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If you wish to do some good through running, this may just be the right event for you. It’s Senator Pia Cayetano’s 8th Gabriel Symphony, a 12-hour event in Alabang in memory of her son, Gabriel, who lived only until 9 months old.

RUN (AND PLEDGE)

Everyone is invited to run, walk, or bike anytime from 6am to 6pm.

Registration fee is P1,000, which is a donation to Gabriel Symphony Foundation and includes food and drinks all day. Anyone can also pledge any amount at the registration area.

SUNSET RUN WITH PIA – 5pm

At 5pm, there will be a 3k, 5k, and 10k fun run with Sen. Pia Cayetano. The same registration fee applies here.

DREW DOES AN IRONMAN

Good friend and TBR Magazine cover, Drew Arellano, has committed to help raise funds by doing an Ironman Distance tomorrow.  Anyone who wants to pledge through him can drop by the registration area to donate.  Here’s more info:

Talk about a busy bee: Here is Drew’s TV Hosting schedule…Unang Hirit on GMA7 daily from 5:15am – 9am, AHA! Sundays 9:15am and BALIK-BAYAN on QTV11 Fridays 10pm! This, of course, aside from his acting gigs and blossoming triathlon career.

On top of all that, Drew, in his own words, “feels the need to give back to his unfortunate brothers and sisters.” Last year, he organized “The Happy Run to raise funds and build a school.”  This year, we at Gabriel’s Symphony Foundation consider ourselves extremely blessed to have him signing on to our cause and committing to do a full Ironman Distance (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run) during the 12hour event on Saturday, September 4, 2010 in Alabang Country Club.

Drew says that he has decided to do this “to make it harder and more interesting” and “would greatly appreciate if you could pledge any amount for this insane ordeal I’m about to go thru. Thanks and wish me luck!”

Having already successfully completed Ironman Western Australia almost a year ago, this challenge should be manageable for Drew, but it does not make it any easier—an Ironman Distance triathlon never is.  But the thought of helping the kids of Gabriel’s symphony should serve as a great driving force for him as he strokes, pedals, and strides towards the finish line this weekend.

MAIQUI DAYRIT RAISES ALMOST P1 MILLION

Another old friend, Maiqui Dayrit, will do an Ironman Distance as well.  This is Maiqui 6th year and he is close to hitting the P1 million mark in raising funds for this cause.  Amazing!

FUN DAY FOR INDIGENT CHILDREN

Forty children, twenty from Marillac Center for Girls and twenty indigent boys whom Senator Pia Cayetano chanced upon running barefoot one day as she was biking in Daang Hari, have been invited.

At 2pm, Top Draw Animation, headed by Wayne and Stella Dearing, will give them an art class, which will cover “The Basics of Cartoon Drawing” and they get to take home their cool new sketchbooks and art materials so they can practice on their new found skills.

At 3pm, they will form teams and compete against each other in a 5k relay, after which they will participate in a fun football game. Winners get to take home shoes through our kind sponsor Planet Sports.

There are other activities during the day.  For more info, click here to visit website.

Fresh from the recent Ironman Camsur event, 8-time Ironman Finisher Arland Macasieb will discuss exercise physiology, heart rate zone training & racing and running biomechanics.

Arland holds a Master’s Degree on Exercise Science from Montclair State University in the U.S. and is a 3-TIME Philippine National Triathlon Champion (2001, 2005 & 2006).

When: FRI, Sept 3, 2010, 6:30-8:30pm,
Where: Activity Area in RUNNR Bonifacio High Street.

FREE REGISTRATION.
Limited seats only (120 maximum seating capacity).
First come, first served.

Newton demo running shoes shall be available to experience the ultimate natural running. Plus freebies to be given away!

This event is presented by BGC Run and Newton Running, powered by RUNNR and Polar watches.

Some friends and I are all currently deep in training for various marathons: JunB for Camsur in September, Lit for Portland in October, and the hubby, JunC, Mariel and I for New York in November. Almost every weekend we try to do our long runs together.  Plan for last Sunday was to run a total of 24km.

With the Kraft Run on the same day, we decided to cover a short distance before the race, 10k at Kraft Run, and run the balance after. Meeting time was 4:30 a.m. at the race’s assembly area in Fitness First Alabang.

