Greenfield City Run on April 19

Tuesday, 24 March 2009  |  Race Announcements

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WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN THE GREENFIELD CITY RUN:

  1. New route – Running in Greenfield City in Sta. Rosa, Laguna is something new and exciting.  Plus, the air is definitely fresher over there.  (See photos below)
  2. Organized by Coach Rio de la Cruz – Expect to have a well-organized race with all the usual perks of Rio’s races: abundant water, plenty race marshalls, and Photovendo
  3. Full day of activities – Since you’re driving out to Sta. Rosa, organizers made sure it was worth the trip.  Take the family along to enjoy a 2k run for kids, coffee and pastry fair, a weekend market, children’s play area, and outdoor outlet bazaar.  Yes, time to shop for affordable running apparel!
  4. Lots of freebies – A little birdy told me runners will receive a ton of loot
  5. Online registration via Finish Line – Registering for a race has never been this easy.  You can register online, pay via credit card, and choose to pick up your race packet at Nike or have it delivered at your doorstep. 
  6. Great design – Race collaterals were designed by yours truly.  Okay, I know I’m pushing it 🙂

Amazing view at Pramana Residential Park

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Lance Armstrong Breaks His Collarbone

Tuesday, 24 March 2009  |  Bullish Insights

BREAKING NEWS: Lance Armstrong broke his collarbone in a bike crash in Spain.  Sad news, but I’m sure this won’t pull him down.

Oh Lance, we both run and bike, we’ve both had shin splints (well, yours was worse because it turned out to be a stress fracture) and now we’re both injured (again, yours is more serious).  Boy, do we have a lot in common.  Did I tell you I like yellow, too?  

Click here and here for more details.

TBR Magazine: Guess the Cover Runner Winner

Monday, 23 March 2009  |  News + Promos

We’ve got a winner for our Guess The Cover Runner contest!  The winner will get 1 pair of Nike Running shoes plus 1 Gift Certificate from Paul Calvin’s Deli worth P500.  The name was drawn by Little Bull Runner himself at 4:00 p.m.  

And the winner is (drumroll please)…JOMS!

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Joms posted SEN. PIA CAYETANO as his entry and he was right.  For those of you who didn’t get a copy yesterday, here’s the cover:

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It was fun reading all 128 submissions. Here’s the summary:

Jaymie Pizarro/ TBR, 76
Sen. Pia Cayetano, 20
Leica Carpo, 5
Tweetie de Leon, 5
Joy Rojas, 3
Iza Calzado, 3
Tessa Prieto, 3
Annie Agoncillo, 2
Patrick Concepcion, 2
Amanda Carpo, 1
Francesca Carpo, 1
Annie de Leon, 1
Elma Muros, 1
Lydia De Vega, 1
Nina Huang, 1
Tiffin Parco, 1
Marga Deona, 1
Bald Runner, 1
TOTAL: 128

Thank you to all of you who participated in the contest! There’s still one more chance of winning a pair of Nike Running Shoes. Check out the first page of TBR Magazine.

TBR Magazine is now available at ROX, Bonifacio High Street.  By next week at Second Wind Running Store in QC.  I’ll keep you posted.

Note: Joms is a personal friend, but he was not in any way tipped in advance of the cover runner. (We runners are an honorable and respectable lot, aren’t we?)

Condura Race – Part 2

Monday, 23 March 2009  |  Race Reports

I made a lot of new friends at Condura Race and I have evidence to prove it!  Check out the photos below.

But, for those I met, I apologize as I could not remember all of your names! Blame it on the exhaustion from the race, plus the epidurals I had upon giving birth to my two kids. So, for easy captioning, please submit a comment on this post with your name, race distance, and time (be proud no matter the time!)  Oh, don’t forget to describe yourself because I may caption the wrong photo (you wouldn’t want that, would you?)  Hope to see you again at the next race.

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– Concepcion Durables Inc. Ton and Patrick Concepcion up on stage –

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– with super hands-on Ton Concepcion who made sure everything went well for the race. Congrats again, Ton! –

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– with Patrick Concepcion (Running Shield) and hubby. Congrats Patrick! Now you can enjoy your long runs again, free from race organizer anxieties! –

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– with Rene Villarta (Jazz Runner) and Art Disini of Runnex –

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– Now, this runner knows how to relax after a race! –

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– Who’s photo are they staring at?  –

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– Nice to finally meet you Lugs! Hope you stay in Manila for a few more races –

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– Flew all the way from Vigan for Condura Race –

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– with Clinton –

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– A race is not complete if I don’t see Cougcat! –

Condura Race 2009 – Part 1

Sunday, 22 March 2009  |  Race Reports

TBR RACE REVIEW: CONDURA RACE 2009

Organizer: Rudy Biscocho
Overall Rating (10 highest): 8

THUMBS UP!
– Skyway Run: You dreamed it and you pulled it off!  Hats off to Condura for creating a race like no other.  
– Medals for Half Marathon finishers: Everyone loves a medal.  Even better that someone placed it around our necks.
– Race marshals were effective especially in blocking off traffic:  We even witnessed a fight between a race marshal and a disgruntled driver.  Our bet was on the race marshall, of course.
– Abundant supply of water at stations.
– Sports Beans and sponges near or on the skyway.
– Portalets along the route.
– Pacers for 10k and 21k.
– Rocky theme song playing as 21k runners neared the finish.
– Bands playing along the route.  I didn’t see nor hear them though.  Hubby did.
– Inspirational signs to keep runners motivated (or distracted from the pain!)
– Race results to be published in Phil. Star.  Hope to see it soon!

