running easy at the Earth Day Run

'Twas another busy running weekend for the jairunner for a back-to-back running event. After a 15km trail run at Wawa Dam in Montalban, Rizal, was a 21km run at The Fort for the Earth Day Run. 

The plan.
Less than a week before the biggest challenge for my running adventures, shouldn't be a taper week for me? This race would be one of those that I had to take it easy. I'll be running with a buddy at her pace. So it was Maan and jairunner's running at Maan's pace. It was on the TBR Dream Marathon training program by Coach Jim Lafferty that a long run for 2:40:00 hours should be done.

Ambo and I arrived early at the venue (The Fort) looking for our pace buddies for the day. I was able to find my buddy before the race started but Ambo didn't. 

 takbo.ph peeps

The race started and we found ourselves running in-pace with takbo.ph peeps on their galloway form for the first 3-5 kilometers of the 21km. It was actually a debut 21km race for my pace buddy for the day so we were stopping once in a while to take some breather and to hydrate at most of the water stations. Then, Ambo's pace buddies (JJ and Angel) came chasing us and eventually found Ambo on the race.

The route was the typical route for 21kms around Bonifacio Global City as I had raced a few 21kms in the past. However, it was the first time for my pace buddy to reach Bayani Road and Heritage Memorial Park on a race. I did enjoy the view inside the memorial park which I don't usually do during my race pace. 

I was happy to see the ultimate barefoot road race runner again on this race.

 barefoot, yeah!

My buddy and I finished the 21km race in 2:41:xx hours and it was an accomplishment on my part that she finished the race on her desired time without an injury.

Congratulations to all runners who participated in the Earth Day Run 2010 at The Fort....

Congrats to the organizers of this running event...

 takbo.ph peeps (courtesy of Carlo Serrano)

rock on!!

Merrell Adventure Race 2010

The adventure race was held in Wawa Dam, Montalban last April 17, 2010. The categories for the race include: 3k, 5k and 15k. The race was full of adventures even before the actual race. The registration was limited to 500 participants per category that I heard some registrants cramming to register at the closing day of registration to Merrell branches all over the metro. Another adventure on our group is navigating our way to the venue. Allen, Christian, Tin and I decided to ride with Beep Beep going to the venue but all of us were from the South. The venue was new to us, gladly enough we had backup contacts – Mond / Ross who helped us our way to the venue. (Thanks Mond, Thanks Ross J)

The gunstart for the race was at 6:00am, we arrived 30 minutes earlier that gave us time to prepare ourselves for the trail adventures of the day.

 Let’s race!!!

The goal for the day was to run easy and run safely to avoid getting injured for I had another race (21km) the following day. Soon as the race started, we found ourselves almost crawling for the uphills on the first few kilometers of the race. Well, except for the elite runners who looked very comfortable with the trails. J

 Picture pace for Wilnar…

After looping back from the uphill, we found ourselves an adventure in the forest. The narrow trail makes it more challenging going further inside the forest. Rocky dried creeks, steep slopes and forest fires served as witnesses for the adventure race.

 The creek runs dry..

Traces of forest fires…

 Hiking???

 More forest fires…

Upon going down from the forest, we found ourselves running along the trails near the river, crossing the river at some points of the race towards the next loop point.

What adds to the challenge is the difficulty in running on the sandy part of the trail.

 Nice trail isn’t it?

 Are we there yet?

 Wawa Dam up close…

 "He’s my winner for the day" - from the lady.(Congrats Wilnar!)

And we finally conquered the Adventure Race. At finish time of about 2:16:xx hours, not bad for an easy pace enough to beat the cut off at 2:45:00 hours.

 takbo.ph peeps

 Sina B1 at B2 laging magkasama

Sa lahat ng oras sila ay Masaya

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WARNING: Excessive adventure running is dangerous to your (mental) health!!!

(Don’t try this at home.)

 (Exhibit A: at BIB # 1770)

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Mizuno Infinity Run 2010

It was on the Mizuno Infinity run 2010 last April 11, 2010 at The Fort that I ran my first ever 15km race. Coming from trail experiences with Mt. Batulao and Mt. Maculot within the past 2 weeks before the race, I thought of running on a race pace this time. My goal was to run at sub-1:15:00 hours. Initially though, my plan was to keep pace with Allen as he would try to beat his 1:26:00 hours finish last year for the same distance.

