”s and “nang”s from their conversations.  Because of Pampanga’s proximity to Manila, I am always bent to think people are supposed to speak Tagalog there.

I got to SF roughly 7:30 PM, after getting for myself about an hour’s worth of stroll in SM Clark.   On a funny note, I arrived to my host’s house even earlier than she did that I was nearly mistaken for a “salisi gang” member by her aunt.  Hahaha.  “Takbo-takas gang” would be more apt, I think.  Anyway to cut the story short, I was offered some relleñong bangus, sauteed string beans, and rice for dinner (boy! just how detailed I can get with my narrations, hahaha!), with cheesecake as dessert (am going back! am going back!), then I chatted with her family for a few minutes and then hit the bed around 9:30 PM in preparation for the next morning’s long run. 

WARNING:  Do not be deceived.  With my friends, a long run is just 10K or a little more than that, while an easy/ short run is 5K and anything below.   The in-betweens of 5K and 10K we call semi-long runs.  Laugh at us, that’s fine.  We’re newbies anyway.

Sunday morning and my phoned alarmed at 5:05 AM.  I was badly lazy to get up as the morning breeze seemend to be hitting its best momentum to keep you curled up on your bed.  Some minutes later I saw Dree’s aunt and mom who were already up and dressed to walk/ jog!  Nyay!  I felt ashamed so I dragged myself to depart from the bed.  We exited the house around quarter to six already.  The plan was to run on the road sides to get to Pampanga Sports Complex (roughly 2K), do 15 rounds of PSC’s track oval (a total of 6K if the track was 400M long just as in ULTRA) and then run back home following the same route (another 2K) to complete our 10K plan. 

Pampanga Sports Complex (PSC).  See the watery sides of the track.

 

At the Rotonda in SF, Pampanga.

Running on the street I so loved!  As usual, it’s feast of the eyes for me, seeing many different things and being amazed at them (!) myself a newcomer in the area.  The only problem I saw was that the people there weren’t used to the sight -  of female runners bordering the road sides running in shorts.  I did not like the attention, nevertheless, as we ran fast and past them I immediately forgot the issue.

I loved the first 2K run to the complex.  I had the feeling it was going to be a very pleasant run.  At least internally I felt that my body was at it.  And it was a much awaited feeling after the previous day’s “nangalawang” mode morning run in UP, which surely contributed to that good feeling.  The machine got its needed oiling for this job. 

In PSC, we did only 10 or 11 rounds instead of 15.  We figured it can’t be a 400M distance as it’s way bigger than ULTRA.  My best guess is that its twice bigger (800M) or one and a half of ULTRA.  The complex was beautiful except that the track is partly flooded with water in a few areas which makes the other portions of the track sticky.  And I mean sticky enough to make screeching sounds as you put more effort into lifting your shoes from the ground.  

At first I found it cute and challenging.  There’s an additional force of gravity from the sticky track to make the run a more challenging experience.  But on my 9th set, I grew tired of the sound and thought it might even do damage to my shoes.  So it was I who signaled Dree to stop on our eleventh round and I suggested we should start running back home.  At that time, the running/ jogging crowd in PSC was already growing.  When we left, there were about 40 or 50 runners there sharing the track.    

I figured Dree should beat me in the NB race even if it’s supposed to be her first 10K.  She’s got better endurance than I do.  I usually start off fast but it’s for sure my second half is way slower than the first.  She, on the other hand, is a diesel runner who starts up slo-mo and then gets better and faster on her second half of the 10K.  It must be her swimming.  Or it must be that she’s simply stronger and swifter as a runner.

Roadrunner Dree.  Obviously, I was running behind her here as I occasionally took breaks to take some pictures.

But I ran ahead of her again as we head back home.  Again, as expected, there were the roadside spectators who can’t resist teasing us -  not in bad faith though, I believe.  They’re just not used to it.  A “manong” even gestured to be imitating us running as we passed by.  I paid no attention.  At that time, there were more vehicles on the street and I realized it’s hard to run inhaling all the cars’ smokes.  The 2K run back home was amazingly shorter, to my memory, than the first that I was asking Dree if we took a shortcut.  In any case we didn’t.  Just my mind I think, and my legs that were feeling amazingly strong even after the more or less 10K distance we have covered. 

When we reached the village, I told Dree we can give it the benefit of the doubt that PSC is 400M so we can run some more around the subdivision, which we did.  We finished 3 rounds equivalent to roughly 3K.  The last two rounds I experimented with sprint and walk intervals.  I would have been happier if it’s a sprint and slow jog sets, then again my breathing gets really bad after running fast that I’d opt to just walk to recover.  With this experiment, I beat Dree in reaching “my created” finish line (that’s when I told her it’s time to stop, hehe!) and I’m happy with it because I’m sure that in the actual race she’ll beat me.  Haha.

Running around the village.

 

Yay!  That’s too close a shot, hehe!

Tough [training] times are here…

This morning, AGAIN!, I was not able to pull off a morning run I had planned to do.  Blame that morning chilly breeze as December approaches.  The toughest combats in life are fought early in the morning.  This reality is twice true when you’re a runner. 

Somebody in my previous blog comments that someone should shoot me in the foot for tolerating seven run-less days.  That was funny to me.  But if my running coach would be merciless like that, I would be lame for sure come Christmas. 

The second option when you miss a morning run is to go for late evening, after work, runs.  Good thing there’s a second option and going home to UP everyday makes the setup doable for me.  Then again some evenings are filled with appointments and meetings I cannot easily dismiss or reschedule.  Running addict that I am, I know and recognize that are more important things than running -  Thank God, Cathy is sane!

As I dream of, er I mean I aim for, a better 10K PR I know that I shall have to toughen up and win my early morning combats.  Difficult times are here, difficult times are here…

A “thoughtful” run

After missing my supposed morning run yesterday, I decided I would have to go out to run late evening when I arrive home from work.  And so even if it was drizzling outside and my housemates almost nagged me about my intention to run -  when there’s a storm and it’s late evening already, la la la  -  I went out and got myself a quick 6K run in UP. 

The acad oval was nearly empty last night.  I was sharing it with just about four other guys who might have badly needed that run too, hence, the determination in running late night on a very lonely solitary acad oval.  The mood of the place even got me into senti mode.  It was a “thoughtful” run for me.  So many things crossed my mind and at some point I knew I was already being driven forward not by my legs but by my wandering mind.  I was thinking, thinking, thinking.  More into thinking than running. 

I stopped feeling the tension on my legs as my mind was preoccupied with so many other things.  I wasn’t disturbed but my mind was active like a person who gulped three cups of coffee in one sitting, then again it was also at peace.  Reflective mood, more that.  So leg pains had no place in that reflective mind.  I even joked I might need to employ that exercise in actual races –  it might just get me running faster and enduring the pains better.   Ha!  Na-ah.  Nowhere in the race you’ll find any opportunity to think of things other than running fast to get a new PR.  Or it could just be me, my competitive spirit, hehe.

Now I know why I love running.  Most of the time, it gives me a time alone with myself.  It gets me to think well and deeply about life and all the complications that go with it.  And then it tells me to go back to the basic and keep it simple. 

Just like in running, it has to be so simple as it teaches you that you only need to run, run  and run in order for you to be a good runner.  The only way to live life and to live it well is precisely to live it and to decide to live it well.  Nuninuninuni.

What, me? In track and field?

After taking a quick shower to flush out the sweat I got from my quick run last night (suddenly, everything needs to take up the adjective ”quick”, haha!),  I was all ready to hit the bed and call it a night.  

I totally had no idea I was still in for a surprise.

On my way to hit the bed, somebody texted me, about the Singolympics:

“XXXX handpicked you to train with the track and field team.  We have a training this Friday night…”

What?  Me?  In track and field?

You must be kidding man!

But I didn’t tell him that.  Instead I asked for the next training schedule as this Friday is supposed to be booked already for the Nike running clinic. 

Obviously, the picture is clear.  I want to check out what’s in there.  And what’s in there for me. 

To be honest, I like sprinting  -  but I have never ever been trained for it or officially joined any sprinting competition.  But as they say, there’s always a first time (wink).

Three days before NB race

Why do I like joining races?  One of the top reasons would be that it motivates me to train more often and more seriously.

What’s cooking for me now are three consecutive weekend races:  NB race in Clark this Sunday, Race for Life at The Fort on Saturday next week, and the DMPI Fun Run in UP on the last day of the month (What a month-ender is that!).  I have plenty on my plate, I know, but I hope this isn’t yet the case of one who’s “biting more than he can chew”. 