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– Water sprinkling from the firetruck: Great that there was water to cool us down at the start/end of the skyway. I just hope that next time we have the option to get wet or not. I personally don’t like getting my shoes soaked but the water showered over the entire road, so most of us had to squeeze ourselves on the right side of the truck, climb on that way too high edge of the skyway just to avoid getting drenched. (Did I tell you I’m afraid of heights?)
– Fairly accurate distance.  21.07 for 21km and 9.8 for 10k.  
– Medical assistance was readily available.
– Booths and Nike sale at the expo area.

BETTER JOB NEXT TIME
– Crowded assembly area:  The assembly was filled with runners squeezing through the tiny entry way.  I heard some runners only entered when space was freed up after the gun start.
– Balde System: Runners have raised hell over the unsanitary balde system that’s been used in previous races. I heard that the people giving cups were now wearing gloves, but that doesn’t make much of a difference. When will we see an end to this?  UPDATE: Ton Concepcion clarified that all water provided was MINERAL WATER.  See comment below.  Thanks Ton!
– Water from a tank?  A friend told me that drinking water was taken from a Manila Water tank parked along the 5k turnaround.  Please don’t tell me this is true.  UPDATE: Again, this was not used as drinking water.  See comment below.
– Lack of mile markers.  With my Garmin conking out, I had to rely on mile markers.  The markers were few and far between.  

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Wow.  I am in a state of disbelief.  How did I possibly finish the Condura Half without any sign of injury (yes, not the slightest hint of pain) all throughout the race considering I was in pain even at rest for the past weeks?  How did I finish with a time of 2:24 (unofficial)—far cry from 2:08 at Singapore but I’m not complaining—when I expected to crawl through the finish at around 3 hours?  And, how did I manage to run through the finish when I was convinced I’d  be limping my way to the end just like Singapore Half? 

It could be due to my last-minute prep for the race: dry needling (Thur), deep massage (Tue & Fri), and ashtanga yoga (Sat) combined with strengthening exercises and stretches.  Or, as I’d like to think, it was simply a miracle.  God’s way of blessing me for being a good girl despite all the hell that I’ve been through with this injury perhaps? Hah!

Whatever the reason, I know I should be extremely grateful for the chance to run Condura Race.  Here are the highlights of my race:

Go Team Injured Skins!  It was JunC, Vince, and I who ran together for the first few kilometers of the race.  The three of us were in uniform: our iamninoy runners group shirt (more about this in a later post) and skins compression tights.  Aside from the common attire, all three of us had barely run the past two weeks and had knee injuries.  We shared the same mindset: this run was going to be a slow, safe, and steady run; no racing nor breaking PRs.  Along Buendia, Jake of Team Super joined us.  Until the end of the run, we were stuck together like glue.  It was fun running with you, guys!

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Hubby (10k) and I with JunC and wife Mariel (5k). Vince fell asleep in his booth soon after crossing the finish. Jake, where did you go? –

Glenn, the best pacesetter ever.  Early in the race, we stayed close to the 7min/km pace group led by Glenn of Fort Striders.  Glenn is a friend and he has always been sociable and funny.  Little did I know he had the ability to entertain runners with his witty remarks (e.g. “Prepare exact change, runners” as we climbed the skyway) which kept a large group of us runners guffawing throughout the race. 

Boo to my Garmin, Yey to “blind” running.  I hadn’t used my Garmin in over 3 weeks and, today, it decided to go on strike…twice.  It conked out at 2.5km and again at 7km even if it was fully charged.  At first, I was cursing.  But, later on, I realized it was a blessing that I couldn’t check on my pace or distance.  Running like a blind runner allowed me to enjoy the run even more.

The flyover was worth it.  Do you know that I decided to downgrade to 10k yesterday due to major anxieties over the injury?  But, thanks to friend/ ITBS adviser, Alvin, who told me that I should run the skyway even if I had to bike the first 10k, I decided to just go for it.  Upon climbing up the skyway, the sun was on our left and one could see all the runners ahead and behind marching like little soldiers.  It was a great sight.  Even nicer to think that no other runners had ever ran a race up there.

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– Alvin! I cannot thank you enough! Thanks for putting up with my bullheadedness, indecisiveness, and incessant whining over the injury! –

Test of the will.  I was fine throughout the race.  I actually found fulfillment running the slow 6:30 to 7 min/km even as other runners passed us by.  I refused to succumb to the temptation to run faster and risk injury.  But, on the way back, as we climbed the Buendia flyover, the heat and, I have to admit, the lack of training caught up with me.  I started feeling dehydrated and weak.  From the flyover to the finish line, it was all will that carried me through.

– Annie is back!  My dearest running buddy, Annie, flew in from Singapore for a 5-day break.  We saw each other before the race, hugged, spoke briefly, and off she went to run her 21k leaving us all in the dust.  What’s new?  At least I know she hasn’t changed one bit. Missed you Annie girl!

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– Annie showing off her photo in TBR Mag’s inner back cover. She says she’s willing to autograph your magazines anytime!-

Launch of TBR Magazine. I think this went fairly well.  I saw my banners up, the magazines were distributed after the race, and I didn’t faint onstage (I had just arrived from my 21k when they called me up there).  I was overwhelmed to hear the positive response from the runners I met.  Hope you liked it!

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To all runners, congratulations!  To Condura Durables Inc, especially Ton, Patrick, Michelle, and Alex, great race!  Hope to see you again on the skyway next year.

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– with good friends Dindo, Banggi, Joms, Ben, Hubby, and Renz –

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– with Dindo, Carmen, Tiffin, Jeremy, Mark, Marga –

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– with the hubby, my support and photographer for the day –

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– with i am ninoy runners group launched at Condura.  Congrats to Jamike and Mayi! –

More photos to follow…