I usually wear my Tribal® bandana on my race pace, other than that, I would be on an easy pace mode. As soon as the race started, I ran quickly to get ahead of the pack pacing along with Beep Beep. I thought that keeping my pace within Beep Beep’s pace would give me a good finish time at this race as I had done lately in my previous races. Surprisingly enough, I found myself pacing with another runner. It was on the SBC Kaizen Wellnes Run 2010 (12k) in Calamba and Unilab Run for Wellness 2010 (21k) that I saw him ran with me in the same category. He was a Japanese runner whom I think was working for a semiconductor company somewhere in Laguna.

I just felt my legs were stronger on the race day that I was able to keep pace with Mr. Japanese runner up to the 11^th or 12^th km of the race. However, as we go back to The Fort from the Kalayaan flyover, it seemed that he had increased his pace that I could not catch up anymore. This led me to chasing a Japanese runner as my goal for the race. I felt much stronger running as fellow takbo.ph members greeted me along the route. For a satisfying finish time of 1:05:58 hours, I thought the day was over and it was time to freshen up for a race well done.

An sms message from Tin told me that I was given an award. It was Bryan Rivera who informed her about it. (Thanks Tin, Thanks Bryan) So, Allen and I had to go to the awarding ceremony to confirm the award. Surprisingly, I took the Age Category (19-29) in the 15k and I am now a Champion.

 Thanks to Timmy (kenkoyrunner) for the award… hehe!

It was another big day for takbo.ph peeps because 3 bloggers (kenkoyrunner, runningninja and planet_trumania) took awards for the best blogs in different categories. Also, Carly took an award for the most improved time. 
Congratulations to all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrs!

 (Right to Left) Allen, Bryan, Timmy, Joseph, Sam, and Carly

Now I know how it feels like to be a champion runner, it has motivated me to run more and train more.

I hope to beat my time next year.

 The lucky BIB.

Mt. Maculot and the lost trail

A week after my Mt. Batulao day hike was another non-working holiday. It is Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) being observed every 9^th of April in the Philippines. Another climb was set by the takbo.ph peeps so Allen (Ambo Kulit) and I decided to join with them. The climb was at Mt. Maculot in Cuenca, Batangas. (For more information, just Google for Mt. Maculot)  The meeting place was near Buendia LRT station around 2:00am where we prepared our packs while waiting for other climbers to arrive.

 Ready to conquer Mt. Maculot..

(Left to Right clockwise – Carina,Vicky,Tracy,Carly,Rick,Doc Art,Allen,Glenn,me,Ellen,Dennis)

We boarded the bus at 3:00am expecting it to leave the terminal as early as possible but to our dismay, it took 1 hour to get as much passengers they wanted. If not for this one passenger telling them about the time, it would have left later than 4:00am. The bus left the terminal late and there was traffic jam along Lipa-Tanauan route going Cuenca, Batangas so the plan of watching sunrise in Mt. Maculot was spoiled.

We reached the town of Cuenca, Batangas around 7:00am on our way to Mt. Maculot. It was unfortunate that Doc Art had to miss the climb because of the call of duty that he had to get back to Manila. From the town proper, we had to pay registration fee at one point then went to the Barangay Hall to relieve ourselves.

Climbers’ registration area..

Morning break while Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto watches over them.

From the Barangay Hall, our tricycle drivers took us to the jump off point for the trail leading to the grotto.

The group had a breakfast as we got more excited to climb Mt. Maculot.

Breakfast at jump off…

Let’s get it on…

The climb was going to the grotto. The group had to pause for breaks on the “stations of the cross” along the trail until we reached the grotto.

 Stolen shot no more for Vicky…

Group picture at the grotto summit..

The group’s next goal was to go to the summit of Mt. Maculot. 

Finally, after an hour of trekking from the grotto we were at the summit of Mt. Maculot. The path was not easy for we had to pass thru the so-called “the wall” inclined around 80-90 degress.

But wait……… there’s more……

As we were about to go to down, we saw 2 trails. One trail was the usual trail familiar to our trail master Dennis and a new trail. Curious as we were, the group took the challenge of taking the trail less travelled I guess. Allen warned me about the new trail for there was a trail sign on a tree at the summit indicating that this trail was actually the wrong way. We went down this trail grabbing every vine that we could to assist us on the trail only to find out that it was a dead-end.

