Archive for July, 2007

All I see is green. Among the mass of 10,000 runners clad in green, I find my way towards the clear roads of Roxas Boulevard. I am running, no flying. Other runners stare in disbelief as they fall like bowling pins knocked out by a speeding ball. I run the streets as if it is mine. I see nothing and feel nothing. I am running faster than I have ever had in my life. In the blink of an eye, the race is over. Crowds cheer. I look around to realize I am the first one to cross the finish line. I am the winner!

I wake up at exactly 5:58 this morning with that wonderful dream. (Yes, boys and girls it was a dream. What did you think?) My only thought upon waking was: two more minutes to the start of the race—and I missed it. I lay in bed watching the clock. One minute more. 30 seconds. 10. 3…2…1…and they are off. Me too—but I am headed towards the bathroom. This sucks.

Why did I miss the race? Because of my “little” incident last night:

After dinner in Teriyaki Boy, we—my hubby, son, daughter, and I—hop over to our favorite weekend haunt: Timezone in Alabang Town Center. In about 10 minutes, my stomach starts acting up. I ask my hubby to watch the kids while I walk in haste towards the nearest restroom. It’s a short walk, but not to me. As I wobble through the corridor towards the comfort room, my tummy starts churning, my vision becomes hazy, and I suddenly feel like I’ve been possessed by a drunk Britney Spears. When I reach the door to the comfort room, a woman holds me up and asks “Are you okay?” to which I can barely find the strength to reply a simple yes. I clumsily find my way to a cubicle and enter.

There are women chatting and I am watching them from afar. I walk towards one of them. I am about to tap her in the shoulder when…

I open my eyes to hear voices “Miss, wake up. Wake up.” in tagalog. I was just dreaming. I look around to discover that I am lying on the floor of the comfort room in the arms of two janitresses who apparently caught my fall. God, I fainted. For the first time in my entire life, I fainted?!

Three security guards help locate my husband and kids and—even if I feel alright after a couple of visits to the toilet—they insist on taking me to nearby Asian Hospital. I hesitate, but relent. Before we know it, I am whisked away in a wheelchair towards the gates of the mall. God, this is so embarassing, I think. When we reach the exit, there is a large crowd curious to see who shall enter the ambulance that awaits. OMG, this is even more humiliating. I wish I had a brown bag to cover my head. I will die if I see anyone I know. I stand up, smile at everyone, and ride the ambulance towards Asian Hospital.

By the time we get home it is around 9 pm. I ask my hubby about the Milo race and he curtly replies “Don’t even think about it.” I pretend not to hear it and send SMS messages to my sister Janice and two other runner friends Mayi and Annie about the incident. All of them advise the same thing: “Don’t run.” Being the bull-headed runner (er, I mean The Bull Runner) that I am, I refuse to even think of skipping the race, but I don’t have a choice. It would be crazy to risk my health for a race. Besides, I think that fainting in a marathon is a hundred times worse than doing so in a bathroom with a handful of people as an audience.

So, there goes my Milo Manila Marathon story, which was certainly not the Milo Marathon race report you probably anticipated. To all those who crossed the finish line, congratulations! Annie, Coach, Mayi, Jamike, and Happy Feet: sayang, I didn’t get to see you there! To those who pledged through me for Kythe: I ran 0km but if you still wish to commit to your pledge I can still donate it directly to Kythe—or you may wait for my next race. Banggigay, Marga, Roselle, and Neville: shucks, I missed meeting you for the first time! Not to worry, there will be more races…like next week’s Run for Hope? haha.

Oh, and for those who have lingering questions about the cause of my fainting, here are the answers:

• Nope, I’m not pregnant. At least I don’t think so.
• Yes, I eat. I am not anorexic.
• No, I will not be suing Teriyaki Boy. I’ve ruled out food poisoning because my family ate the same thing I did.
• Yes, I’ll get myself checked.
• Yes, I will still continue running.
• No, I will not give you my Milo singlet!

Thank you to Alabang Town Center for taking very good care of me—specifically the two janitresses, three security guards, ambulance driver and his companion. I regret that I didn’t get their names, but I’ll surely be writing you to let you know of the wonderful people you have in your team.

I had a good laugh early this morning when, upon checking my Inbox, I find an email entitled: “Guess Who I Saw!” from Odette of Adidas. It was more of a shameful, hide-myself-behind-a-race-bib kind of giggle because of what I decided to wear that day: a navy blue Nike top with matching shorts. Despite my loud and proud proclamation of love for the Adidas KOTR singlet, I decided against wearing it in an effort to stand out against a sea of runners in red. Check out the photo and you’ll see that my mission was definitely accomplished! Haha!

Can you find yourself here? Let me know if you do!

– Adidas King of The Road 2007…woohoo! –

Thanks to Odette Velarde for the photo.  Odette, as mentioned, I promise to wear my Adidas singlet at the Milo Marathon! haha

On July 22, 2007, the day of the Milo Marathon, I’ve decided to run and help raise funds for Kythe, a non-stock, non-profit organization that helps uplift the spirits of sick children with chronic illnesses such as cancer. I was inspired by other runners who have done the same like Sen. Pia Cayetano in the past, Anton and Ben for this coming Milo race, and Neville with his 100km Ultramarathon.

