- Can you spot the Philippine flag? -

- Doc Peter and Simon during the send-off - 

The website www.trailrunningsoul.com describes the UTMB-TDS this way:

Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie: approx. 105km and 6700m + altitude change. Start Saturday 29th august at 5:00am from the centre of Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France.

Cross-country race following the paths of the Grande Randonnée of Mont-Blanc country and Beaufortain. Mountain event, including many high altitude passages (>2500m), in climate conditions which could be very tough (night, wind, cold, rain or snow), necessitating some very good training, suitable equipment and a real capacity for personal autonomy.

– UTMB runners -

– Knife Ridge to Aiguille Croche -

– Dr. Peter Rivera -

The three brave ultra runners gave it their best, but it was Simon Sandoval that finished the race unscathed.  I heard without even a blister!  (I’ll try to get Simon for a TBR Interview just to confirm)

I’ll allow Doc Peter to share with you his own account of the race (as typing out the race name was already exhausting for me!)  Click here to read all about it.

More photos here.

Congratulations to the Doc Peter, Josaw, and Simon!  The view from up there was amazing!

* Photos courtesy of Dr. Peter Rivera.  Thanks to Neville Manaois for sharing.

WHAT: RUNNING AID 4

WHERE: R.O.X., BONIFACIO HIGH STREET

WHEN: APRIL 29, 2009, WEDNESDAY, 7 P.M.

HOW MUCH: FREE

The 4th Running Aid will be structured into modules.  First speaker will be Dr. Paolo Punsalan, orthopedic doctor and Pinoy Ultra Runner, who will discuss the basics of running.  He will also talk about how to train and structuring your program.  Second speaker will be the Pinoy Ultra Runner’s fitness instructor tandem, Al and Joie Ligaya Viado, to cover  core training for runners.  They will focus on different exercise routines to strengthen runners. This will also involve warm up,  cool down, core and gym exercise.

See you there!

While many of us will use next week to train (or taper?) for the upcoming Condura Half Marathon, the Pinoy Ultra Runners will have a long run next Saturday, March 14. How long? Uhm, just the distance from Manila to Tagaytay.

The beneficiary of this run is the Brain Foundation which aims to help neurosurgical indigent patients. If you wish to help, email pinoyultrarunners@yahoo.com or visit their websites:

Pinoy Ultra Runners site

ROX site

Welcome back to the Pinoy Ultra Runners and their guests who ran 55km up Mt. Pinatubo and down again for a good cause: Kythe kids’ Christmas Party.

Read Part 1 of the story here.  Neville, we shall wait with bated breath for the 2nd installment. 

* Photo courtesy of Pinoy Ultra Runners

- preparing for the presentation with Neville and Margaloo -

Beth discussed ultramarathons for women, which is where her passion lies as evident in her beaming smile during her entire talk. She gave practical tips on running on the road and trails, discussed running gear, and inspired women to take up running even beyond 50km as she has done over the years.

- Beth inspires future ultramarathoners -

Beth and I are very different: she’s been running since highschool, I only started in 2006; she runs up mountains while I’m allergic to them; and she loves ultramarathons while my ultimate dream would be to run a sub-4-hour marathon (and, knock on wood, run fast marathons annually after that) rather than to run 100km.  

It was because of the contrast that I thought it was such a clever idea for the Pinoy Ultra Runners to have featured us on the same stage. I saw  running from the eyes of a veteran runner and I realized that, despite the differences, we shared one major bond: our passion for running. 

And, when I looked at the audience, it was pretty much the same thing.  We had various levels of experience in running, but that was insignificant.  One was not better than the other for running faster, longer, or better.  What mattered was that we all loved running or, at the very least, wanted to fall in love with it.

I won’t tell you how my talk went; let the participants be the judge of that.  But, what I can say is that I had a great time talking about one of my greatest passions to an audience that was so eager to listen (I don’t get that too often at home…kidding!)

