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Monday, July 26, 2010

Takbo runfest 2010

Hindi ako tumakbo sa event na ito kahit na nag-register ako. Pinili kong maging isang boluntaryong maniniyut kasi gusto kong makatulong at mag-practice ng aking kinakalawang na maniniyut skills.

Went to the venue at around 4 am. Pretty surprised that set-up was already complete for the event already (thanks to the volunteers :) ). Met with the photographers to plan where should we set-up to take the pictures. I chose to go at the far area of the 10K track, why? because I want to try my luck with the 10K passing thru my spot.

With Josiah, we started walking to our respectives at around 5:15 am. Met also with Gary in the every nation intersection and gave my bib number (Gary, dapat sub-45 yan!!!) then proceeded to my station. While waiting, I chatted with Rod and Ley (ang tagal mong nawala!) and set-up my equipment. I brought my barbel lens even though it is heavy because of the speed and event. Glad I made the right choice!

Around 6:15, the first set of runners appeared in my spot. It was a leisure shot as they were the race leaders. BUT come 6:30, the chaos had started! Man, I was shooting against a sea of runners. It was like target shooting, clicking at every possible runner that I can! Pretty stressed already when the last runner passed by but my job is not yet over. I decided to move to another decent spot to get more photos :).

While walking, I took shot of the runners I met along the way. I stayed at the last 700 meter turn-around point of the race and took a couple of shots. I felt the weight of the barbel I'm using and literally, my arms were getting exhausted. Still I was able to take a few more good shots before heading back to the starting line.

In-fairness, this is one of the most organized event I joined this year. Proper hydration, perfect weather, organized loot bags and very good program. Meeting a lot of new runners and chatting with a couple of oldies was really good! Plus I love the singlet, even though last minute na siyang dumating.

Congratulations Boss Jinoe for a successful event! Kudos to all the people behind this race especially the never ending support from the volunteers! Looking forward for the next runfest! :)

Mabuhay takbo.ph!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

9 months to go!

I'm exactly 9 months away from being free in one of my debts. Hooray!

Speaking of funds, managing it is very hard! I'm trying to save for a possible new toy next month (hint: new hobby) so I need to really tighten my belt. Have to remove unnecessary spending and stuff but have enough funds to live for the month. I'm using an excel sheet now to balance my spendings and savings, something I learned from a friend.

I hope I'll be successful with this :)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A lesson in integrity

Integrity is a word that matters in my experience for the past few months. Experiencing it head-on is quite fulfilling and I'm hoping that it would be a lesson for the runners who might face a similar situation like this in their future races.



Today, I joined the Eng'gfinity race under the 10K category. I was excited for this race as it is for my dear college and I'm gunning for a 10K PR. It's been a while since I run my last official 10K here in UP and I want to see how much did I improved from my trainings.

Race started late by 15 mins but the issues didn't stop from there. Early in the race, the leaders did a wrong turn because no marshals were in place, confusing directions because of arrows and hidden among the sidewalks. Enough of the rants, here's the main part of this post :)

On the last part of the race, I had a good progress on my time as I'm consistent with my pacing (thanks to the speed training last Thursday). I was not familiar with the race route so I was following another runner who passed me earlier. At the finish line, I thought that we were supposed to cross it to record our lap but unfortunately, it was the end of the race! This was terrible as I know that the distance lacks 2.2K and what's more interesting is they said I was the 3rd to cross the line.

I felt so guilty about it because it seems like I cheated :(. I saw the elites pass thru the finish line after us so I know this is really wrong. So what I did was I ran again the last 2.2 km then went to the marshal to tell them the issue and drop me officially from the race. It was not really hard for me to do it because I was not expecting any rewards from the race; I'm more disappointed because I wasn't able to set a PR for the distance and marshals who were not able to do their job properly.

Funny thing because I was wearing the TPPB singlet which reminded me of how much we value integrity as the shirt signified in the last epic relay :). At the end of everything, it is not the reward that I considered but the valuable lesson I learned from it.

Hope everybody learned something from this post.

P.S. I think this is the first race here in the Philippines which used the D-tag. Engineers nga naman :D

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Sick!

Ito ang patunay na tao lang din ako. Sinabayan ni Basyang ang pagkakaroon ko ng sakit (ubo+sipon+muscle pain=flu?). Di kasi ako umiinom ng vitamins at nagkakain ng gulay noong mga nakaraang araw eh. Hay...

Anyway, kailangan kong bumalik sa normal upang maipagpatuloy ang aking pag-eensayo. Sayang ang miles para sa P2P ngayong Agosto (I need to run at least 40K per week as preparation).

Sa mga may sakit, pagaling kayo! Nandito na naman ang tag-ulan at ang sakit di tayo tatantanan.

I hate being sick...

Monday, July 12, 2010

Race Prices

After reading Maan's post, I also pondered on how much money I spend in joining races per month. For example, during the month of May 2010:

PAU 50K - P850 (nakalimutan ko na kung magkano talaga...)
Men's Health - P450
Run to Transform - P500
Nature Valley - P650

That's a whooping P2350!!! (which I could have used to buy a lot of stuff already :( ). Having noticed this, I decided to put some control on the race I join per month:

- 21K and above race only (max of 2 races per month)
- Race outside the Fort or even metro manila. New routes are always welcome (i.e. PAU series)
- Race with fee <= P300
- Race with a great chance of having < 1000 participants
- Race which are sponsored (asa pa, nyahahahaha)

So what will I do on the days where I don't join a race? I'll probably allot it on training and developing my skills or take the day-off. It will save me money at the same time improve my skills! :D

Thanks Maan for the write-up, it opened my mind up with managing the race I join per month. Gone were the days where a 10k or 21K would only be less than P400.

