What’s a Ragnar?  On its website, they describe it as an: “overnight running relay race that makes testing your limits a team sport. A team is made up of 6-12 individuals; each individual runs 3 legs. The legs of the race vary in difficulty and distance, from 3-8 miles, allowing elite and novice runners to run together. Over 2 days and 1 night, teams run across 200 miles of the country’s most scenic terrain. Pair that with crazy costumes, inside jokes, a great finish line party and unforgettable stories. Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it Ragnar.”

There’s a series of Ragnar Relay‘s so the team can take their pick in various states.  Wow, I’d love to do Chicago in June, Colorado in July, or Napa in September!  If I win the lotto, then perhaps all of the above every year! How about you and your friends?

Event: RUNEW 2012
Date: Sunday, February 26, 2012
Time: 4:30am to 9:00am
Distance/ Fee:

• 3k – P500
• 5k – P550
• 10k – P650
• 21k – P750

Venue: Filinvest Corporate City
Registration: Jan. 16 to Feb. 19, 2012

PIOLO: Miss you, TBR. Hope to see you on the race this Sunday. Will you run with me?

ME: Oh P. Sorry, been busy! I’ve signed up for the Timex 16k but I don’t want any distraction from you…or your abs. (Sigh!) Care for some breakfast after the race instead?

PIOLO: I trained long and hard with Coach Rio hoping to run with you.  But, sure, I’ll settle for breakfast.  Allow me to wipe your sweat with a towel, hand you a sports drink when you cross the finish, and feed you like a Queen at a restaurant of your choice?  Please?

ME: Wait. Lemme think… I’ll only agree if you throw in a foot massage too.

——————————————————-

I woke up from that dream, which occurred while I was getting a massage at the Riovana Sports Recovery Center (more on this soon) this morning, and realized that if I want that dream to have the slightest chance of coming true, I had to immediately register for Timex Run 2012.  So, after my session, I made my way down to Riovana and signed up for Timex Run 16k, my first race for the year 2012.

Hope to see you…and, of course, Piolo with my towel, sports drink, and massage oil!  Last day for registration is on Wednesday, January 18, 2012.

I received an email from Pierre Le Magnan, event director of Raidlight Lantau50, inviting us Pinoy runners to hop on over to Hong Kong for their upcoming event. Here’s information about the race taken from their website:

- Image from Lantau50 website -

The Raidlight Lantau50 is a trail running event on South Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Participants have the opportunity to tackle this challenge solo or as a team of two. The 51-km course covers three country parks on South Lantau with 90% on trails and a cumulative elevation gain of 2,500 meters. It will cover the most scenic trails on South Lantau, including 5 climbs for a cumulative elevation gain of 2,500 meters. This is a challenging trail run which requires adequate training to complete the full route within 12 hours. The event starts and ends in Discovery Bay.

Starting time and location: Saturday March 24, 2012 at 8:00 am; Discovery Bay Plaza.

There is also an Explorer run (15km) which will cover the steep climb (450m) of the Lo Fu Tau (Tiger head) before heading to Silvermine beach (Mui Wo) and back to Discovery Bay via the monastery, mostly on trails.

Starting time and location: Saturday March 24, 2012 at 9:00 am; Discovery Bay Plaza.

For more details, visit their website: Raidlight Lantau50

I’ll definitely be running this one. I do hope to see you there! 100% goes to Sendong victims and baby Rafael.

TODO RESPONDE Run 2012
January 14, 2012 @ 5AM
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
3K/5K/10K

Registration Fees:
3K – P300
5K – P300
10K – P350
Bib numbers will be issued to participants

Gun Start:
3K – 6:00am
5K – 6:15am
10K – 6:25am

Registration Venues:
- ROX at Bonifacio Highstreet, BGC
- ARC (A Running Circle) Unit H, Aloha Hotel, 2150 Roxas Boulevard, Cor. Quirino Ave. Malate, Manila. Contact Numberphone: 567.iRun
- RUNNR – ATC, Alabang

Race: Run for Pinoy Glory
Date: 7 January 2012
Location: Bonifacio Global City
Distances: 3K, 5K, 10K, 21K (with special categories for Executives and Participants in wheelchairs )
Contact details: 0927 8082594 / 560 8813 / shadowfax_events@yahoo.com

The race is organized by Shadowfax Events in co-operation with the British Embassy, UK Trade & Investment and the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

I’m in a McHappy mood, so I’ll be giving away four (4) race kits for the 5k distance.  To win, answer this question:

WHICH MCDONALD’S MEAL MAKES YOU HAPPIEST?

