Author Archives:

Hi TBR Dream Marathoners: block these dates on your November 2011 Calendars!

(1) Bull Session 2: LONG RUN 55 MINS: Saturday, November 12, 2011, Krispy Kreme, BHS.

(2) Bull Circle 2 GEARING UP FOR THE MARATHON: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 7PM, 3/F ROX, Bonifacio High Street.

We’ll see you there! For any questions, please contact Macel at macel@thebullrunner.com

This morning, Rico, Angela, Anthony and I ran our last run before the New York City Marathon 2011 this Sunday.  We met at the corner of 59th and 5th, right by the Apple store (oh, this run was for you, Steve!) and made our way across to Central Park.

– with Rico and Angela doing all the touristy stuff before the run –

– with Rico –

Central Park is a great place to run in. To run on wide, paved rolling hills surrounded by trees and squirrels shuffling about in the heart of New York City is always a surreal experience for me. It was a great way to cap the end of the training period.

Today, the park was busy with preparations for race day. A lot of runners participating in Sunday’s race were running probably their last runs too just like us. Banners and scaffolds were up for the last few kilometers towards the finish. And, lucky for us, no less than Mary Witternberg, President of New York Road Runners was at the finish line introducing celebrity runners who would be running the marathon. We spotted Mario Lopez but I wasn’t familiar with the others. (Did you know Christy Turlington is running? So are Edward Norton and the Chilean Miner again! Click HERE)

– Celebrity runners for New York City Marathon 2011 –

– Mary Wittenberg, President and CEO of New York Road Runners –

– As close as I could possibly get to Mario Lopez and his dimples hah! –

– Is this Ryan Sutter who married Trista on The Bachelorette? Yes, yes, I’m showbiiiiz –

We ran through some of the last few kilometers of the marathon course, through the finish line, and until, what I like to call, one of the longest walks of my life, a slow walk from the finish line to the exit out of Central Park after the race.

– Anthony and I at Mile 25. I wonder if we’ll look this fresh when we cross the same portion on race day –

– Anthony, Rico, and Angela –

– This is the road taking runners from the finish out to Central Park. It looks short now. But after running a 42km and the only thing you wanna do is to rest, this slow walk is a tough one. –

– Yes, we just had to have our pic taken here! –

After running 4k in such cold and windy weather, we found ourselves at one of the best pizza places in New York City: Patsy’s Pizzeria.  I read about this in a magazine and was drooling even before I tasted the pizza.

Yum!  I wasn’t hungry, but I ate more than I should.  Good thing it’s carboloading time!

After a great run and a sumptuous lunch, we runners refused to run or walk home in the cold. It was off to the subway to make it to our own warm and cozy apartments and hotels as soon as possible!

Soon to be mommy Ironwoman Ani de Leon is going soft on us.  Soft and cuddly to be exact!  She’s launched a new line of stuffed toys called My Little Athlete.

I particularly like this one. He looks like he’s off to break his PR…

…and this newbie runner chick of a bear who’ll probably outrun most of the male bear runners…

Ani will be launching My Little Athlete at the Global Pinoy Bazaar at the Rockwell Tent tomorrow (Saturday). For more info, click HERE.

Hello from New York!  The weather is perfect here, a bit nippy but not as freezing as last year.  I arrived yesterday afternoon and woke up this morning feeling fresh and energized. Jetlag is not in this bull’s vocabulary—at least not for this trip!

This morning, a group of us Pinoys running the ING NYC Marathon agreed to meet up at the ING NYCM Expo to claim our race packets. Plan was to do it today, Thursday, the first day of claiming, to avoid the huge crowds on Friday to Sunday. Little did we know that we arrived soon after it had opened, so we had to wait in line which extended to the road outside Javits Center where the expo was held.  Talk about excited!

– myself, TBR Dream Alumni and now NYC Marathoners Rico and Gene, and NY-based Carla on our way to the expo –

– Long line for the early birds! Gene, myself, Karinna –

The lines moved fast though. The staff was welcoming. And I breezed through the claiming of my race kit and went on to my favorite part of every marathon abroad—SHOPPING!

– First we submitted our race registration form and passport for verification –

– Then we claimed our race pack and official shirt (no lines here!) and it was done! –

I spent over an hour shopping at the expo. There were a lot of commemorative shirts to fit, new gear to ponder over, and a lot of samples to taste and drink (for research purposes, you see)…

– Some of the booths at the expo. I stopped at the Gatorade booth for quite a while to taste the pre-race fuel, race drink, and post-race drinks (yes, they have 3 different drinks there!) –

– Met Tri Fil-Am runners, US-based William and Ronald, for the first time –

– Bumped into the Osmenas who I usually see on the road in Manila –

– with Joey Torres of Polo Tri –

– with our flag bearer in the parade of nations tomorrow, Anthony Pangilinan –

–  with the rest of the Pinoys running NYC Marathon!  Pinoy Pride, guys! L to R: Julian, Gene, Rico, Anthony, Joey, myself, Ronald, William, Karinna, Gene, and Jonel –

Then, we had a late but great Japanese lunch before we parted ways…

– Busog na so uwian na! We sorely missed Angel of Gatorade here! –

Back at the apartment, I opened my loot. Oh baby! You know, I really only get this excited about my running purchases…

– The race kit. Official shirt on the right side. Love it. I hope it rains often in Manila just so I can wear this long-sleeved shirt! hah! –

– Got myself NYCM shirts from Asics and Mizuno, beanie, and a cap –

– Glad I found this: tear away jacket and bottom for pre-race chilly wait. You can just rip this off while running when your body warms up. $20 –

– Medal rack to hold my medals. All my medals are currently housed in a humble old ice cream container. So excited to hang them on my home office wall instead. Strictly for 42k medals only though! $48 –

– My favorite find! I’m not into jewelry, but I just had to get this when I saw the pendant. It says “GOTTA RUN” which is the way I end all my emails. It was meant for me, don’t you think? $25 –

Thanks to Marie Calica, Editor in Chief of Runner’s World, for inviting me to write an article on running with our kids on the October-December 2011 issue of Runner’s World. Get your copy now if you still haven’t!