In any case, while I’m doing 10K in the first two and an 8.8K in the last (just because it’s the longest distance category offered- naks!), I am determined to attempt to set a new PR only in the NB race this Sunday.  The other two can be just like any relaxed long run for me.  Then again, because I know the crazy stuff I’m made of, my mindset can change one snap of a second during the actual race -  and Cathletic tries again to make it a chase run instead of a relaxed one!

This morning, I ran at ULTRA with Cla, who’s a dear friend of mine since college and who just decided to take up running as a hobby.  I did 10 laps of the track oval and was forced to quit after doing a timecheck on my watch.  Going on my eleventh round, it was sometime 7:20 AM already when I checked and I realized I still needed to take a shower after, change to office attire, and get an FX to bring me to Robinsons. 

This is what I don’t like much with my morning runs where I end up only half-satisfied (eeengk! bigtime “bitin”) with my practices.  The twin hassles of forcing oneself to get up so early in the morning and then ending up not being able to run as long as you want and can are surely big cons for me.  Nevertheless, it’s obvious that solving the first means solving the second problem too.  No difficult Algebra needed there. 

Ergo, slow runners like me aren’t born.  Rather, they are created when a person worships laziness beyond the tolerable level.

New Power found @ NB Power Race ‘08

Little did I know this Clark race would be so much fun!

While I think runners’ blogs shouldn’t sound this cheesy, then again I cannot help but state the events as they unfolded.  With my MPG runner-friends and the local running community invading Clark, this weekend’s New Balance Power Race ‘08 had been so whackily fun!   This is definitely one of my best races, if not ‘the best’, this year. 

Kudos to the organizers for the systematic setup and procedures, for giving plenty of freebies, and for choosing a very nice venue!  They were twice lucky too for affording to offer racers a nice cloudy weather that made the running experience a little more pleasant, and bearable to some.

MPG @ NB Race:  Jihan, Carla, Myself, Dree, Romel, Mox, and Ryan  (Not in pic:  Bless, Francis, & Ami)

I was thinking the weather condition should have been a big help especially to those who ran 25K -  and also to those who took up 10K for the first time.  As for me, it was my third 10K race and I am happy to get myself a new PR!  Don’t be fooled to think it’s something worth the notice.  Truth is, I am really sloooow as a runner but I am inspired to see I that am improving anyhow. 

New PR for me!  (But I seriously want to get rid of the number 7,  tsk!) 

This time, I finished 10K at the NB Power Race in 71 minutes (unofficial record) -  which means I shaved off 6 minutes from my record in OctobeRun.  I should be saying ‘Yahoo!’ now for at least getting myself a better time, only that I had honestly aimed for at least a sub-70 minutes record.  At the turnaround for 10K, I clocked in 35 minutes and I cringed at the thought of having to muster a negative split in order to get a sub-70.  But I had tried, you know. 

You’d be laughing if I tell you I was really working hard at it that I was doing alternates of sprint and walk in my last two kilometers.  In fact, when I was sprinting and was able to ran past a coach and his trainee who were running together, the coach perhaps was taken aback with my unusual speed that he shouted, “Oh, that was fast!”.  That’s one of the many comic turns for me in that race -  major Hahaha!  because in no less than two minutes, the same coach would see me walking and gasping for breath with a loser’s face.  Ha ha ha!

Another comic story took place on my last half-kilometer when I was back at the Parade Grounds.  All my friends who ran 10K were faster than I am and they had all been out of my sight after the turnaround.  So in the last half KM stretch I got surprised to spot Ryan just close ahead of me, and that’s when an evil intention formed in my mind as I cooked up this plan of sprinting really fast and overtaking him at the finish line.  Hahaha, naughty me!  But the good heavens forbid evil intentions to materialize.  Apparently Ryan was also doing the same -  sprinting the last few distance!  And my friends were all laughing when I was telling them this story during the post-race breakfast.  Ryan, on the other hand, joked that I’d always finish a minute later than he does in all the group’s races -  which had been the case, by the way, in three races we both joined including this one.  Now what a challenge is that!

I was also gladdened to have met in this race two runners from Takbo.ph, Queenie and Rene.  Apparently there were more Takbo.ph people who also ran this race, and were able to spot me! as they said the forums (ang daya!), but I was not able to meet them.  For one, some of them ran the 25K and I left the race venue before most of the 25Kers finished as my friends and I went rushing to find a place where we can grab a bite. 

I have to mention that Rene was gracious to give me a Runnex singlet (he’s a member of the Runnex club) and I am most inspired by the move.  I felt it was a formal welcoming for me into the local running community and it makes me want to run more and inspire others to do the same.  Rene, thank you thank you – and you’ll see me running soon in that Runnex singlet!

Let some of these pics tell you more story about our funfunfun NB race:

 

This is how the Saturday race, for 1.2K (kids) and 5K looked like.  Three MPG runners – Carla, Ami, and Bless -  did the 5K so most of my gang (including myself) were already in Clark last Saturday afternoon to support our 5Kers.  Dree and Ryan’s families and relatives also ran the 5K race, all of them first timers in a race.

Posing with some of our 5Kers:  Dree’s mommita beside here, Carla in her bandana look, and Dree’s aunt – Darang Edis.

New @ MPG:  The Saturday 5K race was a baptism race into the MPG gang for Ami (leftmost in powder blue shorts) and Blessie (in pink bandana).  They so loved their first race experience I am almost sure now they’ll be running more races with us soon.

The 10Kers turn:  Bless took this pic while we were in real stretching mode prior to 25K and 10K races Sunday early morning.  Seen in this pic are Francis, Ryan, Jihan, Myself, and Dree.  Mox and Romel were missing in action, perhaps already easing their way to enter the assembly area.  This time there were seven of us already in the 10K category -  the relatively new ones are myself, Frans, and Dree.  Among the seven 10Kers, I finished last and that should explain why they call me the MPG president.  I want to get faster soon just to get rid of that title, hahaha!

True to its name:  So MPG naman!   While somebody kept on announcing over the megaphone that competitive runners should stay infront and the ‘not so’ at the back, my friends insisted that we stay right at the very front of the starting line.  Serious runners would squirm at this, but there we were occupying the first row as can be seen in this picture.  Set your gaze at the light from the lamp post and right below it you will see myself in white headband.  Right next to me on my right is Ryan and on my left are Jihan (with black collar) and Dree (in blue bandana).  Mox, Romel and Frans were in the third row, still mastering how it is to be MPG.

‘Winner feeling’ with the finisher medals on!  Among my friends, Mox finished the fastest runner in the group that he, in fact, got a loot bag that’s given out only to the top 20 or 30 finishers for 10K.  You are no MPG man, you are real!  That’s why you don’t get emals from our egroup, fake MPG!  Hahaha!

Post-race stretching:  Funny how we seemed to be doing different things here when the fitness instructors on the stage were demonstrating only one type of stretch at a given time.  And somebody looks absolutely funny here, but I won’t tell, hehehe.

‘Chill’ mode:  We were unstoppable in photo-ops!  This shot was taken while we were waiting for Ryan to get the car to bring us to the nearest resto where we can grab a bite, or two.  Needless to mention, we were all tired and HUNGRY.

Yumyum!  This is what you call carbo-REloading the MPG way.  Hearty breakfast and lotsa laugh trips at Rumpa resto in Clark.

Acknowledgments:  Thankyouthakyouthankyou to our hosts Ryan and Dree (who are both Pampangeños) for serving as our gracious hosts in this NB race.  Now we found our North Luz headquarters for the MPG runners.  I should take care of our South Luz HQ, hehehe!

First session of Nike Running Clinic

 

I may really just get a brighter future in sprinting, than in distance running. 

That’s what I realized from last night’s Nike running clinic where we, the Tuesdays group of trainees, had our first session.

The running clinic last night was impressive.  The program, I just realized then, is more serious than I thought.   The coaches made us run, run and run!  Well, what do you expect to get from a running clinic anyway. 

I went to ULTRA last night with Brian who’s also a newbie in running.  Side by side him, I could be considered a semi-veteran in races as this guy hasn’t tried road racing yet.  I am pretty sure though, from last night’s scenarios, that 5K is chickenfeed to him and he will run past me in 10K. 

Being a telco person, I work more than eight hours a day and I usually depart from my office desk at 7PM the earliest.  So I had hoped for the running clinic to take some delays in starting so that I could catch up right in time for the sessions. 

But NO!  The people manning the clinic are runners too (running coaches even!) and these guys know what minutes or seconds delay in time is worth.  Things went the other way around.  I learned that as early as quarter to 7PM, a batch of trainees were already doing their warm-up runs.  To cut things short, I was a latecomer – a very latecomer! -  and I ended up being the lone female among three guys.  We were the last batch handled for the night.  FYI:  They have separate sessions for males and females.

