Category Archives: Bullish Insights

I had a good laugh early this morning when, upon checking my Inbox, I find an email entitled: “Guess Who I Saw!” from Odette of Adidas. It was more of a shameful, hide-myself-behind-a-race-bib kind of giggle because of what I decided to wear that day: a navy blue Nike top with matching shorts. Despite my loud and proud proclamation of love for the Adidas KOTR singlet, I decided against wearing it in an effort to stand out against a sea of runners in red. Check out the photo and you’ll see that my mission was definitely accomplished! Haha!

Can you find yourself here? Let me know if you do!

– Adidas King of The Road 2007…woohoo! –

Thanks to Odette Velarde for the photo.  Odette, as mentioned, I promise to wear my Adidas singlet at the Milo Marathon! haha

Thanks to Hitme, I got invited by Peter_ob (from Philmug) to my first Nike+ Challenge a couple of days before I even tried out the nifty little gadget on the road. I had no idea how these challenges work, but anything that could give me more reason to run faster and longer sounded like good news to me!

The Manila Miles 25 Days Challenge was to begin on a most auspicious date: 07/07/07. (I felt luck would be by my side throughout the race, but I’m sure so did all the other 40+ runners!) So, I did register and crossed my fingers hoping that I would win the race to the most distance in 25 days without obssessing about it to the point that it took over my life (as running has obviously done!) I looked through the profiles of the other contenders on the board, evaluated their pace and distance, and developed my winning strategy. Okay, I’m kidding about the last two phrases!

It’s been a little over a week since the challenge started and fortunately it has not consumed me. Phew, thank God for that! I’ve stuck to my regular running program—which basically covers 40 to 45 km a week—and I just upload this to the Nike+ site and pray a silent prayer that the other runners experienced one of the following to shorten their distance: 1) heavier workload, 2) diarrhea during a long run, or 3) stolen rubber shoes. Hey, I’m kidding…again! This challenge is all about friendly competition, just to get all of us runners more motivated and excited about running further than we usually would.

During the early parts of the challenge, this is how the board looked…

– Manila Miles Challenge: July 10, 2007. A bull run run run, a bull run run! –

Oh, my son was just so proud of me! When he saw this, he screamed “Yes mama, you are the winner!” with both hands jubilantly raised up in the air. I almost burst into tears with joy about my son’s reaction when he suddenly pauses and asks “Wait a minute. You are the bullrunner, right?”

Last night, I rechecked the board to see the changes that occurred in a mere week’s time. Ack. I don’t think I can match up to njrunner_fred’s distance. I concede! Njrunner_fred is apparently training to qualify for the Boston Marathon so go go go njrunner_fred! I am right behind you…literally!

– Manila Miles Challenge: July 16, 2007. A bull run gone gone, a bull run gone –

My feet and I got to know each other a little better today. Thanks to Adidas, I got a free runner’s check up with Kristine Warren, the head physiotherapist of the Moro Lorenzo Sports Clinic in Ateneo de Manila.

So, there I was, standing in the middle of the Ateneo Highschool parking lot under the pouring rain with my feet soaked in dirty rainwater (how many times should I remind myself to stop wearing flipflops now that it’s the rainy season?!) I was searching for the Moro Lorenzo Gym and—since that entire structure was not even conceptualized during my college days—I could not for the life of me find it! After calling a friend (who just tells me to go straight ahead), I see it before me. Now how could I miss that colossal thing?!

After a brief wait, I am welcomed by Kristine herself. She cordially ushers me into her cubicle, plops down a black rubber pad right outside the door, and asks me to run as naturally as I can over it—with my bare feet. Uh huh, I nod and then I nervously peep out her door to note the handful of male athletes who will be forced to watch my attempts at landing on that little mat properly while I try my best to curl and hide my hideous runner’s toes (which, as I’ve told you, were earlier submerged in rainwater. Cover your noses people!) After reminding myself that these men are practically a decade younger than me (so they could care less about a ditzy mommy) , I muster up the courage to run and successfully finish the simple test in three tries.

Kristine pulls up a chair and I sit beside her to watch my feet pop out on her monitor (much like what the Predator would view using his infrared vision.) In the case of my foot image, the red portion shows areas of high-pressure landing against the backdrop of my yellow footprint. The monitor also reveals how and where my feet land and the full movement of each foot as I run.

