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In a few minutes, I shall be picking up my two children from their last day of school. And, along with them, I can already see myself spinning cartwheels while singing in true Highschool Musical fashion “What time is it?! Summertime! We’re on vacation…”

Summer means liberation from the tight school day sched and freedom to indulge in my passions while the kids are fast asleep. My mornings will undergo a complete transformation. Good riddance to morning traffic to and from school. I can already see myself waking up early in the morning to enjoy a quick run on the roads of Alabang before the world wakes up, or swimming in the warm waters of an olympic-sized pool, or meeting with a running coach every other day. Oooh, the choices are endless.

15 minutes to go till summer! I can’t wait…

Mizuno is challenging you to push yourself to the limits, push your mind, and your body will respond. If you think you have the endurance and the power to drive yourself to maximum performance, we challenge you…

The first MIZUNO INFINITY RUN, this will be a 5, 10, 15 kilometer fun run open to all runners. More than 70,000 pesos in cash and Mizuno items to be won!

MIZUNO INFINITY RUN 2008
NEVER STOP
Registration Fees: 5k – P150, 10k – P200, 15k – P250
When: March 30, 2008 (Sunday)
4:00am – start of registration
6:00am – start of race
6:00am – 15k
6:30am – 5k and 10k
Where: Global City, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City
Starting point: Federacion Drive (the street near NBC drive and The Fort Strip)

Registration will start on March 11, 2008 in any Mizuno stores and Mail & More branches in NCR.

Race packs can be claimed starting March 15, 2008 in any Mizuno stores. Race pack includes race number, map of the route and race
information.

*Runners can claim their packs on the day of the race. Better if they claim it before.

IMPORTANT:

1. Upon registration, runners will be given an ACKNOWLEDGMENT RECEIPT.
They will need this to claim their race packs. *NO A/R NO RACE PACK.
2. Do not forget your race number on the day of the race. NO RACE
NUMBERS, RUNNERS ARE CONSIDRED UNREGISTERED.
3. Start of race is 6:00 am. Please come early.

For inquiries please contact 757.31.60 local 520 and 517, Mizuno marketing dept.

NEVER STOP TESTING YOURSELF. BRAVE THE INFINITY RUN!

I just thought of a great way to celebrate Women’s Month. Gather a huge group of strong, beautiful, driven, and dynamic women for a race. Tell them to take their husbands, children, friends and other relatives who wish to honor the importance of women in their lives. Maybe set up an expo showcasing health, wellness, beauty, and fitness products especially for women. It will be great! The perfect way for everyone to truly celebrate the strength and spirit of a woman!

Oh, wait a minute. Someone beat me to it. Sen. Pia Cayetano just celebrated the 2nd Pinay In Action this morning. It was the biggest and only all-women’s race in the country. It was definitely a success with over 2,000 participants (according to Mon D.) signing up for the 1.6k, 5k and 10k runs.

– Starting line for 5km runners at around 7:15 am. 10km runners had started earlier a little after 6 am –

I definitely could not miss this race. PIA makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside—like treating myself to a fat-laden Twix bar after a long run without worrying about my thighs—because this was the first ever race I joined last year. After finishing my 1st 5k, I remember telling the hubby “I like this. I could get used to this.” And that perhaps was the birth of The Bull Runner within me.

So, this morning, my son, Anton, and I arrived at NBC Tent a little bit too early for the 1.6km race we signed up for. After warming up and stretching (I told you I am a very good girl now), we waited and waited and waited…

– Please pause in silence to commemorate this special event. It had been way too long since I last pinned a race bib on my singlet so this was a momentous occasion. –

– Anton looks like he just woke up but he’s super excited over his upcoming run –

Perhaps out of boredom (and maybe in an attempt to get a new toy as a reward), Anton told me that he’d like to run the 5k instead which was going to start ahead of the 1.6km. Within the next few minutes, we were off. We ran for the 1st 5 minutes strong and cheerful. I cheered Anton on and he smiled back enjoying every minute. Like a stage mother (or maybe a road mother), I even taught him a few things I picked up from Ige Lopez such as keeping the arms low as if you were striking drums. But, he smartly replied “Mom, you can’t play drums while you’re running!” So, I shut my mouth and just enjoyed the run.

