3 Days of Freedom (from work, that is)

Day 1

I dropped by Botak in EDSA Kamuning last June 12 and registered. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here – I think it was in 1989 when my classmates and I were looking for jerseys for the school's volleyball team. I was accommodated right away by Mark and ultrarunner Ian Alacar, project director of the Botak run on June 28, was there too to entertain my questions. The 5 mile run will start from UP Diliman’s Yilnan Road going out to Commonwealth Avenue. A quick turn right at Robinson’s Supermarket and Mercury Drugstore will lead runners to the Old Balara Road. It’s a short uphill and then a steady run towards Tumana gate. Then everybody goes back to Commonwealth and back to Yilnan Road. Ian said this will be the first time that the two lanes of Commonwealth will be closed for a race. And this will be my first time to run it - can't wait!

Day 2

While everyone was at the trail run in San Mateo, I decided to do a long easy run from MOA to Luneta Park (which I later learned is Kilometer 0) and back to Home Depot Macapagal with Rockenrun. Started at 5:30 am and paced at 8/km, it was quite a cool morning and the breeze helped me a lot in maintaining my pace and consistently running that stretch. Even had ‘small McKinley hills’ at the Film Center and the PICC where we ran up and down the driveways. We bumped into a lot of runners wearing different race singlets and I find myself thinking – looks like everyone’s getting ready for a long race! A lady in Mizuno singlet, a man in Earth Run, a couple of guys in Milo and another guy in Botak. After a quick meal at Jollibee Home Depot, we dropped by Rizal Stadium and checked out the Oval Track and the swimming pool - hmmmm, I like!

Day 3

Rest Day! My thighs were killing me after that long run and I found it difficult to go up and down the stairs so I pigged out on pasta (my personal reward for finishing almost 13km on a consistent pace - that is, no walk breaks! Hehe).

IE8…I came…I conquered

(My first 8mile...)

Imagine that - the rain didn't hamper my recent addiction, but the thought of how far the race I have registered to this time gave me apprehensions. I knew I would be running (or walking) on thin ice when I noticed that almost all 8milers were seasoned runners! "What the hell were you thinking?", “You haven’t even trained for this!” repeatedly banged, whacked, knocked, pounded my head. Unfortunately for me, I was wearing a Kevlar helmet. Besides, I need to break-in my new pair of NBs…hehehe. It’s now or never – anyway it’s just a few kilometers after 10 km and I was able to finish a 10km trail run just last weekend. So, it wouldn’t hurt to go an extra mile, so to speak. Ha! Spoke too soon.


My new pair: New Balance Acteva

At the 6:00 am gun-off, I took off faster than my usual pace and tried to keep up with the runners. Bad move - I was already huffing before I made the turn to the Kalayaan flyover. At this point, I had to thank the rain for keeping me from dehydrating but I had to do a mixture of run/walk until I reached Makati Avenue. My watch read 30:49 when the traffic officer at Makati Avenue stopped us because traffic was getting heavy on both sides and he had to let them pass – great! Jogging in place to keep the momentum, we resumed after two minutes and I tried to keep up with my target (or targets, as I keep on losing each one of them every time...hahaha, that’s how slow I was!)

When I reached the Makati post office, I tried to look for the turnaround and noticed that the runners before me were still running far off in the distance. Uh-oh…looks like I won’t make it to my target time! Past the Pasong Tamo intersection, a runner in pastel green overtook me and I tried to keep up with her pace until I reached the turnaround at the railway station. I wasn’t worried that I might slip from the rain puddles near the rails (not with the new shoes! hehe) and ran until the next aid station - which was just a few meters from the turnaround. Drinking water and walking for the next block, I noticed that I lost my new target (again!) - the runner in pastel green.

On my way back to Makati Avenue, I noticed a lot of spongebobs in pink, blue and white colors blocking my path. Looks like the runners before me had a blast with the water sponges. I made it near the Kalayaan flyover at 1:18 and was surprised to see the AS here offering Coke! I sipped some to give me my much-needed sugar boost and was still working on the run/walk pace and keeping up with new targets along the way until I reached the finish line at 1:46 (unofficial).

After drinking more water at the finish line, I felt a shooting pain on my right foot, just near the thumb area. But of course, this didn’t deter me from waiting for my bib number to be called for the laptop raffle and taking pictures. But when I reached home, I knew I had to do something to remove the pain. I tried all means of relief – ice, stretching, rest, massage, biting, cursing, chanting…to no avail. Looks like it’s the doctor’s appointment next week then, that is, after the Mizuno Infinity Run – haha!