Call time for the Nike clinic is at 7PM.  Brian and I arrived to the venue 40 minutes late.   Walking towards the track, I was surprised to see several packs of runners donning in race bibs on top of their shirt.  And I suddenly thought we were lost.  After inquiring though, I learned that that race bib contains your trainee number and you’re supposed to wear it everytime you attend the sessions.  

Last night’s training consisted of time trial runs of two sets of 4 laps with 10-minute break in between, one set of 2 laps, and then a finale of just 1 lap.  They get your time from the runs and record it.  I think those times of finish recorded are supposed to help them assess whether a trainee shall have to be assigned to the beginners group, middle, or advanced. 

And since I missed the chance to be with the other lady trainees, I had to be running side by side three guys in finishing all the sets.  As expected, I lagged behind them and Brian was consistently the fastest.  I didn’t mind it though as I saw one of the guys do walks in between while I did continuous running.  Joining road races made me realize that long distance running is, in the end, really a game of endurance.  And that’s an area I’ve been working on really hard for sometime now.

But there’s a highlight for me in that session.  Without intending to, I took the limelight in the finale run of just one lap.  The assistant coach told me I can run my fastest pace this time as this is only 1 lap and then I immediately asked if I could sprint it.  He said, “kung anong kaya mo ma’am” and so I did what I could.  In my last set, I ran full speed with my longest stride and before I knew it the coaches started shouting cheering me on because I left two of the guys far behind me while Brian was trying to catch up but wasn’t able to until after the 300th meter.  I think I caught them surprised, haha.  I had been running snail pace in all the other sets -  or at least, side by side my batch of all-male I was ’snail pace’.   In the last set, I finished close second to Brian.

The clinic was fun, well, serious too.  I wonder what they’d let us do next Tuesday…

What’s on my plate tonight

Training with the track and field team for Singolympics at UST…

I don’t know what I’m getting myself into.  They just told me they need people to play/ race and a friend volunteered me into it as he knew I’ve been into distance running lately -  but distance here defined as 10K the farthest, haha!  And another team wants to get me play for them in badminton.

Do these people have an idea I used to be sickly and weakling as a child?

My calves hurt

Last night wasn’t about training but more of trial runs to find out who’ll do the 100m dash, the 200m, the full 400m, the 2x 400m and the relays.  

I am doing the 200m sprint race on Sunday, apart from being the first runner in two relay races.  Best luck to me.

Now don’t dare think I was assigned that because I did well last night.  Truth is, it’s simply because there are no other girls in the team so we were all given our dues.

After the sprint trials last night, my calves hurt.  Now I know why they say that sprinters are more injury-prone than distance runners.  The muscles in the legs would get the shock of their lives everytime you sprint!  Ha ha ha!  

And there was an added challenge to last night’s sprint trials.  We had to do it on an unlit grassy ballground of UST.  The surface was uneven but you only feel it because it’s dark you never really see what you’re stepping on.  It was kind of okay though to me because, at the very least, I am sure to land on a soft ground if ever I fall while pushing it my best. 

True enough, I went close to stumbling down while running full speed with the uneven surface and the lack of proper lighting.  Sprint racing brings up all the adrenaline rush in you and you begin not to care about anything except to cross the finish line first.  But last night I sort of shivered at the thought of the I-almost-fell-while-sprinting experience.  I was pushing it hard so I know that if I had really fallen to the ground, it’s going to be a “hard fall” too.  Yay!  I’m no ready for that.  That’s MPG to the nth level.

I don’t like the idea of being injured.  I think I want to run safe. 

So after the sprint races this Sunday, that’s supposed to come after a 10K race this Saturday (now my mother starts to wonder what it is I want prove to the world, hahaha!),  I shall go back to focusing on my distance running career.  I may be slow in finishing my 10K but I finish it still standing tall on my two strong feet and so injury-free. 

Not like this, when we only did a few sprint trials last night and still my calves hurt as of this writing.

How to deal

I don’t know what to do with my race tomorrow at The Fort. 

I am racing 10K in Race for Life.  Probably I should quit saying “I am racing”.  When one says he or she will race, dealing with that statement automatically means doing a chase run -  either for a new PR, or for an enemy on the race track, or for the medal and prize -  or for all of these if you’re a road monster.

So I say ‘I am running tomorrow’,  barely in good shape after covering shamelessly little mileage this week and still haven’t fully recovered from the past weekend’s NB race ‘high’ -   I intend to make it a relaxed run instead.   One more thing, I cannot be injured before Sunday where I shall have my first ever sprint race in Singolympics.   Not that I want to win.   Oh, but it’s prolly nice to win it.  But I am more after putting up a nice play for my team.  I cannot mess up there. 

Our SFC chapter’s track and field trainer last night in a sorta closing prayer after our practice went: 

“… Lord, make us ready to fight, ready to win, and ready to glorify You.  Amen.”

Yay!  You sound serious man!  Me scared.

Anyway, back to topic -  How I plan to deal with tomorrow and How I actually end up dealing with it tomorrow may turn out to be two different stories afterall.  How exciting life is.

Race for Life on Saturday & Sprint Race on Sunday

For a not-yet-that-strong lady runner, having consecutive races every weekend is quite a crazy thing to do – uhm, actually not quite so for running addicts, but back-to-back races in one weekend is already lurking on the twice crazy side, at least for my case.

That’s why I messed my 10K run in Race for Life last Saturday just to save my first ever entry into sprint races yesterday.

And it paid off!  My track and field team won champion overall in the Singolympics and we, the women, did the “pulling up”.  It’s not like our men in the team did so poorly, but more because they ran side by side “pro” sprint monsters for their opponents. 

***

First things first.

Race for Life, The Fort.  Nov. 22 (Saturday)

My friends asked if I’d call this my worst race so far.  Erm, I thought for a while and then I said, ‘Yes… so far’.   Not that Race for Life went totally amiss as I’m sure there were many people who had their road racing debut there and found a great time for themselves.  In fact, I too had a great time.  I think the mere fact that it’s running, which is something I will always love to do, and I was with my great, great running buddies -  every race shall always be a good race.

But according to the order of enjoyment of one’s race experience, getting a good time of finish, and race venue setup and convenience of procedures, so far this would qualify to be one of my least favorites.  But this isn’t like ‘it’s the organizers fault!’  –   hmn, NOPE, not that.  This being the race before my ‘first ever sprint race’ - and the latter having me all really excited -  it was doomed to be, at the most, just a ’second best’. 

I had followed my initial plan, which is to make this a relaxed run to save my energy for the following day.  Truth is, I further demoted it to a ‘relaxed run and walk’. 

But I should mention other things which made this race less pleasant for me when I had previously planned to just enjoy this run.

> We arrived more than 10 minutes late to the race venue which forced me to have to pass through the “confused” stage first before eventually easing to the relaxed running mode.  And I thought there was something weird with the positioning of the start/ finish line.  I don’t have the abundance of words and time to describe it now but I just found it weird. 

>  I don’t know if it was just me, but I thought I had some unwanted dose of chaos last Saturday.  There were too many cars parked in the race route, too many groups of ‘walkers’ who would occupy the entire lane (you’re left clueless how to get through them and you end up bumping into them or you take the other lane at the risk of being hit by cars), high traffic and being forced to stop several times at the intersection points, and finally -  and this is so personal I know, I realized my calves had not fully recovered yet from the sprint trials. 

Don’t get me wrong about the ‘walkers’ thing because in fact, I had joined them even before I started my second loop.  I figure there were more recreational runners in this race as this was, in the first place, a run for a cause.   That’s apart from the fact that there were still two major races the following day. 

It is also in this race where I learned how important it is to ‘listen to your body’.  My calves weren’t in good shape still and I kept on feeling a tingling sensation while I ran.  Since I could not afford to be injured that day, I took it easy and alternated running and walking.

Jihan and Ryan had a fair share of incongruent things happening in this race as they had both registered for 10K but got race kits that were for 5K.  Of course they hated it as they had already psyched themselves to be running 10K. 

Finishers still:  Myself, Cha, Ami, Jihan, and Dree

Pre-breakfast kulitan

Ryan as our muse for the day

 

***

My first ever Sprint Race in Singolympics.  Marikina Sports Complex, Nov. 23 (Sunday)

I was in full ecstatic mood yesterday!  I had totally enjoyed my sprint races.

Leaving Marikina Sports Complex almost 5PM already yesterday, I sent this SMS to our trainer:  “Hey Denmark, thank you for the coaching.  Did you know it was first time to do sprint race?  And I really enjoyed my runs.”

