But I just recently decided to tackle two half-marathons in this month and the next, and that practically leaves me no choice but to get serious at my training.

So I said, game, let’s show up at Sun’s company fun run — and let’s see how I fare this time. Because the last time I showed up, they declared me the 2nd fastest woman in Sun (to run the 10K category; and we were like how many who did 10K.. 10 girls? Haha! What a joke!)

Last Saturday’s race proved to be a good run for me, but not good enough to let me get a podium finish again. While I felt strong all throughout the race, I tackled it darn slow that actually ended up still on second place — SECOND TO THE LAST!, among all female 10Kers.

Hahahaha.

I don’t feel bad. After all, I’m a newly comebacking racer, and I see good times for me at Unilab and CamSur. Yuh, that’s me thinking uber happy thoughts, to down my usual fright for 21K distance.

But let’s get it on! Who’s scared? Me? CAMOWN!
*Dang, I really should be scared I think.*

So why am I here? Because I’m on a comeback mode again, slated to run two half-marathons for two consecutive months, and it starts this month — AND I START PRAYING. The daredevil in me gets the better of me again, and I’m like, uh-oh I did it again BUT BRING IT ON!! Life cannot be more exciting.

So it’s been almost four years of running — yuh (apparently, ‘yuh’ is the ‘nanunuya’ version of yeah, lols!) it doesnt mean that since I don’t blog or I’m not visible in races, I don’t run as well. WRONG!, a real runner runs whether or not there’s a race, and moreso — whether or not she plans to get popular about it by writing an account and get a few ‘FB likes’ here and there. Okay, I’m exaggerating it, hahaha.

So enough with the disclaimers and prolly all I wanted to say is that it’s been four years of running… thousands of people have picked up the sport, I-went-to-postgrad-school-filed-a-one-year-leave-and-went-back-again, my parents already migrated to US, I fell in love and lost it (no elaborations please, thank you), I got two job promotions, my two brothers got addicted to running too!, I started taking swim lessons as I got interested in triathlons, I tried dying my hair dark brown to no avail and now it’s back to its real color,.. four years of life have passed, and STILL, Cathletic’s love for this sport has not waned. Not a bit.

Game game! Crash training mode for Unilab and Camsur, top it off with MBA final exams and cases — man I’m such a winner! ;-P

28 March 2010  |  Burnham Park

Memorable chilly run.. love love yesterday’s Botak Baguio race.  What overwhelms me up until this moment isn’t just runner’s high, but ‘Baguio high’ too –  yup, even wilder than the ‘Corregidor high’ last December..  which renders this race to become personal favorite for my 2010 Q1 runs, and perhaps for the entire year even.

I left my heart in Baguio, as though I was a first-timer tourist there like mi hermano.

Good ol’ NB gets to Baguio 

It’s my first time to go to Baguio by bus, and I was undecided whether to wear my simple girlie flats or the running shoes for the bus ride.  I thought it’d be extra cold so it’s the NB pair, yup got it right –  good ol’ gray NB is still alive and it survived Baguio too!

Never Fails.  NB I like.

This pair, like an old trusted friend, has been everywhere with me  -  Condura 21K, Camaya 10K Trail Run, Makiling Challenge 12K, Corregidor 10-Miler, to name some of my ‘wilder exploits’ in running. 

*But a different and no-less-truthful translation of that is:  Cathletic is an economist and just won’t discard shoes as long as they’re functional and aesthetically agreeable.  Besides, it’s my favorite pair and I doubt if my heart can take it to see it on the trash bin, or.. (okay I’m selfish-childish like that) worn by someone else.   At least for this pair, let me be selfish. 

Botak Baguio Race = Wild & Cool!

It was my first time to be running in Baguio, and the image I had in mind was Pakman running Baguio slopes in hooded jacket.  I had thought it to be an easy, favorable place for running -  literally ‘no sweat’.

Come race day and the first challenge was getting up and parting with the warm, thick blanket.  OhGod!, I thought I’ve already won my race by simply deciding to part with the warm hotel bed.  Brother was also fighting the first fight of the day.. but not without ‘bagong gising’ whinings.

We got to the assembly area at 6AM, foggy, chilly, the type that melts your bone.  Our hotel was a good 1 minute walk from the race venue and it was a such a crucial factor in making us able to brave the cold and join the race we registered for. 

Botak Baguio run was like an intimate community race of about 600 runners in total.  Gunstart for 21K was fired at around 6:15AM and for us, 10Kers, we were let off at around 6:30AM.  I wasn’t feeling hurried at all for us to be let off, because seriously with the cold, cold, morning temperature, I was hoping I’d get ample time to warm-up..  as I thought my legs were freakin freezing!