Pre-Race: 4k Easy

Before dawn, we ran easy along the race route in Filinvest Corporate City and Palms Country Club. There was a lot of chatting and laughing amidst the dark and deserted road.  Thankfully, JunB brought his new gear along: a flashlight attached to the edge of his visor, which lit the path before us.  Without that piece of nifty equipment, I would’ve stomped over a bullfrog!

We covered 4k before we headed back to the assembly area all warmed up.  The race was to start at 5:30 a.m.

Kraft Run: 10k

The Kraft Run was a corporate event which was open to only Kraft employees and their guests. Fortunately, our names found their way into their guest list.

The race was so well organized that I thought it was a pity that it wasn’t open to the public.

– Runners warm up –

– Larry, Curly, and Moe OR Tito, Vic, and Joey? –

– Off we go! –

The route was definitely one of the most thrilling 10k routes I’ve run. (I couldn’t believe we had those wonderful hills hidden behind Palms!) Water, marshals, lootbags (loaded with Oreos, Tiger biscuits, Eden Cheese, Cheezwhiz and Tang), and food were aplenty and the atmosphere was all fun, fun, fun.

My kids arrived with my in laws who were all signed up for the 3k run. Hubby and I were set to do 10k. When the 10k gun went off, I bid hubby goodbye and, in a split second, decided I was going to race this one.

First Place for the First Time

The nice thing about training hard and eating right is that, when race day comes, your body simply thanks you for it. I was pushing hard, but not completely exhausting myself. I’ve suffered more during tempo runs under harsher conditions. This time I had the chance to enjoy the experience.

I ran at a fast clip without paying much attention to competition. Perhaps the only thing I noticed was that there was no woman ahead of me. Oh, and that the guy beside me, despite his heavy and noisy breathing, mustered all his strength to never ever let me run past him.

I crossed the finish line at 48 mins and 11 seconds bagging first place for the female category in 10k.  According to my Garmin, my average pace was 5:09/km and race distance was actually short at 9.35km.

Woohooo!  First time I ever won first place. Don’t you just love small races where the elite are absent? heehee.

– That medal was huge –

– Wooohooo! –

– This one is for you Harvs and the 4 lbs you helped me lose haha. Go Team Hammer!

– with my medal and prize (free accommodations in a hotel in Tagaytay I have never heard of. Uhm, can we exchange it for CheezWhiz instead? Kidding!)

– with Kraft employees and Sudip Mall, Kraft GM –

– great race + family and friends = perfect event –

– with Jun Bisnar of Nuvali, hubby, and Don Ubaldo of Filinvest/Pinoy Ultra Runners –

– with the hubby –

Post-Race: 10k Slow

After the awarding and refueling, our group ran another 10km inside Ayala Alabang Village and then to Filinvest Corporate City to reach our goal distance.  There was a whole let less laughing but the same amount of talking—about injuries, exhaustion, and the heat (haha!)—but we managed to survive and reach our 24km goal.  The laughter ensued over a sumptuous meal at UCC in West Gate.

Congratulations to Kraft for a wonderfully organized event! I vote for another one next year!  Thanks too to Filinvest Corporate City, especially Ricky Suarez and Don Ubaldo, for sharing the route.

Photos courtesy of VimaVendo…I mean, Vima of KulitRunner and Carlo Capistrano.

I have a confession to make. For the past month, I’ve been in rehab: food rehab, that is.

I’m learning how to eat all over again. Or, let’s just say, I’m learning how to eat. Period. Almost like a child in preschool, I’m learning about proper food portions, choices, and timing…slowly but surely. Next to a marathon, it is one of the best things I’ve committed to working on for my own good.

I WAS STARVING

I am what you call a perennial dieter. Since college, I stopped eating rice in an attempt to keep the weight off.  Carbs came from whole wheat bread, oatmeal, cereals, and graham crackers.  Protein was egg and chicken.

I didn’t have normal meals but I was grazing all throughout the day. “Good days” meant that I ate less than a thousand calories for the day. Breakfast for the past 5 years—yes, even when I started running—were 3 graham crackers and coffee while dinner was usually cereals and low-fat milk.  Being low fat, I seriously thought I was eating well.

“Bad days” meant I munched on my favorite junk, which were Cheetoes, V-cut, and Poppycock (the list can go on and on). Needless to say, since I was always hungry, I would always “slip” by indulging in junk and I would try to make up for it some other day.