While hearing mass at UP chapel, I had to be whispering “sorry, God” several times as I found it difficult to focus as scenes from the sprint races kept rolling in my mind.  I was hilariously “high” with it,  Ha ha! 

So we won 1st place in women’s 4×100m sprint relay and in the more challenging 4×200m relay.  It was funfunfun! 

But my 200m individual sprint performance sucked!  I finished second to the last and I figure it must be the Mcburger, fries and iced tea which I took 10 minutes before I had that run.  Golly it felt weird to be feeling those foodstuffs joggling inside my tummy while trying to sprint.  Good thing the relay races came a little later that afternoon when I was back to my elements.

There’s a different kind of high in sprint races.  It’s more competitive, yes, and pressure is exponentially higher.  Yesterday, I would have butterflies in my stomach minutes before each race.  And I thought it was a kind of feeling so similar to what I’d experince when I would join impromptu speech contests back in high school.

I also enjoyed my bonding moment with my team.  One of my male teammate asked how long I finish my 10Ks.  Before answering, I asked him first how long he finishes his.  I nearly choked when he said, “45 minutes”.  And then I was obliged to say mine.  Hesitant, I said, “Oh never mind, I’m sooo slow… really slow!”  But he insisted, “So, ano nga?” 

“Wala, 73 minutes!  Ambagal!”  I replied.

And surprised, he uttered, “Hah?!  73 minutes?  Ah, mabagal ka nga!”  And that came with teasing smile.

Oh, you wait til I finish my running clinic.  Hahaha!  (I wish!)

MSC filled with over 1,000 SFC athletes and spectators.

And MSC has a nice Olympic size pool too!

Sick mode

I’m currently down with colds and yesterday was a house arrest day for me. 

After my back-to-back races the past weekend, I made sure my Monday was supposed to be a rest day – definitely a “no run” day.  But I was supposed to be back and up already by Tuesday to attend my second session at the Nike running clinic. 

But surprise of surprises, Tuesday turned out to be a sick day.  Oh and what a nice succession is that -   rest day then sick day! 

I was glad anyway to have found an excuse to stay curled on my bed most of the time yesterday and get plenty of sleep.  Oh but the self-enforced water therapy (I probably finished up more than five 1L pitchers of water yesterday!) proved to be a not-so-easy task.  But it worked, I think. 

I am giving this colds two more days from today for an ultimatum.

Aww, I’m missing the Company Fun Run

Have you ever had yourself all psyched up to join a race just to find out 3 days before the actual race that you can’t make it?

Terrible.  Tsk.

Running with a cold

 

How?  Just run and think like you don’t have one.

Last night’s was a get-back-on-the-track run, after shamelessly putting up with my having colds as lame excuse for not running.  Good thing someone in the forums teases me to quit from just making ‘kulit’ side-comments in the ‘Today’s Run’ thread, as I didn’t have mileage covered to post anyway, and reminds me that the UP oval has been awaiting my next run.  As if that wasn’t enough a scolding for me, another runner posts about his run while having a bad cold. 

Thanks guys, you just made your point –  straight to my face this time – that runners shouldn’t be softies.

I finished 3 laps of the acad oval last night (roughly 6.6km) with stops in between.  The first stop was to catch my breath as I’ve ran rather speedily when I tried to consciously practice the “lean forward” technique of the Pose Running method.  Talk about experimentations again.  Well, it might just work, who knows. 

Another stop was to rescue my dry throat, which I thought to be a well-justified break:  well, you stop at water stations on the 2.5km’s mark (I was then finishing my 2nd lap so I’ve covered more than 2.5km), and besides, I’m recovering from a cold – oh but didn’t I just say at the start not to think you have one, yay… 

Last night’s was sort of uncomfy running for me, despite the fact that it’s only been four days since the last time I ran/ joined the sprint race.  Muscles tightening on the lower leg part, my breathing shallow and uneven, and my skin richly perspiring on a rather humid UP evening  -  last night felt like it’s been a semi-forever since I last ran!  Oh but I enjoyed it.

A puzzle hard to crack:  Find me a reason to hate running.

Catching up, on so many things

 

‘Been an absentee in so many things lately, but Cathletic is back – even stronger and better this time, I hope (wink).  Someone jokingly teased me about my still having a cold last night at the Nike clinic (as he learned from this blog) -  Hmn, I’m completely well, prometheus cometh.  Byebye sick mode now.

I wouldn’t possibly trade the company fun run this past weekend for something of lesser value.  I was homebound to Bicol and had we some greatgreat family time together!  And our long drive, my two older brothers with me acting as shift drivers (it was our first!, as my kuyas aren’t really used to long distance driving), proved to be more interesting than expected. 

To give you a peek to our eventful driving experience:  we got a flat tire while exiting Bicol Monday afternoon and we were stranded at one of those roadside auto vulcanizing shop for over an hour! 

 

Nuninuni Run in Bicol

Anyhoo, my Bicol weekend was a blast and I was able to sneak in a short 4km run, with matching drama on the side:  ‘reminiscing high school days’.  It was a great chance to visit my alma mater in high school, the University of St. Anthony in Iriga City, and try my feet on their new track oval.

Let me take you to my beloved USANT through these pictures.

USANT Forum.  Oh, the so many memories of yesteryears … (nuninuninuni).  One passes by all the high school, elementary and college buildings – and also this coliseum – to go to the track oval that is situated far inside the university compound. 

The track oval’s surface is not rubberized so it’s not as runner-friendly as the ones in ULTRA and Marikina Sports Complex.  Then again, I totally enjoyed doing a reminiscing drama run in there. 

Beside the track oval are the twin lawn tennis courts, a basketball court, and a swimming pool.  When I left USANT, all these new sports facilities were still on the building stage.  Oh but I am glad the school is even prettier this time.

 

Back at the Nike Running Clinic

And all the while I thought I’d be totally lost last night after snubbing, unintentionally though, last week’s run sesssions.  Thank goodness, last night’s session turned out to be one of my fave types of training -speed intervals. 

I can be a speedster if I choose to but in distance running I take it all slow because speed running easily saps all my energy.  But during interval trainings, your need for speed get satiated.  Run fast all you want and you’ll be fine.  My own mantra for this training is:  Run like there’s no tomorrow.  Needless to say, I enjoyed every bit of second when I raced against my own heartbeat last night!  It was draining, true, but I so lovelove sprinting! 

I figure there’s no need to spell it out here, but I will anyway, hehe.  You know what made me love it more?  I was consistently running ahead of my classmates and was leading the pack side by side a coach who was pacing us.  (Uh-oh, competitive me!)  There were even times when I ran ahead of our pacer because I really felt that I could hack it at a faster pace still.  That urged our coach to poke a joke on me on our next set:  ”Sabay lang kayo sa ‘kin, yung mauna papatayin ko!”  (Just keep with my pace.  I’ll kill you if you run ahead of me!) 

Yay!  Death threat!  And I’ve always been an advocate of safe running, hehe! 

Last night’s session consisted of a longer 5 laps warmup run, 3 sets of 3×200m speed intervals, and some running drills.  Intense, intense, intense!  As usual I arrived late and a friend from the early birds batch shouted at me while I was approaching the training venue:  “Uy, Cath late ka na naman!”  (Hey Cathy, you’re late again!)  Nyay, a consistent latecomer and now it’s for the whole world to know, hahaha!

Prolly because I was to able run fast last night and was leading the pack most of the time, the coaches started noticing my form.  And OH! my running form – if there’s anyone most frequently imitated in his/her running form amongst all of my friends, and I mean “imitating for everyone’s laughter trip”, that is unfortunately ME.  I take no offense because it’s true.  I look too girly a runner – with some weird sideways twitching of my right leg.  My friends call it running with ‘pilantik’ or ‘maarte’ running.

Believe me, that is sooo untentional and I just run the way I usually do.  So I’ve been running ‘maarte’ all this time afterall. 

So not-one, not-two, but THREE coaches approached me last night, at three separate instances!, just to point out to me what seemed to look weird in my running form.  Expectedly, it’s that weird sideways twitching of my right leg that they noticed.  They told me to just run straight and get rid of that weirdo movement.  I somehow got an assurance that we will correct it together in the next run sessions.

Then again, it’s really that noticeable eh?  One coach even asked me to run infront of him for a demo while some classmates watched.

And I got a copy of our class pic from last night from ibetlacbay (vballrunner.wordpress.com), yey!

Prolly this is 1/6 of last night’s total attendance.  This group comprises mostly of the latecomers batch, owkey my batch.  To solve your boredom, let’s play the ‘find me!’ game.

 

And what’s a better way to catch up

… than throwing my MPG sportswatch to the wastebasket and getting this humble Timex Ironman Triathlon sportswatch at 50% discount.  That is, to get myself more accurate timing for my practice runs. 

