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5 more days to register for one of the most anticipated race of the year: Condura Run for Dolphins. Registration ends on Sunday, 24 January 2010. Click HERE to visit their website.
With the race coming up, I thought it would be good to repost an interview I did with the two brothers behind Condura Run, Ton and Patrick Concepcion. This was from March 2009. Click HERE.
Less than 3 weeks before the big C…Condura, that is.
I had planned on running the half marathon; in fact, that’s what I had registered for last December, but certain key influencers (named: Alvin and Ton C.) convinced me to go for the full. Well, I didn’t need that much convincing anyway.
LAST LONG RUN?
Typically, a marathon program will ask you to run the longest training run, 20 miles or 32km, three weeks before the big day. Since I just ran Singapore Marathon last Dec. 6, my program is anything but typical. I don’t have a strict program I’m currently following. Every time I run with my coach-friend Alvin, I basically ask him what I should run for the next week and, with occasional whines about the speedwork, I willingly comply.
Alvin asked me to run what should be my last long run: 32km last Sunday. (I think I heard him say he’ll make me do 35k next Sunday. Not too sure.) I usually incorporate a half marathon race into the picture, but with no 21k race last weekend, I was left on my own.
6K WITH FRIENDS
Hubby and I were invited by friends–Isa, Ivy, Julian, and Norman–to join their 3.5 hour run last Sunday. I had never run with them before, but I thought it was the perfect way to let time fly running all those kilometers.
We started at 4:30 a.m. and, in the dark, we went off. As they’re a close knit group who regularly train together, hubby and I settled comfortably in the back, chatting as we always do, as if we were in our own world. No, we were not holding hands.
The course was a flat and quiet 6k loop that the group planned on running five times over. Midway through the first loop, I whispered to hubby: “I don’t think I’ll last another loop in here.” My quads and I were dying of boredom.
At the end of the first loop, hubby and I had to take a bathroom break, so we let the group go ahead.
12K WITH HUBBY
Hubby and I ran another 12k together. His plan was to run 15k, so when he ran 18k, uhm, we figured it was time for him to stop.
He drove off to have a tapa breakfast at Sentro, while I ran McKinley Hill all the way to Bonifacio Global City.
18K ALONE
The first 15k or so on my own was energizing. It was the kind of run that I needed to clear my mind, unload all the burdens of the past week (or even year), and encourage fresh thoughts and emotions to enter my soul. At certain times, I almost felt like I was in a trance, lost in the rhythm of my footsteps. I learned later on that friends, Lody and Coach Jo-Ar, spotted me from other side of Lawton Ave. and were yelling out to me, but I didn’t even hear them.
LAST 2KM
It’s true when they say that running has more to do with the mind than the body. When I hit 30km, I suddenly felt spent and exhausted. All the energy suddenly drained out of me. I wanted to quit. After all, 30km was good enough!
By this time, I started doing loops around Bonifacio High Street. Near Starbucks, I bumped into the forever hands-on Condura Run organizers, Patrick and Ton Concepcion and Rudy Biscocho, who were planning for the exact race I was training for. They asked how long I was running and I replied “32k” then I looked at Ton and jokingly told him “This is all your fault!”
Those loops around Bonifacio High Street had never felt so long. Every single time I rounded each corner, I battled with my inner demons who were telling me to quit. I knew I would never forgive myself if I ended without hearing the 32k beep from my watch.
ENDING LIKE A WINNER
I finished the full 32km as planned. And, for the very first time, I ran it with absolutely no walking breaks (with 6 bathroom breaks though). My legs were completely fine all throughout the run; they were slightly sore, but after some stretching, they felt unbelievably great.
I dropped by Sentro where hubby was having his tapa breakfast outdoors and feeling like a real winner, I yelled to him with excitement: “I did it!” Condura, here I come.
WHAT: Run United for Wellness
WHEN: 7 March 2010, Sunday
WHERE: Bonifacio Global City
DISTANCE: 500m (kids) | 3k | 5k | 10k | 21k
WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN:
REGISTRATION:
Click HERE to visit website.
During the holidays, hubby and I, together with the winners of the Chi Running contest, met up for two 2-hour sessions of Chi Running with Lit Onrubia at Bonifacio High Street.
