As I sat in ROC (a cafe inside Bahay Ng Alumni in UP Diliman) with one of my best buds, Joanne Ignacio, I came across the upcoming event that’s happening on February 21, 2010: The Century Tuna Superbods Run! I haven’t had any training and running in awhile, and what better way to start the year right? By training and being fit and healhty! Derek Ramsey will be there, together with the Century Tuna Bods Finalists. A photo booth will be installed and serve as a go-see for interested participants who want to qualify as one of the next Century Tuna image models! If you think you have what it takes, then join in on the race and have your picture taken as well!   Century Tuna Superbods Run 2010 There will also be fun and interesting activities after the race, only happening at The Fort, Global City, with 3km, 5km, 10km, and 21km distances to be covered. Don’t forget the date: February 21, 2010, and don’t forget the event: Century Tuna Superbods Run 2010! RockEnRun would like to thank RunnerSpeak and Century Tuna for their bag of goodies! Watch them on Sunday, January 10, on QTV, at 1445H-1515H for details. Also, check out Nuffnang’s post for more details or visit Century Tuna’s Official Website! 😀 Here’s a good 90’s beat to jumpstart my training in getting ready for this run:  ...

Hmm – I am at a loss for words. Last Sunday’s Timex half-marathon is perfect. As I was driving around the Fort Global City area on my way to the parking lot, I have noticed the long tables filled with cups of water / sports drinks. I said to myself that finally, the organizers are listening to the runners – this must be a good sign! I was aiming for a PR for this run, but as the race started, I was surprised that the race has actually started, hehehe – you should be there, everybody just started running. It was your typical 21km race route around the Fort and Buendia . The roads were closed and irate motorists giving us the finger – tssss! Do we have anger management classes in the Philippines ? I was so excited in achieving a PR that I forgot to warm up – big mistake. After 4 kms, my 5:30 pace dropped to 6:00 and then 6:30. I got so tired that I realized after reading the official results that my pace for the last 2kms was around 8 to 9 mpk! I finished the race at 2:18 (chip time)  – so much for a PR. I was happy that at the finish line, we were treated like VIPs- we were given towels and awarded a medal ; but wait, that’s not all : there was free breakfast, lots of 100 plus / free coffee sachets and a loot bag that contains .. wait , let me see – an energy  bar and wait, another bottle of 100 plus! Hats off to Coach Rio and...

As I look back, I remember the first time I asked my sister to register me for a race. I eventually didn’t participate in the said 10k event because I was too lazy to wake up at 4am so that I could simply run. I quipped ”Why should I change my routine?”. I usually wake up at around 6:00am and do my 2.1km jog around The Fort area and more recently, around MOA. I even remember a female colleague telling me this: “Ano ba yan, papahirapan mo nalang sarili mo, magbabayad ka pa!” I eventually joined my first race (which covered a distance of 10km) wearing my very old Nike cross trainers (the shoe’s sole had been replaced with locally available soles since the original air sole has already leaked). … and here I am, 11 months and 3 running shoes after –> running my first ever full 42KM marathon. What can I say? I didn’t even plan joining this event until 5 weeks ago. I was undertrained . Thanks to the effort of ultra runner friend Isko who patiently trained me in such a short time, I was able to complete this run together with another running friend, Ian. The concept of running SCTEX at night was very appealing to most of the people who participated in this event, after all, you can’t run along this route on a regular night (pun intended). This could’ve been a next to perfect race except for the following: • No water for four consecutive water stations – I think that the water stations were more than 2.5kms apart, so you could imagine how thirsty the other runners were when they came to our support vehicle (the white van with the team hardcore tarpaulin) asking if we...

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....

12 minutes late(and gasping for air .. again!)  – that was my reaction when I saw the 21k timer at the starting line. I was hoping that I arrived just in time but the queue in  the parking area was so long.  At that point I was already contemplating on running the 15k race instead. Fortunately, Ian Alacar (the race director) was very supportive in giving me directions for the 21k race route and off I went to run the 21k race alone. This was the first time that I ran alone in order to catch up with runners who started way ahead of me. The thing is, I have already sprinted (without any warm up) to the starting line from the parking area ; and here I am again literally sprinting to catch up with the runners. I was already walking before I reached the first KM. Who was I fooling ? I couldn’t reach them no matter what – or so I thought, after about an hour and after the fast 15k runners went past me, I was able to catch up with the last 20 percent of the 21k runners. It was only at this point that I felt good about myself This was a well-organized race, I mean if it weren’t for the road signs and the helpful men in uniform, I wouldn’t have been able to catch up with the runners from my race. The only thing is, I thought that we were still going to run another loop as we returned to the McKinley area – so you could imagine my surprise when we were told that there were only 400 meters left before the finish line. This would have been a close to perfect race, were it not...