Race for the Orphans on February 12, 2012

WHAT: Race for the Orphans
WHEN: February 12, 2012 (Sunday)
WHERE: Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City

REGISTRATION PERIOD: January 7, 2012 to February 11, 2012 (12nn to 8pm)
RACE CATEGORIES AND REGISTRATION FEES:
- P600 for 10k
- P400 for 5k
RACE KIT INCLUDES: Race bib with timing tag and singlet
REGISTRATION VENUES:
- Secondwind Running Store: Quezon City and Ortigas Branches
- A Runners Circle (ARC): Roxas Blvd. corner Quirino Avenue
- ROX: Bonifacio High Street, BGC, Taguig
RACE BONUS: All registered runners have a chance to win a free trip for 2 to Boracay!

Singlet Design

RACE WRITE-UP:

A race for the orphans, a race for your hearts! A very special race for the month of the heart—The Race For The Orphans will stir the Camp Aguinaldo Grounds in the still misty morning of February 12, 2011 each not only to experience running the peaceful grounds of the military camp but to take part in answering the orphans cry for love and compassion.

It is with this aim that Rundezvous Events Inc., will stage this event that will provide scholarship grants through “I-Hope”, a trust fund that will support the educational needs of these orphans of soldiers killed in action in Mindanao and for future grantees of the AFP Educational Benefit System (AFPEBS).

Each runner pays a modest registration fee of P600.00 for the 10k run and P400.00 for the 5k run. Inclusive with this fee is a nice running singlet available in various sizes, a Timing tag, race bib number and a goodie bag from our sponsors.

Our registration Centers will be at the Secondwind Running Stores in Ortigas and Quezon City; ROX at Bonifacio High Street and at A Running Circle (ARC) along Quirino Avenue corner Roxas Blvd., Manila.

“We shall leave no soldiers’ orphan behind”. This is the AFP Educational Benefit System Office’s (AFPEBSO) tagline, an organization which deeply recognizes the heroism in each Filipino soldier. It is one of the morale and welfare outfits of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that grant educational benefits both to the military personnel and their dependents with the aim of helping them secure a brighter future. As it recognizes our soldiers' heroism, especially of those who lay down their lives in protecting peace, AFPEBSO gives priority to the orphans of Filipino soldiers who were killed in action.

We’ll see you at Camp Aguinaldo on February 12, 2012!

For inquiries, please call or text:
Abet: 09158030224 or Zarina: 09165217400
Or call Phone: 6(32) 3829659 c/o of Salie Guarin.

Subic International Marathon: 21k in 21 Photos

It was another fun-filled out-of-town trip for the Team Alpha1 boys last January 21-22, 2012. I and six of my running teammates went to Subic, Olongapo for lots of eating. And oh yes, I forgot. Running too!

Now here are 21 photos from our Subic adventure:

1
We went in two separate cars - mine and Daves'. We met at a Caltex station near the San Fernando exit at NLEX. We went on a convoy after the meet-up.

2
Upon arriving at Subic, we were famished! We came across Texas Joe's. And oh boy the food was heavenly.

3
I ordered spare ribs. Yuuuummmmm! And I did something I haven't done for a long time - order extra rice! Haha!

4
Texas Joe's is just a few meters away from where we will be staying - Subic Park Hotel. We made it just in time for the 2pm check-in.

5
Our Deluxe rooms were spacious! My roommates were Bryan "FFS" and Martin "Coyote". I was supposed to take a nap, having been tired from the long drive but I opened my laptop instead and checked work emails. Loser!

6
Around 5pm, we went out and searched for a "meryenda" place. A friend of Daves recommended a place called Xtremely Xpresso. The place was just a walking distance from our hotel.

7
Found the place! Xtremely Xpresso Cafe!

8
Pizza and Pasta - perfect carbo-loading! I had a Bailey's-flavored Gelato ice cream for dessert.

9
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by at the nearby church to have our photo taken. It was also a time for me to say a quick prayer for a safe and injury-free run the next day.