Friends, Timex stores are on sale these days.  Either you get the buy one take one watches at P3K (yes, that’s two watches for P3K) or get great item finds at 50% off the original price.  What a treat! 

And running ‘times’ will never be the same again.

Diliman Marathon 2008

 

I cannot deny the UP ‘angas’  in me.  But it doesn’t have fangs, don’t worry.  It’s mostly for ‘kalokohan’.   I use it only to counter my fellow Isko/a’s ‘angas’ moves, all in the name of fun (a.k.a. “kulitan”).

But the Diliman Marathon singlet registers 101% angas points. 

I was sooo drooling over it when a friend e-mailed me an image copy.  Whatta!  I want to run this.  — Oh, but cannot be.  It’s on a weekday (on December 15). 

This is the first time I get so tempted to register just to get myself this singlet as a UP Centennial celebration memorabilia. 

To those who can and will run this, bring me pre-X’mas gifts of a nice race recap.  And do enjoy yourselves  a lot.  And – yes – think of me all green in envy…  sulking in a dark corner of my Ortigas office.  Ooops!, this is getting uber dramatic now.

Runnex 25th Executive Classic

December 7, 2008. UP Diliman, QC.

This was the first homecourt race for me. I was all familiar with the race route that I could possibly finish the 10K course even while blindfolded. Exag, I know.

But surprise of surprises, what was supposed to be a more convenient race for me turned out to be one that’s filled with funnily embarrassing encounters.

Anyhoo, to start off, there were just supposedly Moks and myself to run this event. The rest of the MPG gang were either injured, chose to run the Nokia instead of this one, or just plain too busy to race again just yet.

Dree was a welcome addition, however. Just when I hit the bed last night after coming home from a Christmas party, Dree texted to tell me she wanted to try bandit running in the Runnex race. I thought: “Cool! Somebody to take my picture!” That’s because I wasn’t sure if Moks would be game enough to join me and help me do the ‘needed’ photo-ops.

(I am an MPG hardcore. That’s required of the President. And photo-ops are a staple to race recaps. LOL!)

Pre-race, with Dree and Moks

According to Rene, a friend of mine from Runnex, there were about 500 runners who came to the event. This race had plenty, plenty of company sponsors. As a result, one turns either left or right and he/she necessarily bumps into a booth of freebies. Wowowee! But my personal favorite was the cold Milo drink that quenched my post-race thirst all just perfectly.

The race I found beautiful, especially that I never tire of admiring the lush scenery in UP and its fresh air. The only bad point is that I ran this race rather poorly. I had thought it to be an easier 10K race for me as the course is mostly flat, with just really mild slopes, and I was already familiar with the route.

But OH!, I finished a minute longer than my PR in New Balance. And I had more walking breaks this time.

AND, my bosses, including our CEO, all finished ahead of me!

So my question goes – Where is the power of my youth?

While Moks sped ahead, Dree had volunteered to pace me during the entire run. And guess what happened? I think I almost annoyed her with my repeated asking of “Can I walk?” while she ran continuously from start to end. There were even times when she’d turn back to wait for me while I had my walking breaks.

Shameless me!, I was the one with the race bib tucked on my shirt while she was only bandit running.

- Was it my personal hulabaloo the day before this race while I hunted for a Witch or Little Red Riding Hood costume for the Christmas party I attended last night? – Or was it last night’s party? – Or was it my own hard-headedness and desire for speed, and lack of foresight, and lack of control?

Poor time of finish; then again, as I always assert (shamelessly), a finisher still.

Anyhoo, as I never fail of getting myself funny encounters in races, okay, I have one again for this race. There’s this old male runner who happened to be running my pace and we would repeatedly overtake each other alternately. One time when he was overtaking me as I slowed down, he told me: “Pag malayo na ko, humabol ka uli ha.” I nodded, smiling, as I realize it became apparent we’re of the same pace and we might register closely similar times of finish.

But this old man finished one whole minute ahead of me. I should know because after crossing the finish line, the man approached me - to my surprise! - just to ask how I ended my run. He must have glanced back before crossing the finish line and was taken aback to find me nowhere in sight, hahaha!

I told him I had taken too many walking breaks, and that I was amazed at how he could sustain it running continuously til end. He laughed and then answered: “Oh, but you’re young and look at me I’m 72 years old!”

Owkey, major ‘dyahe’ moment for me. Again, my question goes – Where is the power of my youth?

Finally, I should also mention another MPG moment in this race: My name was called during the pep talk of the host when runners began filling the assembly area. I didn’t it hear myself, as I was busily transacting at the baggage counter, but Dree and Moks did. And I was like, Hah? What for?

Later on, during a small talk with Rene, he told me that he, indeed, asked for my name to be announced in the greetings part of the pep talk. Hahaha!, thank you but that too is so-MPG, Rene. How funny!

Anyway, for this race we had a different kind of cool-down activity. Moks, Dree and I went cycling and covered a total distance of 6.6km (3 laps of the acad oval). Thanks to Moks and his UPM friends for lending us their mountain bikes.

T’was a PR after all!

 

Runnex race results are now out.   See here. 

What’s in it for me?  Funnily, even after so much complaining of having run poorly this race, Oh well!,  I PRed it.

A matter of 3 seconds shorter than my 10K in New Balance.   LOL! 

Runnex 10K -                  1:14:56

NB Power Race 10K -       1:14:59

Don’t remind me that these things are not worthy to share in public. 

I so know that.  LOL! 

[My] 3rd run session at the Nike clinic

 

I showed up at ULTRA for the training a bit earlier than usual last night.  So it was expected that the person who’d often greet me for being a notorious latecomer would notice.  So this time I got a nicer shout-out comment from Ronald, “Uy, maaga ka ngayon!”  (Hey, you’re early today!)  I just waved my hand and said ‘Hi!’ as I went on doing my warmup run.

Last night’s session was exactly similar to the past Tuesday’s.  Some warmup runs, 3 sets of 3×200m speed intervals, and stretches and running drills.  I went home wasted, my calves a bit hurting but tolerable.

I was with a group of faster lady runners last night.  They were way more competitive than the group I paced with last week.  I realized that those women in my group last night were already road racers;  last week’s were really oh-so-fresh newbies who have no experience yet in joining local races, that’s why for them I was ‘fast’.

So I ended up finishing the sets as just the second or third runner.  I realized I wasn’t really in the racing mood last night compared to last week.  Hence, when we were starting our third set of the speed intervals, Coach Rio pointed to me and said, “O, di ba last week eto yung pinakamalakas?…”  (Isn’t she the strongest last week?)

That was the cue for me.  I needed to cut the dreamy mode of my lazy leg that evening.  I needed to get going.  In the last 200m of the third set, I ran full speed and finished first in my group. 

To set our perspectives straight, of course, the purpose of the speed training isn’t really on landing first in the ranking, not even just racing with your groupmates!, but just running your fastest pace everytime (actually, in between recovery periods) with the goal of increasing your anaerobic threshold.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is about mixing high intensity bursts of exercise with moderate intensity recovery periods. It’s brutal but has incredible advantages.  It is all about increasing your anaerobic threshold and this may be more important than your VO2max.   (Source: http://www.intervaltraining.net/)

I found last night’s interval training more deadly than last week’s.  While the coaches were happy that we finished our run session noticeably earlier last night – oh!, by the way they were thinking it’s because we were getting faster!  -   I found it more brutal on my legs that we were given shorter recovery periods in between, which I think cut the run session time.

I would have not entirely recovered yet from the previous 200m speed run but then we would be called up already by the coaches for the next.  I think they’d cut our recovery periods by half.  Then again, why do I expect things to grow more gentle in this running clinic when it’s all obvious the coaches are going to push us even harder after each session.  Oh, I Love/Hate running…  You got it so right, New Balance.

I got to chat more with Jay this time and was also able to meet Wilbert.  Jay sounds like a pro (I seriously think he is) especially when he talked about his personal training program of 5 runs every week and how he seriously plots his getting a nice full marathon finish next year.  Inspiring… but that’s soo 3-5 years a goal for me.  OR MORE.  Probably more.

By the way, this time our coach-pacer commented on my breathing, that was more ‘hingal-aso’  (breathe like a dog).  He said I needed to practice deep breathing everytime.  Oh I know, but I don’t know how to exactly do that, especially while running.

Up for ICTUS!

 

This coming Sunday shall be a race day for me.  For this UP ICTUS Century Run, I give myself zero chance to (again!) present excuses as to why I should run poorly and not enjoy this event. 

