My Weekend Run at Clark

A weekend in my Mom's house in Clark.
The first things I packed were my running clothes my Mizuno's and my accessories. I made sure I will run at Clark. By hook or by crook. Ive been dreaming of it to happen since I got into running.

So run I did.

Knowing that Clark doesnt have too much traffic and considering that its a Sunday, I set my wakeup time to 7am. The sun was already up when I got out of the house, set my Garmin, and as I pressed start, I eagerly ran, like a dog escaping from his leash. As I reached the main road from our house, I saw runners from the Don Bosco Fun Run.



I stick to my course although they had a better shaded route but I wanted to feel and experience the morning heat while running, I wanted to know how my body will react and adapt. After a quick stop at the convenience store, I was already nearing my 3rd km, approaching my first turn. This is when I started taking in the view. It felt like I was running somewhere in the US, with all the houses, roads and streets around me. While running, I giddily greeted the oncoming cyclists with a simple hand wave and some were nice enough to wave back. As I was at the end of this stretch, I had an average pace of 6:40. Maybe because it was just straight and flat. But the next stretch was'nt, it was a slow and long inclined road with lots of Acacia trees covering it from the sun. Inclined roads are a runners nightmare, they take a lot from your gas tank and from your legs. Which happened to me as expected. Slowed down to an average pace of 7:00/km. The scent of the grass and trees were something else. Coming from a city runner, its a rarity to smell and feel these things. Now came the hill-y part of my run route, slowed down even more. As runners from team Clark passed me by I knew I had to keep up the pace. After that it was all flat pavement covered by large trees, with 2km to go, I increased my speed to make up with the lost time. The water from the fun run kept me refreshed and recharged and helped me finish my 10km run with a so-so time of 1:05.


Running at Clark gave me a new kind of natural high. After this run, I am looking forward to running in different places here and hopefully abroad. After almost 3 years of running, my interest for it is still as strong as my first run. So, expect me to be running in your place anytime in the near future. And for sure, I will be blah-blah-blogging about it asap!


- Posted using my iPhone

Young, Wild and Free

Ahh Saturday night! Time to unwind with friends and/or family. As for me, its my Ate's birthday so we all went to Clark for some R&R and of course for some celebration. Kids had fun at the WaTer Park in Fontana, ladies sang their hearts out in the karaoke bar nearby.



Me and my brothers-in-law drank below zero sml's to chill and catch up. Which lead me to missing the good ol days of going out every weekend. Yes, those were the days...young, wild and free! Gone were instant gimik nights with the bakada. Those wild rave parties are now kaput! We used to make it a point to watch all the good movies, but now were lucky to find time to catch a movie once a month.

Getting older made me realize that times change as we age. Our priorities, interests, outlook and beliefs in life change. But no matter what, Ive no regrets(or maybe a little) in whatever Ive experienced during those times. Im blessed to have good company with me. That is why I keep them and hold them dear and close to my heart. Because friends are easy to find, but real ones, the ones that will always be there for you, are difficult to find.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Bautista,Makati City,Philippines

An Ode to Life

Life to me hasn't been too good lately.

You see, life and I has this on-and-off, up-and-down relationship for almost 31 years now...and fortunately, were still at it!

Life's been throwing a lot of stuff at me these past years.
I've been dodging and hiding for a long time now and I feel that its time to tell her to stop.

Stop with all the hate and fear,
stop the uncertainties and insecurities,
stop all your hypocrisy and selfishness,
stop throwing all these s#*t at me.

Stop.
Just stop.

No matter how hard you throw them at me,
no matter where you hit me with that,
no matter when,

I can take it.
I am not afraid.
I have found my strength.

So go ahead Life...give it all you've got.
I love you anyway, I hope that we'll still be together, and still be at it for a long, long time.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Alvir,Manila,Philippines

The Condura Skyway Marathon 2012

Today is the Condura Skyway Marathon 2012 Run for the Mangroves. It all comes up to this event. All those days of half-marathon training - the long runs, tempo runs, hilly runs and core workouts. Today is the day to put all of these together and take it to the road. Prior to race day, I couldnt sleep right away. I was too excited about tomorrow. I slept around 10:30 pm and woke up at 1am. Got dressed, had a few slices of bread, drank water, packed my things, and together with my wife, drove to Jeck's house in Mandaluyong. By 2am, we were on our way to filinvest via EDSA. 2:30 am, parked in the mall, stretched, and met up with JB.



From the parking lot we could already hear and feel the festive mood of the event. 3am, ran 1km for our pre-race warmup.


5mins before the gunstart I had to hurry and go to my "Wave A" group for the 21 km run.
The first 3 km of the race was a sign of things to come. Inclined roads of up to 800 meters.


Running the skyway made me think of running in a flat pavement road, but no, the course was full of long uphills and downhills. I had to be aware of my pace, I didnt want to run too fast to avoid gassing out in the long run. I didnt want to run too slow naman because I want to raise the bar a bit high for me to break on my next half mary. Cant say much for the hydration because there was never an issue regarding this category. The only things missing were bananas and sponges. I was running 21 km. The organizers should have known that bananas and sppnges do miracles for runners in long distances like this. Oh yeah, they gave us a banana all right, but that was when we were claiming our medals AFTER the race! Organizers of this race should've known better. Another good thing is there were also portalets on every water stations after a few kilometers after the starting line.


Then came the U-turn slot in the 10.5 km. I ran a quick check on my status; stamina, check! Hydration, check! Legs and knees, check! Come the 14th km, I started to feel numbness on my right foot. Right after that, because of the numbness, my running form changed and eventually my left knee felt the change and got a little sore from it. On the 16th km, I did a 1 minute walk and 2 minute run while staying near the railings so I can easily stop and stretch without disturbing other runners behind me. I continued doing this tactic upto the finish but I gradually increased the time when running. But before I got to the finish, my left calf was cramping up. So I had to stop and run when its gone, which I blame for getting a 2:31:++. I mean, i was feeling fine that moment. I was recovered and thought that i can still run and improve my pace. Oh well, anyway, its my first 21 km race so what the heck. Ill do better in RU1, I said to myself.



Approaching the finish line, I could hear bands playing. To cheer and motivate you on. I even heard two runners telling each other to run after the last turn kasi daw nakakahiya naman. So there I was running for the finish line, looking for my number one cheerer, my wife, Trixia. I got past the finish line, had my complimentary drinks and cooled down while getting my medal which I think is the coolest medal in a run yet. Then I got a call from Trix asking me to get back near the finish line so she could take pictures of me.





Me giving love to my medal!


Me and my beatiful wife.


Jeck, Me and Jb!

After the race I noticed something quite amusing, most of the people I saw were walking with a limp. Its as if you share a certain bond with them because you can relate cause yours are hurting too. I know 1,200 bucks is a huge amount to pay just for one to join a run. But the Condura Skyway Marathon was worth it for me. It captured the fun factor in a fun run, the race from start to finish was really organized, an abundance of hydration and portalets,



and its not every day you get to run in the skyway with famous personalities like Mr. Fernando Ayala, Mr. Uytengsu, Mr. Concepcion, Ms. Pia Cayetano and Ms. Tessa Prieto. Id definitely put the next condura skyway run on my list again next year!