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!

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!

Thoughts that run

I have initially intended to make this blog exclusively about running and races, and all other things that circle them closely and those happening in between.

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

I spent my Saturday morning as part of the service team in a Christmas party at Molave Youth Home in Quezon City, where hundreds of minors (male and female teenagers) are ‘jailed’ for having committed (minor?) crimes.  It was a first for me!, and it was responsible for triggering the 10-miler ‘thoughts run’ I just had.

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

It was another eye-opener for me.  I am happy that I have the SFC community to keep on offering me these great opportunities to reach-out to others.  Some people experience the many unpleasant things about life at too tender an age.  I cannot help but feel for them.

Because I got really affected, I did not manage to keep some questions running in my head to just myself.  I ended up asking one of the boys,  “Pa’no kayo pag Krismas dito?” (I meant to ask, ‘How do you celebrate Christmas here?’)

I am praying for them especially this Christma

Have a meaningful Christmas, dear friends!

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.  

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!

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.

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.

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).

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

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!