- That’s me dropping beans into reluctant volunteer Car’s shoes -

To Pinoy Ultra Runners: congratulations once again for a successful event.  Looking forward to the next one.

- with my favorite reader, CougCat, soon after he finished his homework. Thanks for both the virtual and real cookie! -

- Dinner at Pancake House after the talk. The place was filled with runners! -

More pics to follow in the next post.  I gotta leave now for the Nike Training Clinic at Ultra…

The Pinoy Ultra Runners are at it again. This time, they’ll be running from Sta. Juliana, Pampanga up to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo and back for a total of 55km to raise funds for their favorite beneficiary, Kythe. The run will start at 5 a.m. and end after lunch.

Proceeds will go directly to giving Kythe children a Christmas party that they truly deserve after a tough year of battling their illnesses.

The team is still accepting sponsorships and donations. They are also selling limited edition Pinoy Ultra Runners lanyards for 100 pesos. Lanyards are available in R.O.X in fort Bonifacio High Street or you can order directly. All proceeds will help the run and the Christmas parties happen.  

If you are interested in helping, email pinoyultrarunners@yahoo.com or visit their websites:

Pinoy Ultra Runners site

ROX site 

Neville and Marga of Pinoy Ultra Runners with NU 107.5 DJs. They were guests on the show last night to spread the word about the upcoming Mt. Pinatubo Run.  Thanks for the plug, guys!

{ SWIMMING WITH ME-ANNE, 7 a.m. }

When Mary Anne first commented on this blog, I couldn’t help but reply immediately.  We had too many things in common: both in love with running, in our 30′s, and with 2 kids.  When I met her, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we also had the same NB 1222′s (that we’ve now gotten rid of) and we live in the same area.  Then, last month, we bumped into each other and discovered that we both signed up for our first tri at Animo; she instantly became one of my text mates for pre-tri anxieties over wardrobe and gear.

Yesterday, Me-Anne and I met up for a quick swim at 7 a.m.  I usually swim on my own and, most of the time, that’s the way I like it; there’s something about swimming alone in an olympic-sized pool early in the morning that allows me to reconnect with myself, feel completely at peace, almost like I’m a step closer to heaven even if half my body is submerged under water.  Yesterday, however, I was glad to have some company. 

Me-Anne and I are both newbies at swimming but we’re trying our best to improve with hopes of doing better at our next tri (don’t ask me when that’ll be). We spent perhaps half of the time talking in between laps, but I’d like to think we got some exercise in that morning. I swam just 500m but Me-Anne probably did more. Let’s meet up again soon, Me-Anne!

{ RUNNING WITH PINOY ULTRA PEEPS + DON, 7 p.m. }

I met up with Marga, Hector, Neville, and Don (Jeremy, where were you?!) at ROX, Bonifacio High Street for a quick run around BHS. It took us forever to start (too much conversation going on) but, hey, once we started, we ran a good steady pace all the way (not surprising when you run with these ultra runners). 

Sometime during the run, Neville talks about the first time I emailed him requesting for an interview for this blog. Wow, it seemed like ages ago! Then, I remembered how I met Marga via email when we promised to meet each other at Milo last year. And, when I first saw Hector as he talked about the Nike Lunar during the test run months ago. As for Don, I finally got to meet him recently after hearing so much about him from Marga.

So, there I was running around BHS realizing how much shorter these loops seemed when you talk with friends rather than run solo with an ipod.  Neville even spiced things up a bit when, for one loop, we did what he called “Indian Running” wherein we all ran in a line with the leader setting the pace.  The last man in the line then heads towards the front to take leader position and the cycle goes on until everyone collapses (I’m kidding about the last part.)  We ended our run alive and breathing at 7.5km for around 50mins. drinking to Neville’s stash of electrolyte drinks in the BHS parking lot.

Double training day was doubly fun with friends. I would do this again in a heartbeat.  If only I had all the time in the world!

If you’re free next Thursday, I suggest you drop by ROX for Running Aid 3.