10
After a few hours of sleep, we were up again to do our pre-race rituals. We asked the hotel attendant to take our picture. He wished us good luck and off we went for our warm-up run!

11
I had Eugene's camera with me so I was playing around, trying to imitate Spongebob Runner, who always had his camera with him during runs and taking pictures just like the one you see above. Everyone was game and having fun every time I attempt to take pictures.

12
The gun start for the 21k runners was moved from 5am to 5:15am so we had lots of time to relax and mingle with other runners.

13
This being my first official race for this year (having just recovered from my knee injury), I planned to take it slower than my normal competitive pace. This is also Rocky's first 21k for the year so we decided to just pace each other.

14
The race route was mostly uphill for the first half. But what goes up, must come down. Mostly downhill after the half-way point U-turn. At kilometer 16, Rocky told me to go ahead as his right knee was acting up. Now alone, I did my usual strategy of targeting one runner at a time and overtaking them. I was targeting members of the Army since they have been very fast during the start of the race and were now tired. Hehe!

15
There were a lot of food vendors in the race village. Hungry, I bought an egg sandwich and a bottle of soda. Rocky ate one order of spaghetti and one order of pancit palabok. Haha! We waited for Byron to cross the finish line and then walked back to our hotel.

16
After everyone had a quick shower (including our full marathon finishers), we made it just in time for the 12nn check-out time. Here's us in the hotel lobby while settling our payables.

17
One more shot with the Subic Park Hotel logo at the background before leaving. Plan is to have lunch at Meat Plus Cafe, a must-visit restaurant in Subic!

18
My lunch - baby back ribs and carrot cake for dessert! I'd come back for that melt-in-your-mouth baby back ribs! Perfect 10!

19
Group pic in front of Meat Plus Cafe. We went to the nearby duty-free shop after. I bought lots of junk food - 60 dollars worth!

20
Martin, Bryan and Byron were all asleep in my car during the drive at SCTEX. I was fighting the urge to sleep while driving since I had no one to talk to. Good thing we had a stop-over at an NLEX gasoline station. I had my caffeine fix by ordering the strongest coffee available at Gloria Jean's. That helped me survive the remaining two hours of drive to Paranaque.

21
I love the dog tag given to the 21k finishers! Official time: 2 hours, 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Thank you Subic International Marathon! It was a great event!

RUNew 2012: Experience Runner's High in Filinvest Alabang

RUNew is back! I was able to do my birthday run at RUNew 2010 at Filinvest, Alabang and it was one of those intimate race events I enjoyed. This year, Asian Hospital and Medical Center is partnering up again with RUNRIO for RUNew 2012: Run for a Better YOU!

Event Poster

RACE EVENT SPECIFICS:

WHAT: RUNew 2012
WHEN: February 26, 2012 (Sunday) 4:30am to 9am
WHERE: Filinvest, Alabang
TARGET # OF PARTICIPANTS: 3000 runners across all categories
REGISTRATION PERIOD: January 16 to February 19, 2012
REGISTRATION CENTERS:
Asian Hospital & Medical Center, MOB Lobby
2205 Civic Drive, Alabang, Muntinlupa City
Riovana Store BGC
28th St. cor. 9th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Riovana Store Katipunan
3rd floor Regis Bldg. Katipunan, Quezon City
Tobys Sports
SM Mall of Asia Branch
The Athletes Foot
Robinson's Galleria Branch

Event Registration Fees

* Finisher's medal and shirt will be given to all 21k finishers.

For ONLINE REGISTRATION, click on this link.

Singlet Design

RACE MAPS:

Race beneficiary is Asian Hospital Charities Inc. Help patients who have nowhere to go because their community hospitals cannot handle their medical needs.

Register now! Run for your health. Run to help.

DNF and DNS: My Most Hated Acronyms

I never wanted 2012 to start this way for me, getting injured and all. But they say there's always a first in everything, and I'll just take this as another learning experience.

HK marathon is just around the corner; and at the time I should be at my training peak, I wasn't able to run. Two consecutive running events I have been anticipating have been missed - PSE Bull Run 21k last January 8, where I was one of the first 500 lucky registrants, and Go Natural Run 21k last January 15, which I heavily promoted here in my blog site.