This race I consider sooo unique, as I realize it was reaching the first kilometer that spelled like hell to me.   Prior to KM1, Cathletic realizes she’s breathing in cold air and it felt weird on the throat!  After the first 500 meters, I began coughing quite badly that it got me teary-eyed, so obviously I was also slowing down.  I thought I needed to call the paramedics, seriously.

After KM1, my body got sort of acclimatized with the cold temperature and got some coping with breathing in colder, thinner air.  The rest of the 9K distance went by smoothly, safely, and more important, beautifully.

I took this shot while running.  See, it’s so politically correct when you say the run went by ‘beautifully..’

I need to commend the Botak organizers for the offering this wonderful race course.  Yes, on top of everything is the race route offer  -  wildly beautiful!  By the way, I mean ‘wild’ as in challenging, with a good mix of gradual inclines and a few crazy uphills.  Organization was blameless too, at least to me.  There were enough marshalls, adequate KM markers, and ample water stations (and overflowing Gatorade drinks too!).

Running with the DAZAs.

I finished 10K here in 1:19 minutes -  not bad for a hilly route, unfamiliar running condition (cold, thin air!), and for a not-so-in-shape Cathletic.  Daryl finished 3 minutes ahead of me, but that’s because he sped up after the turnaround point, when he realized, in shock, that I’ve been trailing soo closely behind him -  just some 10 strides away, no more than that. 

‘Ang sipag mo kasi!’ was all he shouted at me when I met him 3 meters from the turnaround point.  My brother knows my style:  slow but steady, I barely stop.  He takes the opposite:  fast and UNsteady, with plenty of walk breaks.  Hehehe..

The bibo kids for the Street Mile Challenge

We stayed bit longer after finishing our own runs to watch the Street Mile Challenge, kiddie version..  and also to finish up our strawberry taho, hehe.  Now I know I want my future kiddos to be runners too.  And yes, I will be a stage mommy, simply because I know I wouldn’t help it not to be, LOL 

Now for the Real Deal

The Botak race was, in all honesty, the side-trip.  The main trip was to roam around the City of Pines, goof around, and take tonzillion pictures!

Uh-oh, like this one.  Igorotaks in Korean Pose.

So what else is there left to say.. Thank youw, Baguiow.  Bow.

AWRAYT, let’s do this Botak!

Uhm.. can we disregard the ‘bilis’ in the ‘Paa-bilisan’ event name..  I might be climbing Lourdes Grotto tomorrow, for my first-timer (in Baguio) tourist Brother.  Lame excuse, I know.

In less than three hours we will be off for Bagiuo already (which reminds I need to pack up now, leave the office, and pack up again for Baguio00ww).. 

I am excited for this trip and for this race, for so many reasons.  First, it interests me much to be lacing up my shoes to hit Baguio roads, and hills!, for the first time.  I wonder how it feels to be running in cooler Benguet temperature, bit foggy morning, hilly race course with view of pine trees (and pine breeze to savor) and of flowers and sayote’s (?, hahaha), and thinner air.  What can I say -  wholelottadifferentadventure, Bring it on!

I should have 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ..nth reasons but I should be rushing now to go home and prepare my stuff.  Oh well let’s just hope Brother gets happy with strawberry picking for tomorrow, instead of climbing the 200+ (Is it?  Or more?  Haven’t tried this one, myself, hehehe) stairs of Lourdes grotto, lest I won’t have energy left for the race on Sunday.

See you Botak-Baguio racers! 

Sometimes it makes me wonder when it shall happen that roles will be reversed, that I will be the one demanding like a brat and he shakes up his world just to say Yes..   But since Brother is pretty much a good boy, I think that time shall come.. one day.

For now let me call up Botak office to ask if they got extra bibs for 10K.  Oh God I’m sooo much in panic mode!!    And to think that I was thinking last night of having  just a restful weekend, and perhaps spend time getting serious at learning my guitar chords, and then..  life happens, haha. 

P.S. to myself:  

I should blog about my Run4Earth and LGV Run experiences.  Before it gets all too irrelevant, time-wise.

The good news is.. I brought home the medal.

And the bad news is.. everybody did, whether or not they made it to the cutoff time.

Tough luck, coz there’s a WORSE news –>  I’m one of those who did NOT make it within the 1:45 hrs cutoff time for the 15K solo, and got a medal.

So what are my sentiments from this race?..  First off, t’was one heck of an  El Nino race —  hot and humid weather, and to complete the El Nino factor, NO WATER!!  (or at least, very limited water.. or better yet, poorly positioned water stations, i.e.  it’s not there when you need it most, Grr!).

