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Every time I run a marathon abroad, buying a souvenir marathon shirt—aside from the Finisher’s shirt or singlet that comes with the race kit—is a must.  You see, every marathon, regardless of performance, is memorable.

I once asked the legendary Jeff Galloway which of the many marathons he’s run in his lifetime was his favorite.  He replied: All marathons are like children to me.  I love them all.  I don’t play favorites.

Back to the shirts, here’s what I dug out from my cabinet as I was packing for NYC Marathon: (I leave tomorrow!)

– NYC Marathon 2010 Official Long-Sleeved Shirt –

– NYCM 2010 Shirts from Asics (left) and Mizuno (right). Got these at the expo –

– Nike NYCM 2010 shirt –

– A present from Team PH. Love love love this shirt! Hilarious plus I like the quality of the shirt! You can get a shirt just like this by visiting Team PH FB page. Click HERE –

And now for this year’s race. Pinoy runners running NYC Marathon 2011 had this made. We should all be wearing this, but mine is too big! Sob sob. Still, it’s a great shirt to own. Pinoy Pride, baby!

Woah.  This is the coolest thing!

ASICS launched the “Support Your Marathoner” system for the New York City Marathon next Sunday.  It will activate the RFID tag attached to runners’ shoes. As the runners run through the course, the tag will trigger special messages of love and cheer sent by friends, family, and supporters to the runner  on an LED screen as they pass it. The three screens will be located at Miles 9, 12 and 22.

I’ve registered for this already and it would be awesome if you could send in your messages for me.  It would be great distraction from the cold (expect temp of 8C and scattered showers daw. Brrrr!) or the pain…or both!  Thanks in advance!

Here’s how to send your message:

1. Visit Support Your Marathoner website

2. Use this data:

Name: Jaymie Pizarro
Entry Number: 797217

Thanks in advance!

For more info, read THIS article.

100 runners from TBR Dream Marathon 2012 get free consultation and sessions with Armand and Mitch Mendoza for the TBR Dream Weight Management Program.

Please click HERE to download masterlist of 100 Runners for TBR DM Weight Management Program.  Expect an email from Mitch Felipe-Mendoza soon!  Congratulations!

Their story, yours and mine — it’s what we all carry with us on this trip we take, and we owe it to each other to respect our stories and learn from them.

—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!

Before the recent running boom, adidas King of the Road was once one of the few most anticipated races in Manila.  It was a must run race because it stood out as one of the bigger, more organized events in Bonifacio Global City unlike the smaller races in Roxas Blvd. at that time.

With bigger, grander races to look forward to last year, I felt that adidas KOTR was losing its touch.  Sure it was still a good race, but how could it possibly stand out among other races?  Admittedly, I wasn’t that excited about running KOTR in 2010.  Actually, I missed it.

For this year, I signed up for the race expecting a typical road race despite the hullaballoo over the new 16.8km distance that I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around.  I expected an average race, definitely none of the KOTR magic of the earlier years.  Woah boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

I ran the 21k as a training run in preparation for New York City Marathon.  I ran with fellow NYC Marathoner and TBR Dream Alumni, Rico Manuel and his friend, Angela, for the first few kilometers.  Midway through the race, I bumped into friends, Ton and Angel of Gatorade, and we then spotted Lit.  We then saw Joey Torres of Polo Tri who will also run NYCM.  Joey and Lit ran at a faster clip, while Ton, Angel and I ran easy for the rest of the race.  Throughout the run, I spotted friends along the way, some new acquaintances, others I hadn’t seen for over a year!

– Good times! Running with Joey, Ton, and Lit. Thanks to Spongebob Runner for the image –

Sometimes, a race can be memorable because of our performance.  Other times it can stand out because of the features of the event and great execution of its organizers.  For this race, I found that it was special because it reminded me of the good ol’ days when running in a road race was such a positive, energizing experience because of the people you spotted along the way.  You knew half of the runners on the road and you crossed the finish line welcomed by even more familiar faces.  Sure the races were smaller and less extravagant, but hey they were filled with happy memories.

Thanks to adidas KOTR for making me all sentimental and reminding me of those special times in running.  (Tissue please!)  It’s wonderful to have the old and great adidas King of the Road back!