It’s official. The Bull Runner has just bagged two awards in the recently held 2008 Philippine Blog Awards: THE BEST BLOG IN THE SPORTS CATEGORY and the BEST SINGLE POST IN THE SPORTS CATEGORY. 

I wish I had been there to accept it. I would’ve worn a red dress (the one color that makes a bull run faster) with my running shoes underneath to be the fastest winner to climb up onstage and give my acceptance speech.

Oh, the acceptance speech. This is more like a thanksgiving speech because, as corny as it sounds, I do I have a lot of people I’d like to thank. Here goes:

– To the judges of the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards, I am honored that you chose this little blog of mine as the winner in the sports category. The fact that experts and celebrities like you took the time out to read all the crazy stuff I write about here was overwhelming; being named winner just blew me away.

– To the running bloggers, it’s great to have met people like you who share a common passion not just for running but blogging as well.  May we all continue to rave about our runs, talk about our training, and inspire non-runners to lace up or current runners to aim higher. (Check out the sidebar on your right for the best running blogs online.)

– To my running friends—especially Annie, Banggi and Marga of Team BWK, Happy Feet peeps and everyone else—you make running even more fun than it already is.

– To YOU—whether you’re a wannabe runner, newbie, veteran, elite runner, track & field olympian—thank you for always dropping by to make this blog more than just a handful of stories from my world. Your witty, thought-provoking, humorous, and inspiring comments add to the life of this blog. Okay, sometimes the snide remarks help make it more exciting too.

– To my hubby, thank you for not getting jealous over my 2nd love: running. You are my best friend, biggest fan, most generous sponsor (keep it coming!), most ardent supporter, photographer, and last but not the least, bestest running buddy. Let’s keep on running.  Hopefully, the kids will join in soon.

* Logo from 2008 Philippine Blog Awards

After months of slowly building my mileage to 10k, I finally feel strong enough to restart my weekly ritual of Saturday long runs with Annie. FINALLY!

Yesterday, Annie and I ran 13k at an average pace of 6:18 min/km around the village. Every week—barring weekend work, a race, or the recurrence of shin splints (knock on wood)—I’ll add a conservative 1km to my long runs in preparation for my half marathon. Don’t get me started with half-marathon programs; I don’t intend to strictly adhere to any (maybe just an amalgamation of all my readings on Galloway, Higdon, and First). This half-marathon training is going to be all about fun, fun, fun. Long runs here I come! 

– After our long run –

To everyone that I saw yesterday, it was nice seeing you all: Patrick, Me-Anne and hubby, bikers Foreign Runner (sorry didn’t recognize you at first with the helmet), Virginia, and Marga. 

GOOD NEWS: I just found out that The Bull Runner is/was a finalist in the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards 2 – Sports Category.  Among the 7 finalists, TBR was the only running blog. Woohoo!

BAD NEWS: The blog awards is tonight. I had no idea. I didn’t receive a notification nor an invitation—nothing. I wonder who won.

Results of the Animo triathlon are out. No big surprise here, I had a fairly clear idea of my performance…

I was 8th out of 17 women. Not bad for a first timer who was enjoying herself throughout the race. It felt good to know that the 1st and 2nd placers were teenagers—no way I could outpace these kids on land or in the pool.

If I were to grade myself, here’s how I think I did against the competition:

1) Swim: B. I believe I swam well but my pauses in between each lap ate up a good chunk of my time. I’m pretty optimistic about the swim portion though. Before the tri, it took me 37 minutes (with long breaks) for 650m. This morning, I swam 750m in 32 mins (yes, still with breaks). It’s not a great time, but there’s improvement. Of course, I’m still pathetic compared to Ani de Leon who swam 1.9k in 35.36…phew.

2) Bike: C (or maybe even D). I want to hit myself on the head for the bike portion. I relaxed here. During the race, you could have put a sun hat on my head, a basket on my bike, and asked me to whistle and I would’ve looked like Mary Poppins on wheels. Note to self: Slowly introduce to hubby the idea of buying a new roadie for myself. Target time: 1 month. Do wives get presents during Halloween?

3) Run: A: I placed 4th in running, but I know I could’ve gone faster. I’m over a minute away from the fastest runner, but just seconds away from 2nd and 3rd (Carolyn that’s you…hehe. Congrats for placing 4th!)

Congratulations to Harry Tan who placed 2nd in the men’s mini-sprint for his 1st triathlon! Sounds like someone is ready for the Sprint.  Congrats also to Dedette, Ting, and Me-Anne! We did it!

I worked till 11 or 12 last night. The hubby arrived from a meeting shortly after. We were both exhausted. But, before heading off to sleep, I started packing my bags for an early morning run. Hubby asked if I’d be able to wake up at 5 am. I replied “I have no idea but I know I just have to run. I HAVE TO.”

Well, I did wake up this morning eager to get my feet on the road again. And, due to raucous I made searching for my new Nike running shorts in the closet, I unintentionally (or maybe not) woke the hubby who said “Now that I’m awake, I might as well run with you.” 

So off we went to run at our favorite running route. We ran 5k together at around 6:15 min/km until we parted ways at the fork of the road. I took the longer route to reach 10k, while he followed our 7k route back to our starting point.

On my own, I promised myself I’d run at a steady, relaxed pace. I thought I was running at 6:15 since I wasn’t even panting, but I learned that I was hitting 5:45. I purposely slowed down only to find myself hitting 5:45 again after a while. I felt strong all the way until the end of my 10k run, which is a big surprise since I hadn’t reached that level ever since I got injured. Could this be a direct result of my cross training? I believe so. Now I know that all the water I drank at the pool was well worth it.

Aaaah, I ended the run with a smile on my face.  I didn’t know how much I missed it. I just knew my body was calling for it and, if I didn’t listen, I would have been an angry bull all day.

When I got home, I checked my running journal and learned that it had been 9 long days since my last road run (not counting the short run at the tri). I spent most of last week training on the bike and in the pool or, due to the rains, at home on the treadmill. Boy did I miss the sweat, the pain on my legs, my ipod, the concrete road (that I used to detest), the heat, and oh the sweat (did I mention that already?) Oh running, I’ll make sure I never abandon you that way again!