Things would have been bearable if organizers sticked with the original plan of 5:45AM gunstart for the 15K race.  To my mind, that was just a perfect strategy as I was anxious about running under scorching heat along the Balara and C.P. Garcia stretch.  Lo and behold, 15K racers were let off at about 7AM already.

So let me summarize in few words how the race went for me:

Good run overall, but it was ONE EXCRUCIATING, HOT, WATER-LESS RACE.

I harbor no bad feelings about the race, because every run for me is a good run in itself.  But I’d say that this AKR is memorable to me for being ‘the first ever race that tempted me to DNF’.  Up to this moment, I could not believe it that the daredevil/ fighter in me actually felt overpowered enough to consider raising the white flag.  Argh!, it’s the heat darn!, my no. 1 enemy, ever.  (FYI, Cathletic ‘overheats’ fast –  hot weather gets her hot-headed, and THE willpower weakens too.)

Only two among those folks above really deserved the medal.  Don’t count me in, asa pa.

So there it went folks, my first race for 2010.. quite memorable: 

1) Did some run practices by the heartbreak hill only to find out the race route is heartbreak-less; 

2) First race I was tempted to DNF and also thought of stopping to talk to the student-marshalls to let them know that ’runners-need-to-drink-y’know, espcially that you let us start at 7AM for crying out loud(!); 

3)  I experienced pains in the leg and feet that I never had before.  I guess the cushioning of my shoes wasn’t good enough for that longer-distance run of 15K.  My bad!, I used my [for] short-distance [only] running shoes, a.k.a. ”pink baby’/ ‘japorms shoes’  in the hope that its being lighter in weight (compared to my trusted good ol’ NB shoes) should work in my favor for this long run.  As they say it, DO NOT experiment on anything -  never, on a race day.

4)  I walked. Toink. After KM12, under the fuming mad sunrays covering the Balara stretch, I walked.  Toink.  Exhaustion + Laziness.  Laziness, because it was too obvious I wasn’t making it within the cutoff time anyway.   The psychological effect of cutoff times, deadlines, ultimatums, limits..  It just totally changes the dynamics of the ballgame.

5)  All the negativities aside, this race is special due to a personal feat coinciding with it.  I drove to the race venue alone, and also braved Katips highway for our post-race breakfast.  But that didn’t come without my friends’ assistance.  On the way to KFC Katips from UP, one friend’s car was right in front of me and another stayed right behind mine.  And the thing is, we weren’t being OA -  oh yeah I needed that much help, hahaha.  Then again, I am proud of myself to have made it to our destination without my engine stalling.  There were bloopers, but whatelseisnew, I always get bloopers -  driving or not.

Thanks AKR.  You just reminded me that summer time is so here, and El Nino came to visit too, so I’ll stick with my evening runs. 

And yes, I got reminded to plead to race organizers to PLEASE consider offering evening races -  while Ms Summer and Mr El Nino are here.  We need to economize water y’know, and summer day races get runners consuming A LOT MORE water than usual.  So evening races, please.

That 15K 1:45 challenge in AKR has just inspired me (read: scared the hell out of me!)  to run 3x within a week, last week -  which is not exactly my norm these days.  I’m usually lucky already with affording a short run on a weekday and a longer one on weekends.  But last week..

Oh last week, I just gathered up all positive spirits in me to find time to train.  And that had to mean delaying a dinner invite and having to cancel at the last minute(!) attendance to  UP pep squad’s concert.  Talk about trade-offs.

But good heavens thought good girls deserve some reward.  Post-run last Friday, my friends and I, all famished, went straight to Chocolate Kiss to grab a bite to eat.  Suprise of suprises!, it was the resto’s anniversary night -  so there were those get-all-you-want cakes of different varieties for FREE!, plus the happyhappy acoustic live band to entertain the diners. 

I guess I was too pleasantly surprised I even thought of approaching the stage to render a song or two, hahaha, because the other diners were gamely doing it!  And then I realised I was sandwiched by my two serious-looking guy friends who’d surely leave me the moment I give in to that insane thought.  So I contented myself with singing along, clapping hands, moving my head and shoulders with the rhythm, and devouring cake after cake. 

Oh one day, no one – not even my own shame – will stop me from singing with a live band on stage.  Put that on the bucket list. 

Saturday came and it was time for a long run, again passing by the heartbreak hill and the outermost roads bordering UP.  T’was one great run, save for zero Piolo sighting, hehehe.   Well that’s too much asking perhaps, given that a slow runner like me deserved to get two MPG bodyguards, both of whom I almost killed with my sloooowww pace.  I know what you’re thinking.. ‘the costs of friendship’.