DNF (Did Not Finish) at PSE Bull Run 21k
I was hesitant running this event since I still haven't recovered fully from Rizal Day Run 32k. The stubborn Taurean in me made me go to BGC and meet-up with FFS and Kathy, who'll be doing 10k. I managed to do a 5:45 min/km pace at the 1st kilometer, then a slower 6:10 min/km pace at the next 2 kilometers. After that, my legs felt like lead. My shins were burning like crazy and my knees were giving up. I knew right there and then that I needed to stop. I did not want to risk my HK marathon dream by pushing myself to run a 21k I knew I could not finish. At kilometer 3, I removed my bib and made a U-turn and walked back to the starting line. My first DNF.

Kathy and Me - Pre-race (My only pic from PSE Bull Run)

DNS (Did Not Start) at Go Natural Run 21k
I knew after PSE Bull Run that I needed more time to recover. I told my Team Alpha1 teammates that I wouldn't be able to run at this event. I may have missed bonding time with my teammates, but there will be more opportunities for bonding on future events anyway.

Let me leave you with one good moving-on quote by Byrd Baggett: "Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror." I came to realize these are just two missed running events. I will recover and be back on the road again soon.

Runrio Go Natural Run Registration EXTENDED!

Updates from Runrio site:

"Registration for RunRio’s very first race for 2012, the GO NATURAL RUN 2012 is extended until January 11 in all store registration sites except for the RIOVANA Store wherein registration will be available until Friday, January 13.

Special prizes and raffle items await lucky runners on race day, January 15 at the BGC! Register now and help contribute in the efforts to promote Early Childhood Diabetes Education."

Rizal Day Run 32km OVERHEAT!

I'm blogging this late as I'm still undergoing the different stages of grief. It has been more than 2 weeks already since the Rizal Day 32km run. This has been my last run for 2011. Unfortunately, also my last run to date.

With a few weeks left before the HK Marathon big day, I was trying to increase mileage the last week of December. I did a 32km run on a treadmill December 26 (Monday), recovered for a few days, and then joined the December 30 (Friday) Rizal Day 32km Run. That's 64 kilometers in a week, the highest I've reached in my 10-week training thus far! That crazy move is now bugging me as a big mistake.

It was my first time joining a Bald Runner event, and first time running in Camp Aguinaldo as well. I did not know what to expect, but my Team Alpha1 running teammates were positive I'm in for a treat. The race route is simple, 4 and 3/4 times a 7 kilometer loop, roughly 32 kilometers. I got feedback though that this would exceed the target distance a bit.

Only Eugenator from TA1 was present in the event and I was expecting to be a lone runner (as his pace is impossible to follow). Upon gun start, Eug sped off and I was taking it slow, with the not-so-well-lit race path ahead. I decided to pick up pace once a little bit of sun appears. With only about 200 runners in attendance, the race was intimate, and in a few minutes I already felt the lead pack was far ahead from me and runners behind me were way back.

I got surprised when a familiar runner was already running beside me - Kampuger of Team Powerpuff Boys. I now have company! And he said he'd pace me as well. Him being a fan of BR events, this was his 3rd consecutive Rizal Day Run, so he's very familiar with the route. Any fear I had of getting lost inside the camp was gone. He was quick to notice changes in the hydration stations - he knew where they should be but got a bit disappointed when the stations changed as he has already plans on his hydration. There I was, a runner who never plans on my hydration, realizing I'm still a runner newbie. In the 7k loop, there were only 2 hydration stations, 3.5km apart. Kampuger kept mentioning we should take it slow given this hydration situation.

Ronnel aka Kampuger - my great RDR pacer

Running with the TPPB Mamaws - Ronnel and Mark

Kampuger was generous on giving training tips while running, so the repetitive loops did not bother me much. I was doing a good performance, with a 1:54 21km; I was ecstatic I could repeat sub-2 21ks! However by kilometer 25, I was already feeling tired. The sun was up and I am not used to heat trainings. Ronnel kept motivating me to continue running, and giving me some walk breaks at certain points so that I could rest a bit. The big race bonus is, when our Soleus GPS watches hit 32km, it displayed 2:58! Doing a sub-3 32km is so much an achievement, but since we're expecting the race to exceed 32km, we still had an unfinished business.