I will enjoy this race and I will run it well  (fingers crossed).  No unnecessary pressures, but some amount of it -   just enough -  would definitely help to get me motivated to ‘levelup!’,  as an MPG friend of ours would put it. 

The UP ICTUS Century Run will be my last race for this year, and it shall be a special one for so many reasons I need not elaborate on.  Let’s just say that this year, 2008, is when I started getting hooked to running and began joining local races.  So it just seems perfectly justified to aim at closing this wonderful ‘running’ year for me with a race well-enjoyed and well-ran.  Wohoo!  Go Cathletic!   Talk about cheering for oneself, har har! 

Then again, no unnecessary pressures.  A PR is something always nice to take home after a race, but if and when that doesn’t happen, no biggie!, the whole 2009 is well ahead of me. 

Last night, I squeezed in a 5K run in UP with aching calves, which forced me to do a painful run as the mere act of lifting each foot from the ground hurt.  Then, on my way for a cool down stretch, I suddenly felt my vision blurrying as if I was near fainting. 

I know that that was scary, especially for someone like me who’s never had any fainting drama ever in my whole life!  I mean, I’ve seen plenty of friends and acquaintances who would faint while facing stressful situations.  I’m no that.  But last night was freaky!  I felt like I wasn’t in control. 

So I walked to our Econ tambayan to meet some friends and to tell them what I just experienced.  I think the blurry-vision-near-dizzy act lasted for a couple of minutes.  It must be my lack of ample sleep these past days.  Check, I’ll work on it.

Back to topic now -  I’m all excited to meeting many good friends for this Sunday’s race.  As I’ll be home for Christmas, this shall be a get-together of sorts as well with my Manila friends whom I’ll miss for the holidays as I take my provincial leave. 

So, see you guys this Sunday.  And let’s run merrily. 

Update: Diliman Marathon 2008

 

As some people have come up bugging me about the details of the Diliman Marathon, I inquired from a friend (who e-mailed me the singlet design)  if this event is pushing through on the 15th.  Apparently, this race hasn’t been openly promoted yet and what I initially got, and shared in this blog, was just insider feed.

The Diliman Marathon 2008 is pushing through on December 15, obviously at UP Diliman.  Organizers said they will set up registration booths at the UP ICTUS Century Run this coming Sunday.  There will also be onsite registration on the day itself, on December 15. 

And, guess what, something unusual (at least to me) -  race start is at 3PM.  Hehe.  Anyway, just be there at 2PM, or earlier to be sure, for the onsite reg and the claiming of your race packets.  Oh yes, the race packet!, because afterall I know I made you drool just as much as I did when I posted here the singlet design.

Good luck to those who will run this!

UP Ictus Centennial Run

December 14, 2008 (Sunday) @ UP Diliman, QC.

“Let’s give it to Cathy.  It’s her day.”   My friends later on confessed to be saying this about me as they predicted I’d beat Atty.  in this ‘pagtutuos’  race of ours.  But I wasn’t as happy about finally overtaking him in the race as I was with the little personal triumphs I got for myself in this run. 

Oh!, but then again, the thought of beating a close rival, all in the name of fun, tasted like a sweet post-race breakfast (evil grin).  But I also realized it would have been more satisfying a feat for me if my rival wasn’t injured.  Oops!, I missed an important detail:   my opponent ran with dislocated kneecaps.  Hahaha!  (Peace, Ryan!)

So a beautiful run I did get for myself in this race.  My time of finish isn’t impressive at all, but then I am happily satisfied about finishing a 10K race of just continuous running, for the first time.  Yepyep, this time I did not take walking breaks.  And I loved how I fought it with all my might to resist temptations to take some rest and walk, as the others did. 

Oh yes, if you want to excel in this sport, one helpful tip is to train your mind to be more disciplined -  so that it keeps sending signals to the legs to keep pushing it forward despite its sensing of pain and exhaustion. 

The race route was pretty interesting too.  It took the opposite of the Runnex race course so that the notable downhill in my other previous race became a challenging uphill this time.  In this race, I had zero short runbursts and just kept running at a steady sustainable pace. 

Our fastest guy, Moks went speeding ahead, so did Jay, and Dree overtook me after around Km 4.  After that, there was no sighting of any familiar face.  So I started wondering where on earth Jihan and Ryan had gone.  I surely didn’t have a chance to run alongside the 5kers as they only started after the 10K racers went off.  That’s apart from the fact that there was a different route crafted for 5K. 

Anyway, the lone runner that I was, I kept it going and focused instead on my form and stride as I had wanted to conserve my energy so that I’ll have enough to keep me running up to the finish line.  Lo and behold!, about 10 strides from the turnaround point, I saw my rival for MPG presidency about to make his turn!   And, he shouted, “Cathy, hahabulin kita!”  (Cathy, I’ll catch up on you!)    Already beyond 5K and running rather continuously, I was pretty confident and feeling strong so in response to that I just laughed but in my mind, I thought, “Oh you wish!  This is my day, man!”   LOL!

At the turnaround, I checked my watch and it registered 30 minutes ++ some seconds.  But since I’ve never ever mustered a negative split (I wish!), I knew that the best time I could register, at best, is a sub-70.  Whoa!, enticing thought.  Then again, friends, I had quit dreaming as I later on found out that my improvement in PR is really in matter of seconds.  LOL!  

Race results said I finished my 10K this time in 1:14:43, still a PR for me!  (Yey!), but only a matter of 13 seconds improvement from my Runnex race record.  Hahaha!  Ergo, I have this 74-minute barrier in my running career.  Now who needs more comic relief here! 

But seriously speaking, I am proud of myself for braving the 10K category, where only a few women did register, at least for this race.  FYI, there were 191 male runners for 10K and only 45 (!) female runners.  Oh!, but I ranked 30th among the 45.   Another MPG moment, thank you.

By the way, part of what had me all excited for this race was having the chance to meet some new friends from Takbo.ph forums for our December get-together.  I forgot to mention that I’d had several sightings of them as they ran counterflow for a group LSD.   Thanks guys for cheering me on, it somehow upped my spirit and had me running bit faster as I was shy they’d see me slouchy when it’s obvious I was already lagging behind. 

And the funfunfun part of course was reuniting with my MPG group in this race.  For some reason, we all just really look good posing together especially at the finish line. 

MPG was here!

Back L to R:  Pao, Rommel, Bless, Francis, Dree, Moks, Ryan, Jihan

Front L to R:  Jihan’s cousin, Myself, Cha, Carla

 

And I remember someone jokingly shout while this pic was being taken:  “Naks, pang-Binibini pose naman yan eh!”   Oh, was it you, Jihan?  Hahaha.  But it’s my default mode pose.  LOL!

 

MPG, by the stage.  And friends, this is what you call ‘post-race cool down a la MPG’.

Coach Rio, while taking this group pic of ours, says (rather, announces over the microphone):  “Grabe, ano to?!  Akala ko tinawag nila ‘ko para magpa-picture kasama ko, yun pala!, para ako ang kumuha ng picture nila!  Ang kakapal!”   (On a joking tone, of course.)  

Oh, but my MPG friends remained unfazed and countered that joke with a serious request, “Coach, isa pa please!”   LOL!  MPG to the max! 

 

Class picture with Takbo.ph forumers.  

From L to R:  Rene, Ronald, Boss Jinoe, Erick, Chris, Carly, Lauren’s bro, Lauren, Vener, Dennis, Myself, Nats, Sean William

Congrats Cha!

This post I dedicate to my dear friend, Cha, who got herself a bronze medal yesterday as she finished 3rd among three (just kidding!, there were more runners for sure) in the open-to-all category, women’s division, at the Tau Alpha Diliman Marathon (TADM) 2008. 

It was almost a podium finish, except that she was at the washroom (supposedly changing her shirt) when her name was called for the awarding.  LOL!      Talk about bad timing.

*And Cha, it would have been the perfect chance for you to deliver your ‘Thank You’ speech and tell everyone you came from Team MPG.  Wahaha!

What’s funny though was the weird distance they covered for this race  – 2.2K for women (exactly one lap of the UP Acad oval) and twice of that, 4.4K, for men.  Yep, small-time race you might be thinking, but guess who ranked first in her division -  Aileen Tolentino of Team Baldrunner.  Cha finished with a time of 13 mins.  Perhaps AT had hers in 5.  Hahaha!

*So Cha, rubbing elbows na kayo ni AT?   LOL! 

These past few weeks, I have the inkling my running buddies are slowly morphing into something else not-MPG.  People are getting injured, those who just got promoted to 10K have begun overtaking me, and now!, one of us gets a podium finish!

Good thing, some people quickly came up with newer meanings for the acronym MPG.  Hahaha! 

*Congrats again, Cha!  You made our day yesterday. 

