Running Skyathon A Third Time

It's Skyathon's 4th edition and my 3rd year running the event (missed one when I had a 3-month business trip). It's the same old formula - travel to Boracay, stay in a nice hotel, relax, claim the race kit, run the race, attend the post-race party, relax some more before heading back to the metro.

The best way for me to share my Skyathon experience to you is through photos, so here goes:

Nandana Boracay Hotel - where we stayed for 4 days and 3 nights

First night and had our alcohol fix (in moderation of course) at Epic Bar.

Carboloading at Bite Club - One Pound Burger for the win!

Survivor Viewing Party with fellow Survivor fanatics CJ and Thirdy

Beach Bums

April 13 (Race Day) - with photographer Lem of Active Moments

Julio and Julia's photo! Haha! Finally my sister was able to run in this event.

Quartet - Ryan, Noel, CJ, Thirdy at the starting line arch

Ran on the 10k relay with Ryan - here's an action shot from Active Moments. So difficult to run in the soft, white sand!

With Idol Coach Mherlz - 1st place Women's 5k

Everyone wants a photo with the star of the race Coach Mherlz! Wow abs!

Race finishers

Hope Mikael Daez doesn't mind. Photo with Megan Young, hehe!

That's what I call a loot!

Zorbing with Pinoy Exchange friends

90s Flavor Post-Race Party - with Jinoe of takbo.ph

Since Epic was way too crowded for our taste, we transferred to Bom Bom Bar and drank the night away.

Goodbye Boracay! See you again very soon! ;)

Official race results for the relay. 5th place overall with a sub-1 finish. Not bad at all!

Next year, Skyathon turns 5! Anticipating it to be bigger and better! I also hope they return timing chips and get rid of manual timing next time.

A Race Event for the Runners by the Runners: Takbo.ph Runfest

Me and my running friends were part of the early birds who registered for the takbo.ph Runfest last April. It was announced at an earlier date that only 3000 slots were available and lucky registrants would have their own personalized takbo.ph singlets, delivered right at their doorsteps! I opted to join the 5k race category (5k and 10k were the only two options).

My race kit arrived two weeks before the actual race day. I tried the singlet on and I was not that satisfied with its length (I got used to the perfect fit of Runrio singlets), that I ran to the nearest Alter Station and had the length adjusted. I also had the big "Universidad" logo removed from the lower left part of the singlet. After the alterations, I wore the singlet again, highly-contented.

July 25, 2010 - Early birds we were in registering, and early birds we were again during the race day. We arrived before 5am, but there were already a lot of runners at the area. I regularly visit the takbo.ph forum and post comments there every now and then. I was excited to see a number of forum members in the vicinity, but didn't actually have the guts to approach anyone. The introvert Noel got the best of me. >.<

I was able to get a quick chat with the man who started it all, Jinoe Gavan, as busy as he was with the race preps. Jinoe was my batchmate way back from my Intel employment days, and I'm still in awe at how big his influence became on the Philippine running community, with a simple idea of introducing a catchy website - takbo.ph. I didn't miss the opportunity of having our picture taken with the soon-to-be parents. Congratulations to ManokanRunner and ChicksNiManok!

The race program started 530am. What made the event even more special is the participation of online running celebrities. The program kicked-off with the national anthem performed by the Running Diva. The warm-up stretch was then led by none other than Kikayrunner herself, Noelle De Guzman.

10k runners were first to head-off at 6am and 5k runners, fifteen minutes after. It was cloudy and it looked like it was gonna rain anytime, but there's nothing a prayer from thousands of runners couldn't do; it became another rain-free event.

I ran on my normal pace now, and back to my old, competitive self. I've now put my recent injury behind me, and just wanted to run a good race. I can never say anything bad about the race route, with a lot of marshalls along the way cheering runners on, good traffic control, and overflowing water and Powerade at the hydration stations. Purrr-fect!

During the final kilometer stretch, there's this grandpa runner who ran beside me, and told me he wanted to pace with me. It turned out I was the one who followed his fast pace! He was one talkative lolo and his statements didn't help my ego either: "Ang bagal ko ngayon, nakainom ako kagabi," and "Usually tinatapos ko ang 5k route ng 22 minutes." Nevertheless, I was glad to pace with him, and it helped me realize I still have a lot of training to do to bring out my full running potential. I found out that lolo was just a bandit runner when he said he wouldn't run with me to the finish line.

I knew I had a good race time when I stepped on the finish line mat; there were still only a few runners at the race village. I noticed someone was at the first-aid station and was surprised to see a medic putting on a bandage on Noelle's wounded knee. I asked her what happened and she told me she fell during the race, but it's nothing serious. I then asked her what her 5k time was. "24 minutes," she replied. Talk about getting an injury and still finishing that strong. Woah!

We had our group pic taken after everyone finished. We were surprised to see our officemate Chaniel; he was the only one who ran 10k.

We had two of the most memorable superposition shots here. Patrick "Runningshield" Concepcion already expressed his interest before of having the superposition shot with us, and it materialized during this race. A big bonus, however, is when Coach Rio agreed to do the superposition too. And he did it perfectly!

The icing on the cake? With manual timing done, the race results were released the following day! Can you believe that? (ACE Hardware, can you read this?) My time was 26 minutes and 42 seconds (A personal best!). I placed 46th out of 1092 5k runners, which translates to me being on the top 5%. I'm on the first page of the race results! Yay!

I'm definitely looking forward to next year's anniversary run. Congratulations to the race organizers! Two thumbs up!

Asian Hospital's RUNew: My Birthday Run!

