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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!

No need to drag your husband, wife, best friend, or driver to a race to take photos of you as you run.  Leave your camera at home and PhotoVendo will do the rest.

PhotoVendo is the brainchild of Ben Chan aka Photographer on the Run. He and his team of professional photographers will cover races within the Metro and point, shoot, and click at each and every single runner that crosses their path.

All photos will be available for download at the PhotoVendo website, which I love for its simple and user-friendly interface.  All you have to do is type in your race number and voila, your race photos pop out! (For Nike Human Race alone, I had more than a handful.)  

For a reasonable fee, they can print and deliver the photos right at your doorstep.  Soon, they’ll be offering soft copies of your photos as well.

Photos of Rush to Infinity Run and Nike Human Race are available for download now. Watch out for PhotoVendo at VSO Kabahagi Ako Run on November 9.  Don’t forget to put on your winning look if you catch a photographer near you!

Visit PhotoVendo now.

{ TRAINING RACE }

I had only two words in mind as I dressed for the race yesterday morning: TRAINING RUN. My “race mode” button was shut off that morning so that’s probably why I took my sweet time—even had time to touch up the pedicure on my dead toenail (yes, it’s dead again)—before I left for Bonifacio High Street.  

It came as no surprise then that I arrived just 5 mins. before the race start. When I arrived at the assembly area, I was in no mood to socialize (except to wish Cougcat good luck in his 3k and congratulate Carolyn on her Nike Women’s Half in SF) while I let out quite a number of yawns as I waited for the babbling host to just let the race begin. Fortunately, just after the Philippine National Anthem was played, JunC and Jay—my training partners that day—appeared and we had a few minutes to chat before the race started at 6:15 a.m. (thanks to the super talkative host).

Our plan was to run at 6:15 pace during the 10k race plus an additional 10k thereafter at 6:15 to 6:30 pace to complete 20k for me while Jun and Jay, who ran before the race, would reach a total of 25k.  

This was the first time I ran with a training group during a race and I’m sure glad I did. Our steady and relaxed pace allowed us to chat during the entire length of the race, yell out words of encouragement to runner friends who made their way back ahead of us (and maybe whisper “I’ll get you next time!” to a few others), and even stop at some water stations to splash some cold water on our faces. We even “recruited” Dra. Doray to run with us for a few kilometers before we parted ways.

The Fort Striders Club did a great job organizing this race. We went through the challenging Lawton-Bayani Road route without a hitch. There was an abundant supply of mineral water (not balde system as in Adidas KOTR) and marshalls were so helpful that they even poured this on our heads or faces as if they were personal coaches. I wished they had started at exactly 6 a.m. but hey that’s a minor inconvenience.  Congratulations to Fort Striders, especially my friends Taki and Glenn, for a successful race.

We crossed the finish line—agreeing to meet in 5 minutes for the next 10k—at 58:21 mins with an average pace of 5:54.  Total distance was 9.9k on my Garmin, pretty accurate measurement for organizers. We ran a little bit faster than our planned pace, but it left me feeling strong enough for the next half of our goal.

{ NEXT 10KM }

After a 5 minute break where I changed my top, munched on half a ClifBar, and found myself sharing an almost empty parking lot with Fernando Zobel, I met Jay and Jun at ROX to run our next 10k.

We were an indecisive bunch not knowing which route to take that would give us the most shade from the 7:30 a.m. sun. We decided to run loops around Market!Market! where more than half of the route was shaded and, as I requested, the roads were flat.

The next 10k was light and easy and filled with good conversation. Sometime during the run, I had what I’d like to call a “running epiphany” where I realized that I enjoyed this slow and steady type of run vs. a race; I would give up a 10k podium finish (and even cash prize!) anytime for an easy half marathon distance with friends. I could’ve screamed “I love to ruuuuuun!” right there and then, but I thought of Jun and Jay who didn’t have brown bags with them to shield them from embarassment.

We ended our 10k with an average pace of 6:55km to complete a full 20km for me. This was the farthest distance I had ever run.  Wooohooo!  And, as I ended without any hint of injury, I took it as a sign that I was ready for NB 25k.  Double wooohooo with cartwheels (if only I could do them)!  See you at Clark!

There’s a lot of raucous going around in the other side of the world right now over the way the Nike Women’s Marathon at San Francisco ended last weekend.

Turns out that Arien O’ Connell, a fifth grade teacher from New York City who ran the fastest time of 2:55:11, was not immediately recognized as winner even if she beat the elite first placer who finished at 3:06 mainly because O’ Connell did not run with the elite group which got a 20-minute head start. That sucks.

As of today, Nike announced that O’ Connell will be recognized as one of the winners but still not as THE winner. Still sucks. 

Read more articles on Nike Women’s Marathon:

Marathon “a” winner; Nike a loser (SF Gate)

Award the real winner. Just do it, Nike (SF Gate)

In SF, fastest time doesnt win (Runner’s World)

Thanks to Neville for the news.

As corny as it sounds, the greatest gift this blog has given me was the opportunity to meet people who share the same passion for running as I do. Yesterday, I realized that I started and ended the day with some of these people with whom I have had the good fortune of training (and talking and laughing) with:

{ 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!