Last  year’s Fort Strider’s race was supposed to  be the first road race that I was going to participate in. I registered for the 10km but due to my hectic work schedule, I  wasn’t able to join. As I have said before,  there are two important things for me in a road race : safety and hydration. The distance- well as long as it doesn’t exceed a kilometer then I’m a bit ok with it. I said a bit – sabi nga nila, di baleng sobra, wag lang kulang. I was able to finish 15++ Km (instead of 10 miles) in 1:38. Congratulations to the Fort Strider’s for a well organized race....

I checked  takbo.ph the day before in order to find out if there was going to be a MOA group run in memory of the late President Aquino, but I didn’t find any – I decided to run anyway. So at around 6:00 am,  I was already geared up and waiting for the rain to stop or at least for the disturbance to “downgrade” itself to a drizzle – but everytime it does, it comes back again forceful than before. I texted running friends Isko and Ian wondering if they would also run. Isko was already running at The Fort with BR and the hardcores, while Ian was rowing.     The rain – as if the heavens were mourning for the loss of a great leader.       By the time I decided to run in the rain (it’s difficult to dry your shoes in this weather) Ian texted me that he can join me in my MOA run.  So we parked our cars in Esplanade and off we went to enjoy an easy, relaxing, refreshing albeit wet  12k – a much needed run for both of us; and what is important is that we were able to pay tribute in our own little way to our former leader. Thank you, President Aquino....

There are billions of reasons why people run. The one I find the funniest was what Joanne said after Adidas King of the Road 2008, when we ate this huge-ass servings of pancakes at Flapjacks without feeling guilty at all. “May nasunog na naman tayo eh, time to fill it up again.” Bwahahaha. I haven’t used that loveable lame excuse for a long time now. A little before I got hospitalized (the blog entry about it is still a draft … as many of my entries imported here from my previous blog), I have cut down on food. I’ve always thought that making me lighter would make me run faster (people who make lame reasons tend to have lame logic as well hahaha). The melodramatic part is I’ve been cutting down on a lot of things as well. Cutting down communication with people I don’t want to be hanging out with: emotional vampires, parasites who cling for made-believe affection, and just plain lies. I could hold them all off by being indifferent with just the snap of my fingers but I knew I had to run all the pressure and stress off sometime. Even the skies were gloomy. I would have gone for a run last night, had it not been raining, had I not been discharged from the hospital a little more than a week ago, and had it not been darker than the usual late nights I spend working on freelance projects. The sun is out now and I’ve been listening to a very calming song since yesterday: Kaskade – Empty Streets. I’ve posted it below, and you will notice that it is as relaxing as a night you have envisioned to be, when suddenly nobody and nothing exists around you. The...

Last Sunday, I was contemplating on whether I should join the Men’s Health All Terrain Race or do an easy run along the Metro. I chose the latter. You see the problem with trail runs is that they are usually held far away. I don’t have enough cash for gas and besides my trail running shoelaces have been damaged during my last trail run. They aren’t ordinary laces (kevlar) so I still have to wait for the replacement set to arrive. As I was running along Roxas Boulevard, I was suprised to see a water aid station near PICC. Hmm .. could it be that there is a road race which was not announced in Takbo.ph ? I arrived at the KM 0 marker with no incident and as I was eating my Kit-kat Wafer bar, I have noticed a support vehicle running along Roxas Boulevard followed by a group of runners. It seems that there was indeed a race and it started late (around 6:20 am). I think this is a “special” race because aside from regular runners, I saw people in their wheel chairs joining the race. It was a sight to behold, too bad that I wasn’t able to take pictures of them. At that time, since I have already depleted my water supply, I thought of running as a bandit with this race but then again, I was too shy to do so. I folowed the runners until I entered the PICC compound. It was a relaxing run plus I also now know how it feels to be a spectator in a road race. I have learned a few things from this experience : Bring cash in small denominations. Since my car is parked in MOA, I wasn’t able to drink...

I have experienced pain in both my knees during last week’s Mizuno run so I decided not to join any road race this weekend and instead do a long easy run. Since this is an Independence Day weekend, I decided to run from MOA up to Luneta and back. I have brought with me  a bottle of Gatorade and 2 Milo bars just in case I get hungry. I arrived at MOA at around 5:30am and started my long slow run from there. I felt ecstatic being able to train again after four months of  stress. The stress from work isn’t over yet but I’m glad I was able to take a break today. I have seen a few runners doing their long runs along the way: I even saw a lady wearing her Mizuno finisher’s singlet. Let me share with you some pictures I took while running:   Milo Bar Bay Walk Bay Walk Manila Yacht Club PICC KM 0 Bulova Luneta Luneta Job Fair Breakfast after the run...