Runners celebrate different occasions by joining running events, which they deem special and memorable - may it be their birthday, running anniversary or even when they just reach a particular mileage. In my case, I'm lucky enough that a Rio-organized event was scheduled just a day before my birthday, Asian Hospital's RUNew, which was held at Filinvest Alabang. A race in the south, what more can a runner from Paranaque wish for?

Most of my running friends reside in the Northern part of Metro Manila. Good thing, two of my original running buddies, Ying and Geoff, are both from the south, and agreed to register with me. Ying came from an injury as well (but has completely recovered), so we all chose to register for the 5k category only. I, on the other hand, was supposed to be recovering and resting my injured ankle.

May 2, 2010 - Pre-birthday race day. I was still limping but I was stubborn. I wanted to run. I drove to Filinvest wearing my favorite singlet from Skyathon.

After gun start, I let Ying and Geoff go ahead and not wait for me; I planned to run slow. A bit faster though, than my pace last Skyathon. I targetted a sub-1 finish this time. My Photovendo pic shows how serious I am (and feeling a bit of pain too).

I was happy to finish in the official time of 43 minutes and 11 seconds, way above my expected finish goal.

RUNew was a small running event compared to the others I've joined so far. I would estimate around 3000 participants ran. With this small number, I knew it was easy to spot Coach Rio and have a picture taken with him. Here's me and my running idol, fresh from the Boston Marathon. "It's not a RACE, it's a STATE OF MIND." Nice shirt, Coach!

We also spotted Patrick Concepcion (Runningshield in the running blog community), after his strong 16k finish. We had a good chat with him on his plans for the upcoming Condura Run 2011. He hinted a possible Alabang starting line, should the Skyway construction finish within the year. Woohoo!

It was a refreshing experience! I just wish more race events would happen in the south.

Skyathon Boracay Beach and Surf Run (or Walk?)

Now who would pass on a great running opportunity like this? Running along the beach of Boracay during summer? And to top it all, a race event organized by my sister! Show the love!

Unfortunately, if you have read about my NatGeo injury, it'll leave you with a feeling of pity. The NatGeo run happened on the 18th of April. The Skyathon beach run happened 6 days after that. Everything was set months ahead - flight schedule and hotel booking. There was no way I would back-out just because of my injury. I waited in eager anticipation for this Boracay vacation.

April 24, 2010 - Race Day. We arrived 6am at the assembly area, just in front of Guilly's island. The event didn't start on time, but who cares? It was cloudy, just perfect for an early morning run. Here's a pic of me and my busy sister:

Me and my running friends opted not to wear rubber shoes and just run barefoot. For me, I decided to just walk the entire 5k route. I know it'll take a while, but a real runner never quits a race. Mils, as well as some Sky Cable friends, accompanied me on that long 5k walk. Here's a pic of me taking the walk of shame, LOL! Notice I still had my ankle bandage-wrapped.

It took me a long time to get to the finish line (1 hour, 8 minutes and 43 seconds to be exact), but still proud to have finished. I noticed some runners clapping their hands; they knew I was injured but still had the courage (or probably stupidity, as the TRAP host said) to finish 5k.

What's Bora without celebrity sightings? And with it, cam-whoring!

Here's me with Cherie Gil. I heard this was her first time to join a running event. She's one hot momma!

Eugene and I had a picture taken with Noelle De Guzman (known as the famous Kikayrunner in the running community). She placed first in 5k women's category, finishing in 24 minutes and 20 seconds. That's my time when I run on pavements; she had the same time running on difficult sand!

During the beach clean-up activity, we saw Sam Oh helping out on the clean-up. She did not run though. If she ran on those two-piece suit it would have been an epic wardrobe malfunction.

JC Cuadrado hosted the event. Cool dude.

Finally went back to our hotel at the Pearl of the Pacific. We had breakfast again (there was already a free breakfast at Guilly's after the run). Here are my Bora buddies:

We're really looking forward to next year's Skyathon. Hopefully I could be able to redeem myself already and finish strong.

How I Started to Fall in Love With Running

From L-R: JM, Geoff, Junar, Raf, Goco, Ying, Earl and Me

Inspired by Early Runs, I'd like to start writing about running.

I remember getting a number of free invites last year from Ying on different running events. I keep turning them down, thinking I'm going to the gym regularly anyway, so what's the use of another physical activity? When HP AMG organized a run, I didn't attend as well. I didn't want to wake up 3am on a weekend just to tire myself out. Besides, that's the only time I get ample sleep.

However, last January, Ying invited me and other officemates to another running event - the "Takbo Para Kay Gibo" run. Was it peer pressure that made me go to a Nike shop to register? Nah, I don't think so. It was the start of a new year and I really wanted to do something new, so I gave it a try.

January 16, 2010 - After working Friday night shift, me and some officemates (Earl, JM and Raf) went straight to the Fort (Ying, Geoff, Junar and Goco came from a drinking session, haha!). I was excited and scared at the same time. I am not a fan of gym treadmills and 3km runs on them already tire me out. So I was expecting my body to fail an actual 5km race.

Surprisingly, I was able to keep up with Ying's pace, and able to finish within 30 minutes (the official race results were never released, confirming the event was just a campaign cover-up :p). I loved the feeling of running with around 3000 other people that time - the energy and adrenalin was just too great, that I wanted to do it again.

I wanted to push my limits further, that I signed-up for a 21km run next. That's the Condura Skyway Run for the Dolphins, one of the most anticipated runs of the year. That'll be the topic of my next blog, once I feel the writing mood again.

The Superposition