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! 

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!

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!