Cathletic update:   Ready to miss out on the AKR medal, BUT wadaheck let me just give it a try, okay?

I guess it’s safe to say I’m nervous, and excited at the same time, in doing that 15K Eliminator Pursuit at AKR.  Truth is, after last night’s when I felt my legs growing heavy at KM9 –  not to mention we kept a pretty slow pace all throughout –  I thought to myself,  ’goodbye AKR medal’..

Goodbye came too soon.. I hate it!

During training runs, I transform into a route director.  If you find this crazy, don’t wonder why, for it can only look like its creator –

Go try this.  You know Acad oval can be boring..

Now for the more interesting part:  My first ever Piolo sightings!

I honestly wish not to have to be mentioning it here.  Some of my friends might suddenly change practice venues just to catch him, and I want the guy to be left in peace as he seriously trains to keep his 47-min PR for 10K, or better yet improve it.  Alas!  I myself was so distracted!  It is therefore true that Piolo is just impossibly good-looking, and that he runs fast!

Some pleasant distraction

Adz, who played my running buddy last night as he is also doing the 15K at AKR, kept telling me, ‘Ano ka ba, leave him to the  gays..’  Apparently it got too obvious I was busily distracted with spotting Piolo on the road, hahaha!

The reason why Piolos with an S?  Because I saw NOT once –  but twice!  There could have been a strike 3, except that my buddy saw I was dragging my feet forward already, and probably knew secretly that the only thing driving me forward was the secret wish to see Piolo a third time.  HAHAHA, ang babaw ko!

Nah, it won’t be.  Blogging or not, running remains to be personal favorite sport.  Ergo, blogging or not, I keep running – perhaps not as frequent and not as intense as in my so-called ‘heydays’ (if I ever had such, haha)  but I have long accepted the fact that for a person like me, any free time that can be devoted to physical exercise shall go first to running, before another sport.

(But oh, my guitar lessons instructor had just ordered me to devote 30 minutes a day practicing those finger-splits.  But no, I have not been a good student.. and I’m dreading the next class.  To my surprise, my instructor is also a runner himself and as expected, he encourages by always telling me, ‘C’mon Cath, you know playing the guitar is just like running..’   Dear Mister:  I hope you’re NOT reading this –  It’s soooo NOT the same for heavenssake!)

So what have I missed recording here?   Well, one of my 2009′s Best Races –  the Corregidor Run –  and my support role at the much celebrated Condura Run 2010.  I will write about these, no matter how expired the issues already are, because I need those recorded here.

So OH-YES, Cathletic is alive, and running –  and I say it as if the world cares, HAHAHA!  Well I care, and that’s what counts most.  Let’s just say though that  I probably have grown just  more picky with my races, and I have started demanding for novelty.  No big issues there, just a matter of preference.

Or it may be a matter of self-realization here:  Yes it might be true that I easily get bored, at least on some things.  I can surely tolerate running the same route 3x a week for my practice runs, but NOT for races.   Making me tackle the Fort for three races in three consecutive weekends is tantamount to killing me.  Sounds ‘Exag’ I know, but don’t kill my love for races by letting me go through that okay?

March 7 will be a comeback race for me at the AKR, and my first for the year(!).  The 15K Eliminator Pursuit at the Amazing Kidney Race is especially thrilling.  I can explain why.

Cathletic facts:

1. Only had one 15K race ever

2. This was at the Power Run in MOA

3. In that race, she recorded a time of 1:45

4. Guess What.. MOA is all flat

5. Another Guess What.. AKR 15K solo features the Heartbreak hill

6. Cathy doesn’t get to run as often as she used to

7. But her confidence in races has outpaced actual performance (Ahem)

Now you’ve figured it out, don’t you?

My AKR 15 Solo is killing me with gleeful excitement.  See you there.

Runner No. 400 can’t quite decide which feeling outweighs the other, Excitement or Horror?, for this weekend’s Conquer Corregidor 10-Miler race.

Some friends are going more for the place, than the race, (and I can only guess I’m going for both, hehe) so expect the sweeping vehicle to be fully packed with runners who won’t make it to the cutoff time –   or who might showcase the ‘look’ of appearing too distressed to still make it to the finish line.

OR –  I could be totally wrong.  You don’t know what sort of magic Corregidor might bestow its visiting runners, to enable them to, probably, run the race with decent enough times.

Anyhow, four-ow-ow finds this a very interesting race.  Doesn’t quite suit me but I’ll say it again –  runners, RAK EN ROL time!