Time to tighten my belt :)

Friday, July 9, 2010

Post-Milo Marathon Write-up


It was a big day for most of the runners. For most, it is considered as the most prestigious marathon here in the Philippines. For others, it is a dream that they want to fulfill. For me, it is a race that I am really looking forward to :)

It's my 2nd 42K in my running career (after a bad yet learning experience in Condura). I really prepared for this event, increasing my mileage per week and eating like a pig to gain a few weight. I'm positive that I won't make it to the qualifying time of 3:45 minutes but nonetheless, I would try my luck and set a new PR. For me, it's time to redeem myself from the last full marathon I took.

I went there at around 2:30 am to beat the traffic and get a decent parking space. Met the takbo.ph folks who will also run the race. We went to the starting line at around 3:30 to warm-up and stretch. The last few minutes we were there chitchatting and talking about the excitement about the race.

By the way, this year's route was different from the previous one. Instead of the long route from Km 0 to Heritage and back, the organizers set it with loops within the NAIA road - Vicente Sotto rd. 3 freaking loops with two huge fly-overs which we will be passing 4x during the race (that's 8 fly-overs!!!). It was relatively flat aside from the road passing the fly-over. People thought it would be easy but little did they know...

Gunstarts at 4:10. On to my first loop, I decided to do a relatively slow pace because I don't want to burn-out early. There were many gatorade and water station available along the way plus the Hammer Gel around the 16K mark was a huge help. It was still dark but fortunately the path was lighted so I think it was a good start. Passed by the takbo.ph aid station, saw a lot of support already cheering for us warriors made me feel good about the run. That was the first loop!

On the 2nd loop, the sun has started to rise and again passed thru the lane. No cramps or pain in the legs yet but I'm already starting to get worried about the "wall" (point where you can't run because of exhaustion, etc.). I still increased my pace, hoping to finish the race within my target of 4:10. I took my first fuel before the first flyover at the 2nd loop but realized its effect after around 5 minutes. It was really a good booster! :D. Passed by the takbo.ph station again, this time Macoy gave me a "hug" err Pocari Sweat.

On the 3rd loop, fatigue starts to kick in. I decided to have a short walk break after every hydration station. On km. 28, I saw my PPB teammate Ka Totoy walking because of his injury in the previous epic race. I decided to walk with him to save some energy and at least know what was he feeling that time and how we can get some help. I paced him to the next aid station but eventually he walked because of the pain. I went ahead and asked Marga to assist him when he passes by. Too bad on the 3rd loop there were no more Energy Gel so I consumed another packet to get my feet going. My pace was also dropping as well because of the heat and fatigue already. Passed by the takbo.ph for the 3rd and last time, I asked for a bottle of water. I remembered to bring one and thank God I made the right choice because of the last set of things to happen.

After the aid station, I decided to do a run-walk-run strategy. I can feel cramps building up in both of my legs so for every run up the fly-over, I would walk while making up for it on the downhill. I saw and cheered a couple of my TPPB teammates doing their last few kms (They are really fast!). Eventually, I'm almost burned out that on the last fly-over before the turn-around point, i have to walk.

The last few km was hell. Walk-run-walk (majority walk) was still my strategy. There were no more hydration station available for the last 4 km. I did the right thing of bringing up a bottle as I refilled it with water when I passed by guys with water containers. I asked them to douse me with water as well because the heat is building up. There was even a guy with a water gun, squirting me with some cold water. Normally, I will get pissed off but by that time I was thankful for such ingenious and effective help.

Down to the last 2.5 km, I decided to walk up to the finish line. But when Noelle passed me by, I was inspired to help her qualify for the finals. So with the little strength left, I paced her towards the finish line. Road after road after road, I was really eyeing for that freaking finish line. I was no longer minding the pain, all I want was to finish this race so I gave my last push. I hate the crowd near the starting line as they are blocking our path. No marshals were insight; no crowd control was found. Damn it!

Time is running out for Noelle so we dashed towards the finish line. I was getting impatient already because of exhaustion, no hydration and people blocking our path. But all the hardships were worth it as we crossed the finish line! At 4:18:xx, I beat my previous PR and helped a fellow runner qualify for the finals!

It was a nice feeling! But it didn't end there. I'm going to claim a prize for another goal. On that day, I passed my 1000 km mileage and qualified for BR's club! It was a simple shirt really but it reflected on my commitment and determination towards my goal. It was a few goals that I would really really treasure in this lifetime.

God, it was a long post. I know it's overdue but I want to have this remembered as my first Milo marathon and the day I got my BR shirt. Thank you to the people who helped us during the race (panalo kayo takbo.ph), BR for setting my goal and the new friends I met as I made my journey.

Sa wakas natapos din! :D



P.S. "Milo" is the name of my shoes which I will be using in every long distance race that I will have for the year and made it's race debut last Sunday. I found it light with the right amount of cushioning and no blisters at all! Love those shoes :D

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Milo Jingle Lyrics

I didn't expect that it was really-really hard to find the freaking lyrics for the Milo jingle. Thank God for google and youtube, I stumbled upon this video:



Good luck and God bless to all the runners in the most prestigious running event tomorrow here in the Philippines! :D

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Progress

Not sure how much weight I've lost due to running but here are a few pictures to see my progress:
Before (KOTR 2008):


After (Nature Valley 2010):



Hope this helps :D
Proudly Pinoy!