Contest Rules:

1. Post your answer in the comments section below.
2. The first four commenters who post a McDonald’s food or meal will win the prize.
3. Runner may only submit 1 entry. Submitting more than 1 entry leads to automatic disqualification.
4. Contest ends today, November 14, 2011 at 11:59 AM.
5. All answers will NOT be published until after the contest period.
6. Four winners will be chosen. Each winner will win one (1) 5k race pack each to the race.
7. Winners will be notified via email and will be requested to claim complimentary registration pack. Please present an ID to claim your prize.

Click HERE to visit the McHappy Day Fun Run website.

—William Carlos Williams

Each runner, each marathoner, has his or her own story to tell. And each story can inspire one, or two, or twenty others to take that first step and take on bigger dreams.

One problem I had after both TBR Dream Marathons was an overloaded inbox. After each TBR Dream, my Inbox would be filled to the brim with stories, letters, or thank you notes, from our runners sharing how their first marathon impacted their lives.

A few of them would make it to this blog, but I could never post them all. I felt guilty for being unable to share all of these meaningful stories.  I felt frustrated that some of them would forever be locked away in my archives unread by others knowing full well that one story could touch another person’s life.

INTRODUCING: MOVE FOR MOVE

Recently, I was featured on a new and impressive website called moveformove.org. It is essentially a storytelling site for, with, and by people who run, bike, swim, race and pursue other endurance sports.  It is brilliantly made and managed by a young team of artists and athletes who—just by viewing the site—put their mind, heart, and soul into this site.  (I love how they chased after me for data on the past TBR Dreams just so they could create an infographic for us! Love them!  See it HERE)

Soon after they interviewed me for this, I had an idea. What if I partnered with moveformove and asked for their help in sharing the stories of the next batch of 600 runners from TBR Dream Marathon?  That way all stories could be told.  No story left behind in my Inbox!

Just like how TBR Dream was born—swiftly and smoothly—the partnership between TBR Dream Marathon and Move for Move was forged. And, as with anything else I get into when it comes to running, I am overwhelmed with excitement. I’m doing cartwheels, can you see?!

TBR DREAM RUNNERS: SHARE YOUR STORY

What does this mean for TBR Dream Marathoners?

1) Features on MoveForMove.Org

Ripple 100, a moveformove media partner, will be covering our 6-month journey culminating on raceday. Some of you will be interviewed and featured via documentary and short film type content on the website featuring our collective experience in DM3.

Actually, some of you have debuted already on the website! Check out the link HERE.

2) Opportunity to share your story and speak your mind

Now that we’ve partnered with MoveForMove, we have our own page where we can share our stories just by the click of a button:

• You can share your story on moveformove. They’ve set this all up for us. And it even links to Facebook! By telling stories, we hope to get more of our friends and family to start starting and stop stopping.
• You can share videos you’ve made.
• You can share your thoughts. We will be posting Dream Triggers. Dream Triggers are meant to stir you, to reflect on your ongoing experience, to share your favorite (and not so favorite) parts of training, to connect with Dream Marathoners past and present, to build community through storytelling, and above all to inspire each other in our quest for our Dream Marathon. For each Dream Trigger, you can respond through 140 character text or by sharing videos or photos.
• You can hear the voices of other runners. You’ll get to read what your TBR Dream Batchmates are saying

3) Be an Inspiration to Others

Last but not the least…

This gives you the chance to be heard, to share your own journey towards your first marathon. You too can be an inspiration to anyone and everyone who stumbles upon the website.

Click HERE to visit the TBR Dream page on MoveforMove.Org.  Oh, and don’t forget to bookmark the site, too!

Thank you to Ripple 100′s Andre Yap and Gabe Mercado and the rest of the team for the excellent work!

As we expected, not everyone from the first wave of reserved runners registered for the race.  Hence, the unclaimed slots were freed up.  Now, we are passing the slots on to the waitlisted runners.

Here’s the catch.  To keep things simple and expedite the registration process (we want to start running already!), we are allowing 100 wait listed runners to sign up.  BUT, there are only 70 slots available.

Let me repeat:

• No. of slots available for TBR DREAM 2012: 70 slots
• No. of runners on the Wave 2 Reserved Runners List: 100 runners

What does this mean?  It means that the 70 slots will be given to the first 70 runners who register and claim their registration kits.  Not all 100 will be accommodated into the race.  We feel terrible about this, but we do hope you understand that we limit our slots to ensure each of our TBR Dream runners is well cared for.

RULES:

• First come, first served basis. As mentioned, there are 100 names on the wait listed sheet below. BUT, there are only 70 SLOTS open. First 70 to register will claim the slots.
• Onsite cash registration. To keep things fair, payment will only be accepted in cash and only at our registration center.  Only for those out of town, we will accept emails to confirm your slot.  Please email macel@thebullrunner.com
• Reserved runners from the 1st Wave of Runners have forfeited their slot.  They cannot sign into Wave 2 of Registration.

REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR WAVE 2: TBR DREAM REGISTRATION

DATE: Thursday, October 13 to Sunday October 16, 2011

TIME: 12 noon to 10 PM

VENUE: Runner’s Runner Booth at 2/F R.O.X. Bonifacio High Street

REGISTRATION FEE: P2,500

WHO CAN REGISTER: You may register only if you are a RESERVED RUNNER. Click HERE  to download master list for WAVE 2.

RUNNER’S RUNNER Hotline: 624-0642

For inquiries on your reservation or on TBR Dream Marathon, contact Macel at email: macel@thebullrunner.com

HOW DO I REGISTER?

1. Confirm slot in TBRDM 2012 Reserved Runners List – Wave 2.  NOTE: If your name is not on the list, please do not register.

<<<<Click HERE to download the file>>>>>

2. Pay registration fee of P2,500 at Runner’s Runner at ROX.

3. Submit the signed waiver. You may download TBR Waiver_2012 and print a copy to speed up the process but we’ll have printed copies onsite too.

4. Claim registration kit.  Note: Authorized representatives may claim your Registration Kit upon presentation of the Runner’s Valid ID and Letter of Authorization.

WHAT DO I GET IN MY REGISTRATION KIT? (inspired by Chevrolet-New Balance Power Run image)

You get a TBR DM Folder containing your TBR DM Welcome Note, 22-week Training Program by Coach Jim Lafferty, and information for training and race day. You also get a TBR Dream Card for discounts with our partners and to note your participation in our clinics and talks. We’re also giving you a TBR Dream Official cotton shirt plus a RUN bumper sticker.

TBRDM OFFICIAL SHIRT (FOR WAVE 1 & 2 TBR DM REGISTRANTS)

This is our updated size chart for TBR DM Official Shirt.  Choose your size based on the size chart above (unisex) to expedite onsite registration.

• We have limited stocks available for particular sizes, BUT we will replenish our stock for all sizes.  Runners will be advised on this blog when and where to claim the new sizes.
• For Wave 1 of TBR DM registered runners who’ve claimed their shirts, please note we added two new sizes. If you wish to exchange sizes, we accept exchange if the shirt is unwashed and unused.  We will advise when and where the claiming of shirts will be.

Come collect your race pack during this time. Do note that it is mandatory to collect your race pack in order to participate in the race. There are running clinics, talks for runners, selling and sampling booths, games, and raffle, so we encourage all participants to drop by. The KOTR 2011 Kick-off is open to the public so please feel free to bring family and friends.

Read on to ensure smooth race pack collection.

The adidas Race Pack consists of the ff:
1. KOTR 2011 Tote Bag
2. KOTR 2011 Singlet
3. Race Bib
4. KOTR 2011 Timing Device
5. Freebies from Sponsors

Collecting race pack for yourself:
Find the lane for your category, fall in line, and present your KOTR confirmation letter and the valid ID that you used for the registration. No requirements or incomplete requirements, no race pack.

Collecting through a representative:
Should you be unable to collect your race pack personally, you may allow someone else to collect on your behalf. A representative should present an ID, authorization letter issued by you, attached with your (participant) KOTR confirmation letter, and a photocopy of the ID you used for registration. No requirements or incomplete requirements, no race pack. Representative should locate the lane for your category and queue accordingly.

Collecting bulk race packs:
For group race pack collection, please double check to have all your requirements intact. Please bring authorization letter, attached with the corresponding KOTR confirmation letter, and photocopy of each valid ID used for registration, strictly for each participant whose race pack is being collected for. Find the lane for bulk collection and queue accordingly. No requirements or incomplete requirements, no race pack.

Collecting for minors:
Minors (participants below 18 years old by 23 October), please present your confirmation email, and the valid ID that you used for registration. Please take note that a signed Parental Consent and Indemnity Agreement, and a photocopy of ID of the parent/guardian are required as well.

If you are outside Metro Manila:
All participants from the provinces and overseas who are unavailable for the Kick-Off may claim their race packs on the race day at the Bonifacio Global City on Sunday, October 23, 2011 from 3am-4am only. Please present your KOTR confirmation letter and valid ID used for registration. No requirements or incomplete requirements, no race pack.

If you registered through Free Run Promo:
Please expect delivery of your race pack on or before Oct 21. Come down to NBC Tent to participate in the side events at the Kick-Off, too.

* adidas Reserves the right to amend all of the above stated at its discretion. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/adidasPhilippines.