There were more bad days than good.  My weight would fluctuate by 4 pounds every week.  I maintained my weight by burning all the junk away with a long run over the weekend. It worked.

GAINING 6 POUNDS

All of this changed after my Hong Kong Marathon last February 2010. After running four 42ks in 5 months, I was aghast when I gained a whopping 6 pounds after the trip. For someone like me who takes my running seriously, this was huge. Remember that 1 pound is equal to 4 pounds impact on the knee. So, that’s an instant 24 pounds additional impact on my delicate knees! (Of course, the bulging belly and flabby arms didn’t look good in my Photovendo pics, too!)

From March to July, I significantly reduced my food intake and increased mileage, but still the numbers on the scale wouldn’t budge. If I starved myself even more, I was fearful of the consequences on my training. Worse, I was scared I’d collapse during a run.

How then could I lose weight considering the little that I ate while training for New York City Marathon this November? I was baffled. And, I felt helpless and frustrated.

HARVIE’S HELP

Last month, I bumped into my good friend Harvie, a triathlete who recently graduated from his sports nutrition studies, and I told him about my predicament. He talked vaguely about fixing my diet and gradually introduced his idea of a wholesome, healthy diet that I could live with.

Week by week, he worked with me to remove one bad habit at a time. In hindsight, I realize that the slow process was necessary to ensure that this diet became a part of my lifestyle—not just another fad diet I was taking on to “drop 10 lbs. in 2 months.”

WEEK ONE: EAT MORE. This was a struggle for someone who equated “good eating with eating less.” It was a nightmare when Harvie asked me to stop counting calories and eating more. I felt guilty about feeling full. It was the first time since highschool (except when I was pregnant) that I tasted rice again!

WEEK TWO: CUT THE JUNK. I cut all junkfood out of my diet. What was most difficult was saying goodbye to Cheetos Jalapeno and potato chips.  I was surprised when Harvie considered my daily breakfast of graham crackers as junk, too.  Harvie said anything with a lot of processed ingredients in its packaging we were to consider J-U-N-K.  So, I bid farewell to canned goods, cereals, and even whole wheat bread (Harvie switched me to brown rice.)

– Harvie taught me how to read the labels. The more stuff in it, the more reason to stay away –

– No more skipped meals. This is what dinner usually looks like now…and I am loving it –

WEEK THREE: EAT EVERY 2.5 HOURS. Harvie asked me to eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I became more aware of what I eat and when I eat.   Harvie changed my mindset about food; it was no longer something to be feared or rejected, but nutrition and fuel that should be mindfully consumed.  I also started to feel hungry more often, which according to Harvie was a good thing; it meant my body was working like a machine, using my food as energy very efficiently.

– Harvie checks on my food journal every week. Food police, I tell you –

– Harvie asks me to take photos of my meals. He says this meal of brown rice and fish was too little and asked me to add eggs and veggies. You gotta love the guy for constantly reminding me to eat more –

To date, I’ve lost 4 of the 6 stubborn pounds I’ve been whining about for the past 6 months.  I’ve lost a couple of inches too and the jeans have finally loosened its grip on my thighs.  What’s amazing is that I lost this all while eating the most food I ever did in decades.  (I still can’t wrap my brain around it!)  Even better, I’m training hard for NYC Marathon and I feel stronger than I have ever been.

The reason why I posted about this a full month after I started working with Harvie was because I made myself a guinea pig before I told you all about it.  Not only did I want to make sure it worked, but I wanted to make sure I could commit—not just to the diet—but to the entire lifestyle. Harvie also wanted to make sure I truly believed in it.

I am still a work in progress.  I still have my slip-ups.  There were more than a handful of days when I munched on those peanuts, indulged in way too much chips on my cheat days (I get to eat everything I want on Sundays), and lost my patience when the scale wouldn’t budge.  There’s a lot of commitment, self-discipline, and hard work involved on a daily basis.

But, I do know that I can do this…and I will.  I’m definitely committed to giving more respect to my body and giving it the chance to perform at the best level.  How can I even consider going back to feeling weak and hungry all the time when I’ve literally had a taste of the good life?

NOTE: Expect more blogposts about healthy food and nutrition now that I’m no longer in starvation mode. There’s a whole new world of healthy yummy meals and recipes to explore.

If you wish to contact Harvie de Baron for consultation, email him at harviedebaron(at)gmail.com