Within the next few minutes, we slowed down to a jog and shortly after we slacked off to a walk. By that time, Anton could hardly talk anymore. His smile had disappeared and was replaced by a blank stare. He was too pooped to even reply to my questions “Do you want to start running again?” or “Isn’t this fun?” or “Are you still breathing?” The only time he spoke again was after he drank a bit of water. By that time, I had decided to just head back and call it a day for his sake.

We ended our run at 2.5km. A little bit more than Anton’s initial 1.6km goal and half of his 5km dream. Pretty good for my little boy! After a bit of socializing with Happy Feet friends (Anton was still not talking at this time), we headed home to meet hubby and daughter but not without a stop for a Jollibee kiddie meal as his reward. (Note: Anton gets a real toy if he finishes 5km. Maybe next time, baby!)

PIA wasn’t a PR race for me. But, it ranked high up there as one of the races that I’ll just never forget. See you there next year and the year after that…

– Sen. Pia runs towards the 10km finish line –

It’s over. And, I still can’t believe how it all ended so quickly. Wasn’t it just exactly a month ago that we first met? It definitely was not love at first sight, but I knew in time I would take a liking to him. He made me feel cheerful, adventurous, and buoyant even. He challenged me to get my feet wet and go beyond untested waters. Sure, there’s a lot of fish in the sea, but he was the only one who taught me how to swim like a fish.

Okay, let me end there. That last sentence was pretty bad.

By now, you should have guessed that I’m not talking about a man (my hubby should be heaving a sigh of relief now) but about my Total Immersion swimming lessons with Nonoy Basa. Yesterday was the last day of my 8 TI sessions which I took with Dondi, a triathlete lawyer who I met in this class.

The past month was an awesome learning experience for me at the pool. We started out with drills, drills, and more drills that initially made swimming more of a mental task than a physical one: keep your head down, stick your thumb out, lead with your shoulder, relax your hand…that was only the beginning of a long checklist that I played out in my mind as I did my skating drills. With so many things to remember, I thought I would forget to breathe!

After mastering one drill, we would progress to the next. With each session, it was a little bit easier to perform the drills—thank God to muscle memory! And, by the 5th and 6th session, we were finally doing laps using the TI technique. Yipee!

On the last session, Nonoy also attempted to teach me how to dive and tumble but, after snorting up half of the water in the pool, I gave up and rationalized, “We won’t need this for a triathlon in open water anyway, right?” Thankfully, Nonoy gave me one free extra session yesterday wherein I had my last chance to have a TI coach fix my form before I went out on my own.

Now that the classes are over, I know I’ve got to swim just as often to become better at this sport, build my endurace, and last but not the least, remember all the things we were taught! Wish me luck.

* For child/adult swimming lessons, call Aqualogic Swim Co. at (0917) 858 AQUA or visit their website.

Just in time for Women’s Month, Inquirer has a great feature on running women today.

The first article is on Joy Rojas, the first woman to run across the Philippines. Now, she is embarking on a new journey called “Takbong Pangarap” in which she hopes to be the first Filipina to run across the United States covering 50 km a day for around 4 months. Wow.

When I saw her photo in Inquirer, I knew she was the same petite and almost frail-looking girl who I used to see running (or more like flying) around Bel-Air Village way back in my teens.  She hasn’t aged one bit and I’m pretty sure her passion for running has a lot do with it.  She is one strong, fearless and passionate Filipina and I look forward to seeing her achieve her “running dream.”

Another article features the more popular women who run such as Sen. Pia Cayetano, Nina Huang, Leica Carpo, Lulu Tan Gan, Mandy Santos, and Malu Gamboa. Yup, there’s no denying it—more and more women are lacing up and running. Wait till you see us all at Pinay in Action this coming Sunday. Hah!

To read the Joy Rojas article online, click here.