– Class Picture: Drew & Angela, Emilee & Eric (Running Beyond Air), Macky & Iah, and Lit. My partner, the hubby, took the photo –
During the two sessions, Lit gave us a background on Chi Running: how it began with its founder, Danny Dreyer, its basic principles and benefits. Lit said that Chi Running focused on three main principles:
1) needle/cotton approach – power comes from the core and the rest of the body remains relaxed during a run,
2) work with nature – allow gravity to propel your body forward, and
3) natural progression – one doesn’t become a master of Chi Running overnight but will learn it through consistent practice and application.
CHI TALK
Lit’s talk was clear, comprehensive, and very enlightening. Once a university professor, he was very articulate and professional during the session, yet he maintained an informal, light, and fun atmosphere throughout the class.
He demonstrated the basic starting form for Chi Running and emphasized the following:
1) Get aligned
2) Engage your core
3) Create balance, and for the exciting part and one that Chi Running is known for…
4) Fall forward
He then asked us to do a number of drills to help us learn how to practice the needle/cotton approach and how to fall forward with a post as our partner. In the beginning, the drills felt awkward and elicited giggles among us, but all these made much more sense when we went out for a run.
ROAD TEST
In the first session, we ran easy around Bonifacio High Street applying everything we learned. Lit would focus on each one of us at a time, correcting our form, reminding us to focus on our feet all the time.
The 2nd run session was much more fun as speed was involved. We ran down a slight downhill, learning to lean forward in order to increase the pace without feeling spent. By pairs, Lit would run along with us, reminding us to open our hips and push our arms backward. We also learned how to run at a consistent cadence, no matter the speed by adjusting our stride.
MY THOUGHTS ON CHI
This is not a panacea for all your running problems. And I don’t think Lit nor its founder, Danny Dreyer, ever claims it to be. One doesn’t also get the perfect Chi Running form overnight. It takes patience and practice, not just during the sessions, but long after the lessons end.
Is it worth it? I would say yes if you give high importance to your running. To me, anything that can help me improve in my beloved sport and prevent injury is worth my attention. It already made a world of difference in my Cebu Half Marathon, where it was definitely Lit’s teaching that helped me run my descents with less fear and more ease so that I broke my PR.
During one run last December, I was fortunate enough to experience the zen-like feeling of Chi Running where I just focused on my feet, relaxed the rest of the body, and I truly felt one with the road and the wind pushing from behind. The leaves rolled forward along with my feet, and as I watched them sweep past me, I took a deep breath and recalled the reason why I fell in love with running in the first place. With Chi running, I can only look forward to more experiences like this.
INTERESTED IN LEARNING CHI RUNNING?
1) RUNNR ACADEMY will have its 1st CHI RUNNING CLINIC on January 20, 2010 (Wednesday), 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at the Activity Area fronting RUNNR. Click HERE to download details.
2) New Balance will have its own sessions too.
3) For independent sessions with Lit Onrubia, contact him at 0917-537-6870 or lit.onrubia@gmail.com
Not many of you know that, shortly after our plane touched down from Cebu and landed in Manila, my tummy let out a big yelp. Woah, what was that? I thought. Then, it did it again. By the 5th time, still in my plane seat, I knew that I had already caught the stomach flu virus that attacked my daughter while we were in Cebu. Less than an hour later, at home, all the food I had devoured from Christmas to the Cebu Marathon carbo loading party was leaping out of my mouth and dropping into the toilet bowl before me.
Amidst the pain, I managed to think: Thank God it happened after the race. Thank God I didn’t have to vomit in the airplane. Thank God I finally lost all the excess holiday weight! Woohoo! After all the words of gratitude, my gastroenteritis, which began only after I got amoebiasis after Animo Triathlon, began to attack and the pain increased in magnitude.
I felt like my insides were being squished, stretched, and turned inside and out. (Almost the same feeling I got when I was at the hotel room caring for my ill daughter in Cebu and the hubby, who was at the lobby with my son, texted to say he spotted Marc Nelson.) For some time, I tried to bear the pain, but my husband rushed me to the ER at 11:30 PM when I was crying in pain and there were no more tears falling from my eyes. I was severely dehydrated as I was expelling even Gatorade, the only thing I was taking in.
By 2 AM, after meds and IV, I was discharged. By the following day, I was fine. Thank God for the nth time.
Needless to say, I haven’t had a single run since Cebu. No more Gastroenteritis, but not being able to run the past few days is another bug I’m trying to get rid of. It’s a little bit worse than the former as it can temporarily lead to bad behavior, or worse insanity.
Today, I hope to get a good, easy 10k run in with Alvin. If I’m fine after, then it’s back to regular programming. After all, there’s not much time to spare with Condura just around the corner.