At least now I know who takes care of dessert in the post- Christmas party (wink).

Dear Photovendo,

 

You should know you take good pictures.

Well, good enough to cook up some nice story for the image so that the prospective customer appears to be some sort of a ’hero’  (just kidding, of course!). 

Here, Photovendo catches Cathletic running ahead of a huge pack of runners, so much in the ‘feeling winner’ mode (a.k.a. MPG mode).  

In truth, however, the pack of runners behind me weren’t racing the Ictus Run.  They were some group 0f Abacus (?) runners probably having their long run for the weekend.  Thanks guys anyway for acting as nice props for me in this shot.

I have already ordered, about 4 pictures, from Photovendo.  This is not paid advertisement (I wish!), but do get yours now!, because I think these guys do some good work. 

Now let me end this post with my fave shot of myself from their collection.

*Confirmed!  I don’t lift my feet high enough from the ground.  So I usually look more like walking than running, at least in pics.  But I think this also supposedly impacts on my speed.

I shall run tonight.

 

I just have to.  No recovery run yet since Sunday, my legs are all itching to hit the road again.  So lantern parade spectators, stay away from my path and let me run in peace.   Ooops, that was a request, actually.

I did run last night.

 Tell me,  what can break the spirit of a running addict?  

You guessed right, none.

I was the odd-man-out in the Lantern Parade festivity in UP last night.  Amid much merry-making of the huge crowd of spectators, I was there running (and semi-limping) as though I could not afford another tomorrow to run.

Alas!, I thought that by the time I’d get home from work the lantern parade would have been over and I could carry out my long overdue plan to run without hassle.  Wow, the crowd last night was humongous the Academic oval started to look like a carnival.

The setup threw me out of the oval and had me running instead on the outer streets within the confine of the campus alongside heavy traffic of cars, as the academic oval had been closed to vehicles. 

At that time I was thinking to just get over with it, get myself a quick run just to act as follow through from the past Sunday’s 10K race, and do a quick stop at the dorm to see a good friend who’s spending a white Christmas for the holidays.

Haaay…  tough run I got!  But that’s just me trying to make-up for having had too many lazy mornings lately, missing the Nike clinic for a team party, and for running so slow a 10K the 74-min PR seems to take forever to beat!

Be Part of the Takbo.ph 2008 Yearbook

Here’s hoping you can find time to contribute in the yearbook.  I already did. 

Be Part of the Takbo.ph 2008 Yearbook

Written by ManokanRunner  

2008 was a great year for running.  There was a significant increase in almost all the numbers.  More runners, more events, more blogs, more pictures.  I don’t want to leave 2008 without a momento to remind all the runners of how great this year was.

Thus a project:  TAKBO.PH 2008 YEARBOOK.  This is an attempt to compile all the happenings this 2008 into sort of a yearbook that we used to have in highschool or college.  Photos, short articles, features, and more.  The compilation will be available as a PDF file for download by February 2009.  It won’t be a big production but I’ll make sure it will be memorable.

In order to make it as comprehensive as possible, I’d be needing a lot of help with the content from all of you.  I need you to take part in some of the sections of the yearbook.

 How?  Send me an email or post your answer in the forums to any or all of these questions:

What was the best thing in running last 2008?  The best shoes, the best event, the best gadgets, or anything that you personally think was the best.

My 2009 Running Goals or Resolution.  Planning for a full marathon, beat a PR, reduce some weight.  Let us know.

Before and After Pictures.  Most of us started running to lose some weight.  Send us your pictures before and after you started running and share the success to everyone.

Keep your contributions short.  About 3-5 sentences.  Email them to admin@takbo.ph or post them at the forums here.   I will collect your contributions until January 31, 2009.

I might come up with more questions soon.

Start sending your contributions today.

Bloggers, please spread the word.  

Thoughts run too

I have really intended for this blog to contain ONLY stuffs on running and racing, and the other things that circle them closely and those in between.

But I learned that apart from my legs, and my body, other things in me run too as though having a life of their own.  My thoughts ran a 10-miler today.

I spent my Saturday morning, working as part of the service team, in a Christmas party at the Molave Youth Home in Quezon City. Molave houses (technically it’s a jail) hundreds of minors, both male and female teenagers, who have committed minor(?) crimes.

It was an eye-opener for me. And it triggered the 10-miler run for my thoughts today.

My current mood says my thoughts are now doing its cool-down stretch.

Pretty much like how one’s first full marathon he or she finds to be life-changing, my two-and-a-half-hour stay at Molave this morning afforded me a 10-miler thought run that was high in memory and contemplation value.

Some people get a taste (for some, an overdose even) of the unpleasant things in life at too tender an age.   I feel for them.

As I got really affected by just observing them, I did not manage to hold back one of the questions running in my head.  I asked one of the boys, “Pano kayo dito pag Krismas?” (I meant to ask, “How do you celebrate Christmas here?”)

I will pray for them, especially this Chirstmas.

Have a wonderful and meaningful Christmas, dear friends!

Bests of 2008 & Goals for 2009

 

Jinoe’s Takbo.ph 2008 Yearbook project had me thinking of these things.

*[Personal]  Bests of 2008

Best Race:  NB Power Race

Best Hills:   Makiling Challenge 7

Best Singlet:   Adidas KOTR

Best Route:   Clark (NB Power Race), UP Diliman (Several races)

Best Race Organizer:   RunRio

Best Local Runners Online Forum:  Takbo.ph

*Goals and Resolutions for 2009

1.  Get a sub-60 PR for 10K before mid-year

2.  Conquer the hills (brave the 10K!) in MAK8

3.  Increase my weekly mileage – run 4x a week, at least 5K each run

4.  Temper my addiction to joining races (at most 2 races per month) and train MORE instead

5.  By the second half of the year, register in some 10-miler/ more than 10K races

6.  By Dec 2009, start psyching oneself for a first ever half-marathon in 2010

7.  Keep it at running safely, no injuries pls!

In general, I’m taking it slowly and carefully. I will get there, full marathon, when the right time comes.

Ooops!,

P.S.

8.   Attempt doing a duathlon (run-bike-run) YEBAH!   – I forgot including this in my Takbo.ph entries.   Late did I realize I’m actually up for a different kind of action next year, hehe!

Racecrashing & almost a podium finish

 

I’ve always wanted to try racing in my hometown in Bicol.  I remember sometime back in July or September when I prodded my brother to have me registered in Milo Naga but missed the chance as the P.E. students there took all the singlets and bibs already (as prompted by their teachers for sure).    

December 29 marked the fulfillment of my mini-wish.  My brother and I racecrashed at the La Consolacion College (LCC) Alumni Homecoming Fun Run in Iriga City.  I have to call it ‘race crashing’ because I am not part of the school’s alumni. 

It just happened that I have a friend who’s part of the organizing committee and I had inquired if I could just run alongside them in the race.  He said ‘Yes’ and so the magic happened:  I was registered a guest runner (I was issued a singlet, a race bib, and a snack pass all for P25 fee!) and funnily!, I ended up being the first female finisher in that race. 

AND, I assure you, there were other female runners there!  I had to claim that or you begin toying with the idea that I was the only lady runner in that race.  Uh-oh, did I just sound overly defensive?

There were about 300 runners in the race and the distance covered was roughly 4 to 5 kilometers.  Okay, hear this:  the organizers didn’t really have an idea how long the entire course is, so that distance I just approximated through my time of finish.  They also didn’t log the times clocked in by each runner and instead, worked up only a list of ranking based on who-finished-first-and-who-comes-next.

But don’t think the race was poorly organized.  Truth to tell, the race was almost professionally done in all aspects except for those I mentioned.  There were plenty of freebies (Milo was there!), enough marshalls, singlets and bibs of good quality, water stations, and a nice route.  Best of all, there was hot arroz caldo with egg and mineral water served at the finish line!  Now where else do you see that!

This race was made more memorable as I was joined by my younger brother, Daryl, who had his road racing debut here.  Boy, am I not proud of him!, he finished 7th among all the runners.  It’s true I finished first among the ladies but there were probably 30 plus male runners ahead of me.

I think I wasn’t serously racing this one as I thought I just wanted to be part of a local town race in Bicol and I’m already ’solved’ with the idea.  I wasn’t thinking of PRs or whatever -  how could I when the race organizers didn’t even have an idea how long the course was! 

So it came as a pleasant surprise for me when I saw there was a semi-commotion as I approached the the finish line.  “Sadi na su pinakaunang babaye na nakatapos!”  (Here comes the first female finisher!), I heard someone shout. 

Gee, did these people have an idea how I fare in Manila races?!   LOL! 