At the final stretch, with the finish line in sight, I told Ronnel to go on. He still has the energy to sprint the final part of the race; I didn't. Slow jogging, I arrived at the finish line in 3:06:52. My GPS watch registered 33.16km.

I found out I placed 20th overall (Eug was 2nd place, woah!). I should be celebrating but I was feeling something wrong. I felt a bit light-headed so I sat and closed my eyes at the covered area in the camp. Eug noticed something was wrong too, as he kept asking me if I was OK. I was already feeling numbness on my arms, making me panic more. The moment Eug suggested for me to drink more water, I ran to the nearest water station at the finish line area, splashed cups of water on my head (I think I wasted 5-6 cups) and drank 5 cups of water. The realization I was dehydrated and experiencing overheat came to me just in time. I don't want to think what could have happened if I ignored Eug's advice. I returned to the camp stage feeling better. Good thing there were also free doughnuts which were quite a life-saver.

20th place (out of 200) WOOT!

Official race results - 3:06:52

Race performance - what a slow final 4 kilometers!

I got 3 dead toenails, an injured left knee, and an almost loss-of-consciousness during this race. Will I do this race again? Definitely! Hopefully, I could recover quickly and be back on the road training.

Holiday Running Rewards

I've rewarded myself two items for my December running feats: a Soleus 1.0 GPS watch for finishing my first ever sub-2 21k race at QCIM, and a new pair of running shoes, New Balance 1090, for achieving a back-to-back 21k PR at the Milo Marathon finals. Yay, i love awarding myself with something for my achievements!

Soleus 1.0 GPS Watch - I've used this a couple of times and I love it!

New Balance 1090, lightweight stability. Still for break-in.

Thank You God for a great 2011 - for giving me the strength, endurance and patience in my running training. 2012 will only get better. Happy New Year, everyone!

First Blogcon: Runrio's Go Natural Run

I'll start 2012 by blogging about my first blog-con experience. You've probably read about the details of Runrio's Go Natural Run from my previous promotional blog post here.

Last December 12, I got surprised by an email I received in my Yahoo inbox. It's an email from Ma'am Vimz (Kulitrunner), inviting me to a running event launch. I was excited by the invite and immediately sent her an SMS confirmation. The launch is to be held the next day, dinner time, at Resort's World. I had work that time but since RW is just near my place, I decided I could still attend the event; work can wait. This is an opportunity I wouldn't want to miss.

Ma'am Vimz' email invite

I then asked a fellow blogger and Team Alpha1 teammate Daves if he was going to attend the event. I was a bit hesitant going if I did not have any known company with me. Luckily he was attending too. Another TA1 teammate, Jayson, is also in attendance.

I've been to Resort's World a couple of times but have not yet been to Maxim's Hotel. Passion Restaurant is located there - an authentic Chinese resto.

I was "starstruck" by the number of bloggers I saw at the event. Some faces I could already match with their blogging/running monickers since I like visiting different running sites during my spare time. Daves was whispering people's names (and their corresponding blog sites) to me but honestly, I could not remember them all. All of these bloggers seem bonded already through the number of launches they've been to, but they seem like a jolly bunch of people to be with. As usual, Ma'am Vimz is very accommodating, and I didn't even feel like a blogger newbie the way she treated me.

Event banner at the launch venue

Yummy Chinese food!

After dinner, the actual program commenced. Details about the event were shared to everyone. I had to take note of some of the information shared so that I'd not forget to include them when I blog about Go Natural Run. Bloggers were also given an opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns about the event.

Sample 21k finisher's shirt

Group shot - Coach Rio, organizers, sponsors, bloggers

Me, Pandesalrunner, Barefootdaves - showing-off our free 21k race kits

Again, thanks Ma'am Vimz for the blog-con invite!