We got lost.

When everyone was at the end of the trail leading to this dead-end, the group decided that we should be going back to the summit and take the other trail.

The sweeper had to assist the rest of the group as we go up to the summit again. Thanks to Allen for staying with and assisting Dennis at the most difficult part of this trail.

After 2 long hours of grueling trek from this ‘lost’ trail, the group reached the camp site where we could buy drinks for refreshment. We had the chance to mingle with a group of mountaineers on their way to Rockies.

 Base camp…

Allen and I found ourselves chasing each other going to Rockies. The rest had to stay at the base camp to have rest coming from the lost trail. The view at Rockies was awesome looking at Taal Lake down below us.

Allen at the diving board.

My knees were shaking at this point but I took the courage of going to the diving board and experience a breathtaking view from there. The thought that ‘one miss you die’ applies. Satisfied with what we have seen, we decided to re-join the group and descent.

 Group picture at the base camp.

It is disappointing to see that despite a number of warnings along the trail, a lot trash were scattered everywhere. I can’t resist to compare Mt. Batulao with Mt. Maculot from my trail experience. I just wish mountaineers going to Mt. Maculot would be more conscious in taking care of the environment. Nonetheless, it was a memorable climb for us especially when we took the ‘lost’ trail.

Another trail learning experience has been added to my list.

Job well done at Mt. Maculot.

That’s all folks. Hope to see you again on the next climb.

Summer Weekend 2010 in La Union

 It was on a Friday morning, April 2 (the day after our day hike to Mt. Batulao in Batangas) that I was able to travel to my hometown. The weekend vacation won’t be as long as I wanted to be since I need to get back to Manila before office resumes on Monday. However, it’s good to know that I’m going to be reunited with my mom and sisters again. It has been a boring Holy Week (for Catholic believers) that I had last year because it was spent on the hospital for my tonsillectomy. Yeah right, I lost my tonsils and it’s probably one of the reasons why I took more effort in doing sports / physical activities like running, badminton, table tennis and basketball rather than being a couch potato.

So, I rushed to the Partas bus terminal in Pasay, Friday morning to get a ride. It was indeed a blessing that a bus was about to leave for Candon, Ilocos Sur so I jumped into it quickly. At 10am, the bus left the terminal. To my surprise, it took only 5 minutes to reach Cubao and 15 minutes to Munoz, QC. EDSA was free from traffic on a Holy Friday.  

Stop over at Sison, Pangasinan

                      Inside the bus

Soon after 5 hours of travel, we have reached the boundary between La Union and Pangasinan. It is the Sison Bridge that connects La Union and the rest of Ilocos provinces to Pangasinan going to Manila. The bridge is currently under repair because a span of it broke during the rage of typhoon Ondoy sometime last year.

            

 Sison Bridge under construction

It took me 7 hours to reach my hometown in Bacnotan, La Union where I was happily greeted by my mom.

Now, I only have 2 days left to spend in La Union during the long weekend for Holy Week.

It was on the Black Saturday that my sisters and I decided to go to the beach. I had another thing in mind and that is to do a long run along the beach and trails under the scorching heat of the sun. 15km was the farthest I’ve ever ran in La Union for 1.5 hours then I went back to the beach where my sisters were waiting for me.

           

            

jairunner.             

                                                                                               

 Waiting for sunset…

We stayed at the beach as we watch the sunset roll over the horizon of South China Sea.

Then at night, we went to the Summer Chill 3 party in Urbiztondo beach, San Juan, La Union. Reggae was the music of the night

            

Summer Chill 3 entrance.                  

                                                                  

Reggae Mistress on stage.

While reggae music was played on one side, San Miguel foam party was on the other end.

Luckily enough, I got my Lumix LX3 to capture some shots of the SMB models as they go wet n’ wild.

Parental Guidance is recommended.

If you’re into opm music in the 90’s, I’m sure you’ve heard of their music top the charts across all FM stations.

I’m grateful to have met Markus Adoro of the ERASERHEADS in the party. He’s been in La Union for quite sometime and he’s enjoyed surfing the waves in San Juan.

                         

 Markus Highway – Jai       

            Markus and my sistahs (Pharah – Erika)

Looking forward to another beach party in La Union this year….