I was pretty impressed with the wealth of information provided at Running Aid 2. According to my sources—okay fine, it was Pinoy Ultra Runners team principal and speaker of this session who informed me—that this session will be even more interesting.

They are bringing in treadmills to have lecturers comment on the running form and technique of some Pinoy Ultra Runners. If there’s time, you might be one of the lucky few who get your form critiqued by the experts (and audience as well). Hmm…now I’m not so sure if I’d like that.

Hope to see you there!

P.S. Don’t you just love their posters? Bayani Fernando should hire their designer.

- Marga & Jeremy posing with the Pinoy Ultra Runners lanyards. Bagay sila noh? I mean, bagay sa kanila yung lanyards -

Buy 1 Pinoy Ultra Runner lanyard for only P100 and you will give fellow Filipinos—Pinoy Ultra Runners Jose De Vera, Jocelyn Saw, Peter Rivera and Paolo Punsalan—a chance to compete in the OXFAM Trailwalker 100, a 100km run/hike/walk on the MacLehose Trail in Hong Kong on November 7-9, 2008.  Click here to view the trail.

If you are interested, please contact Jeremy Go at jeremygo@gmail.com or 0917.852.7587 or Neville Manaois at fundrun@gmail.com. 

Jeremy Go gives us a brief backgrounder on the OXFAM and the Trailwalker:

OXFAM is UK based confederation of 13 organizations working with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Originally called the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, it was founded in 1942 in Great Britain and now has presence worldwide, including the Philippines.

The Trailwalker is the largest fund raising event of OXFAM HK, basically it is a 100 KM run/hike/walk held annually on the MacLehose Trail, a 100 km hiking trail across the mountain ranges of the New Territories with a 48 hour cut off.

Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong is the first Trailwalker in the world. Other countries like UK, Australia and New Zealand follow the Hong Kong model closely. In 2008 for the very first time Belgium is also organising Trailwalker in their country.

Part of the requirement is to raise funds for OXFAM. Since 1986, more than 42,000 Trailwalkers have raised over HK$ 158 million to support Oxfam’s various poverty alleviation and emergency relief projects. We are doing our part by selling these lanyards to donate to OXFAM, when the team reaches HK.

A few helpful links:

Pinoy Ultra Runners site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxfam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailwalker

http://www.oxfamtrailwalker.org.hk/en/home.html

- Neville Manaois on anything and everything a runner needs -

Neville Manaois, team principal of Pinoy Ultra Runners, gave a comprehensive talk on Running Essentials enumerating each item a runner needs—from shoes to petroleum jelly—for distance runs. Neville was very knowledgeable about the topic, not just discussing items he’d picked up from a book, but obviously drawing from his own experiences as an ultramarathoner.  

- Dr. Paolo Punsalan on the proper form for runners -

The next speaker, Dr. Paolo Punsalan, a Pinoy Ultra runner and Orthopedic Surgeon, discussed Running Form & Technique for distance runs. I was in and out of the session but I did pick up a number of important points. He emphasized mid foot landing which is consistent with Coach Jo-Ar’s training with me. Dr. Punsalan also mentioned leaning forward, minimizing arm swing, high cadence (90 per leg per minute) and maintaining balance while running.  He even dissected the form of Haile Gebresellasie for all of us to attempt to emulate…yeah let’s keep on dreaming.

I highly recommend this talk for runners. I hope the Pinoy Ultra Runners and ROX will have another run (no pun intended) of these talks as it promotes running to non-runners and gives us runners the opportunity to improve ourselves while avoiding injury.

To all those I saw last night—Marga, Jeremy, Hector of Nike, Philip and his wife, Felipe of SOS Village, Andrew of Epic, my TI coach Nonoy B., dad and mom of CougCat, bugobugo, Mel, Irene, and Omar—it was nice seeing you. Neville, nice chatting with you again. Hope to run with you on my side of the world.