Anyway, they dragged me to go straight to the stage and have my name listed in the awardees.  Someone even took her videocam and started interviewing me, but stopped in obvious disappointment when I was asked of the batch I came from. 

“I’m not an alumni, sorry.  I registered as a guest runner.  It’s okay, just give the award to the one next to me.”  And I said that without any bitterness, okay!  At least I think I did.  Haha! 

On second thought, I think I was affected witnessing how the girl, who I beat by three whole minutes!, walk up the stage to receive her prize.  Haha!  I should know because as she posed for pictures after getting her medal, I motioned my brother to get the motorcycle so we can start heading home already.  Hahaha!  Envious Cathletic!

Perhaps, I should start hunting for more small-scale out-of-Manila races now.  Hahaha!

Long Run @ UP w/ the Nike Clinic this Sunday

 

Run along with us.  It doesn’t matter if you’re not part of the Nike running clinic, or you still want to enroll (hurray!, you still may), or you’re one of those trainees who already had come face-to-face with the love/hate tug of running with the interval sessions at ULTRA (!), or you never plan to be part of it -   All the same, you’re most invited to join this long run.

Assembly time:    5:30 AM, infront of UP Theater

Start of run:           6:00 AM

See you there folks!

Yohoo! PSE Bull Run to jumpstart my 2009!

 

This is one race I can so well identify with, thanks to my predominantly economics background.  I wonder how a race looks like when it’s the economists, stock traders, and finance guys who put it up -  or at least masterminded it.

What I know though is that my favorite Agri Econ professor, Dr. Balisacan, outran me during the Runnex race and I made him know I was surprised to see him at the race -   and to see him speed ahead of me (!).

This has to be great.  For one, it jumpstarts my 2009 racing times.  Moreover, I think it’s the only race I can manage to join this January. 

So it’s a solo meal this month;  it just has to rock!

TOR # 001

 

Chilled, Defeated.

I was supposed to run this morning.  I was able to wake up as planned, took a visit to the bathroom, but after taking a peek by the window and getting a sighting of the chilled darkness waiting for me, I went back to bed and curled beneath my warm blanket once more. 

I thought I was lucky to have the option to ’stay comfortable’ as it’s not a race day anyway.  But up to now, I feel a bitter taste in my mouth for having lost my first battle of the day.

***

Breathe!

It’s true that the intervals training at the Nike clinic every Tuesdays satiates my desire for speed.  But this week’s session gave me an idea of what for me could be another possible cause of my death:  overexhaustion.  Don’t worry as this should be more hilarious than scary. 

As usual, we were supposed to do 3 sets of 3×3oom intervals, which was later on reduced to 2 sets as I was (as usual) in the latecomers batch and the lights at ULTRA went out on us just when were about to begin our third set.

That was a salvage case for me.  At the end of the second set, I was already all exhausted that I felt I was developing some sort of premature fever.  My legs still felt strong but my breathing was in trouble and the tips of my fingers were feeling unusually cold (and I’m sure it wasn’t just the cold air).

Truth is, I really intend it to take seriously the intervals as I want to have my lungs get used to dealing with greater amount of stress.  Breathing has always been my weak point in endurance running.  While my legs could pretty well handle the continuous pounding, my lungs and heart usually couldn’t go as far.

***

Not hassle-free

If you’re unhappy with the hassles in claiming your race kits for the PSE Bull Run, know that you’re not alone. 

When is it coming, PSE?  Everyone’s all excited now prepping up for their first race for the year. 

Well, whattheheck, the registration hassle issues are already there (!) so just make sure Sunday’s going to be great race day for us. 

***

Coached, coaxed to finish.

The LSD run with the Nike clinic last Sunday was one of my favorite non-race UP runs for me.  How can it not be one of my favorites when I’ve gone sub-70, for the first time!, in running a 10K distance. 

I have my pacemate, Sandy, and our coach-pacer, Coach Sardeña, to thank for this personal feat.  Coach said we finished it in 69 minutes!  Now that’s whole four minutes faster than my 10K race PR. 

Coach said he’s racing the Bull Run too and he can pace me.  Now that alarmed me a bit as I’ve seen how reeeaally fast he runs (last Sunday he would run forward and back twice just to keep checking on Sandy and I), and so if he pace me I’m sure to be destroying the entire race experience for him. 

Hahaha!  That was too assuming of me!  What he actually meant was that he’s going to run it his race pace and after finishing it, he can run back to look for me and then pace me.  Oh…  that is the only BESTEST way to go, what with my snail running!

 I can’t help it, I am excited for Sunday.  Yipee! 

 

Take AXN!

 

I’m reposting what I’ve just seen in Dhenz‘ blog today.  It sounds uber interesting/exciting (!) to me.  For one, this is going a ‘first’ for me if I get to join.

When:  February 7, 2009

Where:  MOA Compound

*End of Reg. on Jan. 25

More details on their website:  http://146.215.65.76/axn-asia/big-challenge/

So stop sitting pretty there, pull out two of your friends, and hurry “Be Part of the Big Adventure this February”. 

Now let me just assure you this is no paid advertisement.  I wish.

Good run days come, and so do ‘Bad’ days

 

I finished 5K of run and walk today.  Good enough to get the feel that I’d reach the finish line alive for tomorrow’s race.  No PR for me tomorrow –  I so believe.

It must be my lack of enough sleep the past nights, zero follow-through runs since Tuesday’s speed training, yesterday’s my-otnot*-brain-brought-me-to-Bambang Manila misadventure, AND, my slightly-sick mode. 

I’ve been nursing a sore throat and minor cough for almost three days now.  Talk about timing.

So my self-enforced run this morning proved to be more difficult than I had imagined.  My throat felt dry the whole time and I would cough almost every 30 seconds to clear my throat.  Last night, I was caught by surprise several times as my voice would suddenly crack while talking to an important person. 

These things only serve  to compound my concerns on breathing economy while running.  Today was almost a bad run and to predict that tomorrow’s won’t be too different doesn’t need the powers of fortune tellers/ astrologers.

In any case, I wish the race day magic to pour down on me graciously tomorrow.  Afterall it’s my first road race for the year.

Oh!andbytheway, you have an idea how bad today’s run went for me?  For the first time, I had an achy head run.   The curious thing is, it was not there when I started the run.  That’s when I decided to take walking breaks as I thought pushing it further like crazy would just be another otnot* thing to do. 

Oh, Godblessme tomorrow.

 

*(Sorry for my using of the ’otnot’ word too often.  Yesterday’s ‘lost in Manila’ experience was just whackily stupid of me that I find no other word more apt to decribe it than that.  It’s just ‘tonto’, the Spanish word for stupid.)

Cathletic’s status: COUGHING

 

Today I am your neighbor’s pet dog persistently barking, rather loudly, as though some bad guys have been rounding the fence of its master’s house.

The so-called ‘race day magic’ is true.  Despite my semi-sick mode and the hilly course at The Fort, I recorded a PR at the PSE Bull Run. 

But my cough and colds have worsened.  Every half-second I’d let out a scandalous cough (enough to have my officemate volunteer to bring me medicine) which leaves my throat feeling like its being freshly scarred everytime.

Barking pet, anyone?

PSE Bull Run 2009

 

January 18, 2009.  The Fort, Taguig.

Doesn’t matter what the world says, I had a great run last Sunday.  Off to a great start for my 2009 racing times!

Sorry for my being insensitive to many of the runners’ dissatisfaction about the race, but this account is only a testimony of my easy-to-please nature and my happiness-is-a-choice disposition.  I would have been just as displeased as many of the racers, but the truth to tell is I’m not.  This doesn’t mean though that the race organizers for the Bull Run have no need of shaping up.  They have.  A lot.

I think what kept my mood up about the race was that I thoroughly enjoyed my run experience, plus!  the turnout went so much better than expected. 

To set perspectives right, I woke up at 4AM last Sunday really not feeling well.  I right away planned on phoning a friend to ask if I could exchange my race bib to 5K.  But as the pre-race rituals kept me busy, I shelved the plan and gave my 10K bib a go.  If things go really bad, a DNF won’t hurt my ego one bit. 

Anyway, the race day magic worked!  Throughout the race, my itchy throat and my coughing barely showed up their fangs.  Surely, breathing became a bit more difficult but at least I wasn’t coughing. 

Moreover, since I didn’t pressure my self this time in trying to get a PR (again, due to my semi-sick mode) for the first time I took the luxury of enjoying the scenery along the race route.  And it felt different.  I was delighted by it.  It was like it’s the first time I ate the icing on my cake, as in the past I’d discard it and focus on gobbling fast just the bread portion all for the sake of PR. 

But look what I got -  a 10K race PR noneth