– Kristine and Joseph of the Moro Lorenzo Sports Clinic posing with my feet image! –

My first reaction was panic. Do I land the right way? The image portrayed me clearly as a heel-striker. No doubt about that. But, with all the opposing information available in books and the net, I wasn’t quite sure if it was good to be labelled as such. Kristine says there is no hard and fast rule to this one. Some coaches teach you to strike at the heel, others prefer mid-foot. Whatever works for you, she says. Images of Haile Gebrselassie, Adidas endorser and greatest runner of all time, landing on his fore foot—not his heels—flashback into my memory and I know Kristine is right. To each his own.

Next, Kristine reveals that I—ack I hate to admit this—sort of turn my knees inward while running, then my feet try to make up for it by moving laterally. What?! I didn’t know I was capable of such a complicated maneuver! Perhaps I should have been a flamenco dancer instead of a runner?

Kristine instantly makes me feel better though when she calls me a “lightweight” runner with narrow feet. (Now you know: the best way to boost the self esteem of a knock-kneed runner is to tell her that she’s lighter than she looks.) She further says that I put heavy pressure on my forefoot (oh, you should’ve seen all those tiny red spots right below my pinky toe and in the middle of the ball of my feet) so she knows exactly what shoe to recommend for me.

Kristine says I must focus on cushioning. (Cushioning. Cushioning. Cushioning. Remind me about this the next time I go shopping for shoes. Now I know why I’ve got more calluses than skin under my feet. Okay okay I’m exaggerating, but really I do have a lot.) For competition, I should get the Adizero CS which has climavite cushion. Meanwhile, I could choose between the AdiStar Cushion or Supernova Cushion for my training shoes.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve confirmed what I knew for the past few weeks: that my current running shoe isn’t compatible with my feet! Through the Adidas Runner’s Check Up, I learned that my shoe is way too wide at the front and lacks the cushioning my special feet deserve. Aaaah, that’s what I get for buying a shoe without ever having my feet assessed. Lesson learned, but money wasted.

So, to all you future running shoe shoppers out there, go for a feet evaluation before you open your wallets! The Adidas Runner’s Check Up travels all around the Metro offering free feet assessments to everyone.

Thanks to Odette Velarde for making all this possible! Yeah, impossible is nothing with Adidas, eh?

Here goes the SMS conversation I had with my coach this morning:

Me: Hi Coach, do you think I can run today if I have cough and colds?

Coach: Mam, no. Take lots of liquid, medicine, and rest. Pls advise when we can continue our run. Tnx and get well.

Me: Oh, I was hoping ud say otherwise cos I wanted to run alone later. Okay I’ll take your advise. I hope am better by tomorrow so we can run in Alabang.

My thoughts: Grrr…I shouldn’t have asked! I should’ve just run!

Five minutes later…

Coach: Mam, sorry I mistook you for another mom who does recreational running. Anyway, if the cold and cough are bad, no running. If mild, just run for maintenance of fitness, light session will do.

Me: Yey! Okay! I’ll do an easy run on the treadmill later. I hope I’m feeling better tomorrow.

My thoughts: Maybe I should speed it up later and drain the virus out of my system through sweat? Would that work? I hate being sick. Sniff sniff.

I recall my perfect running schedule from May till mid-June and—with Whitney Houston singing “Didn’t We Almost Have It All?” in the background—I plunge into a deep dark hole of melancholy and sorrow for all that was—and what could have been.

Perfect. That would be the only way to describe a schedule that flowed so smoothly into my daily itinerary that finding the time to run was effortless and uncomplicated. Early mornings were MY time. I would leave while the entire house (even the sun!) slept and I’d return before the hubby and kids awoke for breakfast. No one would even notice my absence (mind you, for a mother of two children below 6 that is a rare occasion!) I loved my running schedule with Coach B and Annie during the past summer:

Monday: Medium 5:30 am

Wednseday: Heavy 5:30 am

Friday: Light 5:30 am

Saturday: Super Heavy 5:30 am

But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. With the start of school, my entire sched has gone haywire. Goodbye to morning runs as Annie and I have to get our kids ready for school, while Coach B must attend to coaching duties in school.

Temporarily, I have settled with a new sched that keeps me running four times a week—three are solo runs while the fourth run is on Saturdays with Coach B and Annie.

So, last Saturday, Coach B and Annie met for the first time since school started, but this time at a new venue—Alabang Country Club.

– Me with Annie and Coach B before our long run –

Coach B must have missed us during the entire week because he surprised us with a host of new drills that we practiced in the wide open field of the club. (Ooh, running on grass—loved it!) And, let me tell you, I missed our group so much that when Coach B asked me how long we were going to run, I blurted out 1 hour 10 minutes. Was I sure about that? Naaah! But what the hell, let’s go for it, I thought. And so we did.

12k all over Ayala Alabang with running buddies who keep you on your feet—literally. How else could I describe that morning? Perfect.