Still trying to figure out how I finished my longest race so far (while promising to myself that I will finish a few 10kms first before another 8 mile race), I learned that I actually ran 13.4 kilometers! (thanks takbo.ph for the info) - imagine that!


My 1 year old niece, Candice, wearing the IE8 finisher shirt - my son thought it looks better on her

Eight races after...

Yakult
Run for their lives
Condura run
Slimmerun
Step up
Botak
Market market
TNF 100

Never thought that a sport would reunite me with writing. It took me four mountains and eight races after to hit the keys again and gear up that gray area between my ears - unbelievably, the writer in me is now grasping (or more like gasping) for the right words to finish this blog entry.

Had it not been for the eventful trail run last weekend, I wouldn't have started on blogging - even with the constant prodding by friends. The challenge is to keep it real and ideal. The goal is to keep on writing and enjoying life while I can. For the next few days, I will take you all on a journey that I have yet to take myself - I hope you enjoy it.

The North Face 100 - Fast and Furious

Reality checked in when I got on board the Victory Liner bus en route to Dau, Pampanga last May 23 at 11am. Packed and ready to hit the Sacobia trail for my first trail run, I thought this would be no different from my previous climbs.  But then again, this is a trail run - not just a climb. Good thing I packed the right stuff - I think:

Adidas climacool shirt
Adidas running shorts
Black tights
Black socks
REI bush hat
...and my good old Nike cross training shoes (who says you can't run and climb in them? Ha!)

The bus ride gave me a pounding headache that I had to sleep it off -  which I regretted because the headache got worse when we got off at the Victory Liner Dau station in Clark.  Since I was the smart ass who said I knew how to get to Clearwater Resort - where my friends and I stayed for the night, I had to figure out which jeepney or tricycle we had to ride on to.

After calling Clearwater again for the right directions, we got into a tricycle and got off at Clark maingate.  From there, we rode a jeepney to Parkson Duty Free.  The jeepney drivers were saying that it was going to be a long walk from Parkson to Clearwater Resort.When we asked how long, they said, "Around 2 kilometers..." No problem.  We're not runners for nothing, right? Wrong. We are runners yes, but we were not ready for the heat that took its toll on us during the midday walk. 

Although it was a little shy of a kilometer walk, we felt so drained we wanted to hit the pools in the resort when we arrived. We opted to check out our room instead.  After unpacking, we went out to check the TNF jump-off area at the Expo Filipino parking lot, which we were told is just near the resort - and it was.  The jump-off area was calm and quite a few ultramarathon runners were already arriving minutes apart from each other.  While waiting for our friend, Superpinoy Isko, to arrive at the finish line from his 50km, the unthinkable happened!



- The Aftermath -


A hard-hitting storm wreaked havoc over the jump-off area and destroyed everything - from the tents to the finish line posts to the posters to Coach Rio's hair!  Fast and furious, the heavy rain ran past the jump-off area and swept off everything that got in its way -  leaving all of us stunned and very wet!  And this was me wondering - how am I going to run in wet shoes along muddy terrain the next day!  Uh-oh, this is one hell of a trail run going to happen!  Coach Rio and company were up to their necks with worry about the 100km runners' safety and whether or not they should continue with the race the next day. Good thing the rain subsided after 30 or so minutes but it left a very wrecked jump-off area.  And good thing Isko and friends arrived a few minutes later - drenched and exhausted but safe.  After making sure that Isko finished off his adobo and rice, which we brought for him, my friends and I went off to Parkson Duty Free to do some last minute shopping.


- Conquering lahar... -

The storm didn't return overnight and it was a relief to see that the jump-off area was back to normal the next day when we arrived for the 20 and 10 km run.  15 minutes after the 20 km runners took off, I ran off with the 10km pack. The first kilometer of pavement running gave me enough momentum for the trail that I was expecting.  But I lost it when we got sidestepped in a narrow trail down the Sacobia bridge - where a traffic of runners had to wait for their turn to go down.The first river crossing under the bridge was not bad - the water could have been higher had the storm continued the night before. The lahar bed was soft under the feet - and this was me thinking - ok this is going to be one easy trail.  We ran past two more river crossings and past the cogon and up to a higher trail - where the muddy part of the trek was.  And this was when I realized how I missed climbing -it had been almost a year since my friends and I climbed Mt. Hibok-Hibok in Camiguin.


- My 'black' Nike shoes -

I clocked in at 1:36 on my watch at the finish line and I was unbelievably happy to see how dirty my Nike shoes were - they were almost black!  My tights were muddy and my skin sunburnt.  I knew I would be lining up again for another trail run next time - and maybe, just maybe, for a 20km this time.