I am running a 10k for this race and I hope to collect pledges from you—my family and friends—for each kilometer that I run. For instance, you may pledge P50 per kilometer thereby contributing P500 to help a child with cancer.  Any amount—whether it is P5 or P5,000—will go a long way to putting a smile on a child’s face.

If you wish to pledge, you may post a comment here or email me directly.  All the funds I collect will be donated directly to the Kythe Foundation.

Thank you in advance!

I received my Milo 10k race packet today together with my son’s and husband’s 3k packets. Thank you Mayi for signing us all up!

– Singlets of all shapes and sizes for the three of us: my hubby, son, and I –

Phooeey! Staring at the documents enclosed, I start to break a sweat when I read the following:

1. a whopping 10,000 runners are expected. As Mayi mentioned, my knees will tire not from the run, but from pushing and shoving against all the other runners.
2. the 42k race route. I’m just running a 10k for this one, but man oh man, 42k plotted out on the map freaks me out.
3. the traffic re-routing plan. After the Adidas KOTR, I was starving to death while stuck in post-race traffic. I hope traffic won’t be bad here, but I’m not taking any risks—I’m packing breakfast for the entire family!

– Race Route for Milo Marathon 3k/ 5k/ 10k/ 42k –

As with any race, however, my excitement over the following compensates for my worries:

1. It’s my 1st Milo Race. A Milo race is a Milo race. It is one of the biggest and most popular races in the country. I just had to join it.
2. Plain and simple route. To others (such as my good friend Annie), a race without hills is stale and boring. For me, it’s glorious! No surprises nor wrong turns. (I know, I sound like a sissy, but at least I’m honest!) Plus, it gives me a bigger chance of beating my PR hah!
3. My son and hubby are joining again. My 6-year-old who joined me in almost all my races turned his back on the Adidas KOTR after he announced that “Running is not my sport. I’m into baseball and soccer now.” So, with sadness, I simply let him be. When I invited him to join me for the Milo race, it was with great delight that he replied “Okay, i’ll join. Running is not my sport, but I’ll run to build my muscles in my legs.” He then leaves the rooms singing “Milo e-v-e-ry-daaaaay!” Wow, what media can do!
4. The Nestle Food Stub. As I’ve said, I’ve never been to a Milo race, so the tiny blue stub attached to the upper corner of the race materials definitely aroused my curiousity. Food huh?! What kind of food? Nestle Honey Stars with their low-fat milk? Yeah, I love those. Throw in a iced Nescafe after the run and, as frivolous and cheap as I may sound, I will be a happy camper.

So, have you signed up for the Milo Manila Marathon? The 3k/5k/10k/42k starts at Kilometer 0 along Roxas Blvd. Luneta Park in Manila on July 22, 2007.

Registration is ongoing and ends on July 20. Register at Vasquez Madrigal Bldg. 51 Annapolis St. Greenhills. For more information, call Mr. Biscocho at 727.9987. Bring a 300g wrapper of Milo to register.

Thanks to Hitme, I got invited by Peter_ob (from Philmug) to my first Nike+ Challenge a couple of days before I even tried out the nifty little gadget on the road. I had no idea how these challenges work, but anything that could give me more reason to run faster and longer sounded like good news to me!

The Manila Miles 25 Days Challenge was to begin on a most auspicious date: 07/07/07. (I felt luck would be by my side throughout the race, but I’m sure so did all the other 40+ runners!) So, I did register and crossed my fingers hoping that I would win the race to the most distance in 25 days without obssessing about it to the point that it took over my life (as running has obviously done!) I looked through the profiles of the other contenders on the board, evaluated their pace and distance, and developed my winning strategy. Okay, I’m kidding about the last two phrases!

It’s been a little over a week since the challenge started and fortunately it has not consumed me. Phew, thank God for that! I’ve stuck to my regular running program—which basically covers 40 to 45 km a week—and I just upload this to the Nike+ site and pray a silent prayer that the other runners experienced one of the following to shorten their distance: 1) heavier workload, 2) diarrhea during a long run, or 3) stolen rubber shoes. Hey, I’m kidding…again! This challenge is all about friendly competition, just to get all of us runners more motivated and excited about running further than we usually would.

During the early parts of the challenge, this is how the board looked…

– Manila Miles Challenge: July 10, 2007. A bull run run run, a bull run run! –

Oh, my son was just so proud of me! When he saw this, he screamed “Yes mama, you are the winner!” with both hands jubilantly raised up in the air. I almost burst into tears with joy about my son’s reaction when he suddenly pauses and asks “Wait a minute. You are the bullrunner, right?”

Last night, I rechecked the board to see the changes that occurred in a mere week’s time. Ack. I don’t think I can match up to njrunner_fred’s distance. I concede! Njrunner_fred is apparently training to qualify for the Boston Marathon so go go go njrunner_fred! I am right behind you…literally!

– Manila Miles Challenge: July 16, 2007. A bull run gone gone, a bull run gone –