Category Archives: Bullish Insights

On most days, we take everything for granted: the air we breathe, waking up beside a loved one, the safe trip to work, or an incident-free race.  We live our lives fulfilling our daily duties expecting all things to go our way—and usually they do.

But, there are those rare occasions when something happens to wake you up from your slumber and remind you of what you have—or worse, what you once had and suddenly lost in the blink of an eye.

Your father slips away after he is checked out of the hospital and nothing is the same anymore.  A child is crushed to death in a tragic school accident and, as a mother, you hug your children a little bit tighter that day.  Michael Jackson dies and an entire world is jolted.

This morning was one of those days, the ones that tap you on the shoulder to remind you that you are blessed and you should be thankful for what you have.

I drove the kids to school as I always do every weekday morning.  Parked the car and stepped out to unload my son’s bags in the trunk while my son got out and waited for me at the sidewalk.  My daughter was left seated in the backseat.  I gave my son his bag, put his nametag around his neck, told him I loved him, and kissed him goodbye.  As I headed back to the car, which was just a meter away, I watched in horror as the car behind mine slowly rolled down the road and bumped my car.  

I checked my daughter.  She was fine.  The little one murmured that she just felt butterflies in her stomach when she felt the nudge.

The owner of the car quickly apologized and said the damage was minor.  Just a quick paint job on the bumper should do the trick, he said.  I agreed.  When I asked how it happened, he said his preschooler was alone in the car playing with the breaks.  (Errr, please don’t ask me to comment about this because it would take up an entirely new post.)

The man apologized profusely and I, perhaps still unable to fully wrap my brains around the whole incident, told him gently and even with a smile “What if I was getting my son’s bags in the trunk when it happened?”  He didn’t answer.  And I didn’t want to think about it.

But that’s all I could think of today…all the What ifs…

What if I had been 30 seconds late in unloading my son’s bags that day? 

What if my son had followed me to the rear of the car?

What if another student had passed between the two cars right before the breaks were released?

What if the car was farther up on the road and it gained speed before it hit mine with my daughter inside?

What if I had been crushed in between the cars, got my knees broken, and was told that I could never ever run again?

Today, I’m going to pray a little longer with a special thank you to my guardian angels for watching over us.  Today, I’m going to hug my husband and kids a little bit tighter.  Today and everyday from hereon, I’ll try to be more grateful for all that I have: food, shelter, good health, little luxuries, and, of course, the opportunity to run.

Do you still remember my 5 to 5/5 contest?  The 5 to 5/5 grand prize winner—Ja—finally got to claim all her prizes! (I’m to blame for the delay…plus all the work that left me with little time to gather them all!)  We met at the parking lot yesterday to officially turnover her loot—and I’m telling you, even I wish I had won my own contest.  Ja got the following:

1 pair of Nike Lunar Trainers (purple)

1 Nike gift certificate worth P2,000 (which I ended up giving in cash)

1 pair Levi’s 501 jeans for men

1 Levi’s Red Tab “Patty Anne” jeans for women

1 case of Lemon Lime Gatorade

1 Paul Calvin’s gift certificate worth P500

1 coupon for free Shiatsu/Swedish massage at Cocoon Salon and Spa

Congratulations again, Ja!

While most runners ran in green at Milo Marathon yesterday morning, I ran a blissful 14km in shaded, asphalted roads in Makati with the hubby and friends Harvie and Mike. Oh, to commemorate one of the biggest race days in the country, I wore green too.

Our pace ranged from 6:15 to 6:45 most of the time. Heart rate stayed happily at zone 3. Conversation revolved around marathons, Camsur, supplements, business, family, and everything else under the sun for the entire hour and a half. Time flew with non-stop conversation. Aaah, I’m telling you, I’m falling more and more in love with my long, slow runs.

Aside from the talk, what made the run most enjoyable was the absence of niggles in the knee or tightness in the ITB at all. Running at my usual concrete training grounds, I’ve gotten used to feeling minor, innocuous pains in the knee or ITB during each run. I’ve always known about the importance of choosing asphalt over concrete, grass or the track over asphalt, but I always prioritized convenience over the ground I ran on.

However, as I spent the past two weekends running long on asphalt, I’ve noticed the significant difference in my legs. I end each asphalt road run feeling like I could run another 10km. But, my usual training runs on concrete—whether a fast 5k or a slow 15k—leaves me feeling like Pinocchio on stilts. It doesn’t take a genius runner to decide which types of roads I should be running on next time.

We ended the run at around 8:30am just when the sun started beating down on us. While the hubby and I did our post-run stretches and as I sipped my iced chocolate with mint from Starbucks (heaven!), a foreign runner approached us with this as his intro line: “This is too hot for those Milo runners.” That initiated a long conversation about Milo, marathons, Rudy Biscocho, ultramarathons, PSC, and more (we runners can just go on and on about our beloved sport, can’t we?) Turns out, this runner is Peter Parcell, an Australian who was based here in the 80’s and 90’s and was very much involved in the local running scene.

– with Peter –

Peter had such great stories to tell: the time he ran 80+ km a day across Japan and when the press greeted him at the end of the journey to ask what he would do next, he announced “I’m running to Seoul!” or the time he and other Filipino runners stood their ground against a controversial issue, or how his grandfather and father were all top runners in Australia, and how his all three daughters now are all runners like him. Funny how you learn a lot from one man you meet by accident.

It was a wonderful morning for us. Not as great as those who finished the full marathon at Milo—especially Jay (Prometheus Cometh) who PR’d at 3: 38 or Dindo (runningdat.com) who conquered his first full, but definitely a good one.

Last Sunday, June 28, two races were held at U.P. Diliman Campus: the GIG Run and the Botak Paa-Tibayan Takbo 100k.  I chose to participate in the GIG Run’s 10k event and delayed plans for signing up for Botak’s 100k until—uhm—maybe when my kids are already in college.

I’ve been neck deep in work (worked on TBR Magazine Issue 2 which will be released next week—woohoo!) so I failed to write my race report for GIG.  (So sorry to the organizers!)  But, it was a well-organized fun run which I thoroughly enjoyed despite how exhausted I felt at a mere 5k.  (Lesson: never watch a long movie such as Transformers 2 the night prior to a race.)

As for Botak, I have heard nothing but good reviews about the race.  Big congratulations to Botak and good friend, Neville Manaois, who organized the ultramarathon.  What you guys did was no mean feat!

Below is the race report as shared by Botak.  Congratulations to Coach Roel’s little bro Jesse Ano who broke the record for the 100km!…

It all started at 1am on the crisp morning of June 28, 2009 when 81 brave souls assembled to the starting line at Yllanan road in UP Diliman for the first 100 kilometer race in Metro Manila.

Everybody was so eager especially the support officials coming from the City Governments of Quezon City and Marikina. There was a ratio of three marshals to every participant. One motorbike, one scooter marshal and one ground marshal. There were also seventeen mobile patrol cars with blinkers-on, that safe guarded all the participants. As I quote one participant “It was iron clad from start to finish”.

The race had turned out as a day for Jessie Ano whose performance was worthy of breaking the 26 year old national record of Mr. Felix Baredo the time of 8:27.10. Jessie Ano clocked in at an amazing 8:06.56 to win by 59 mins ahead of 2008 Koko Marathon Champion Pepito Deapera clocking in at 9:01:04

Official results of Botak Paa-Tibayan 100km:

A good number of my running friends are in a daze this week.  They can’t focus on anything else but this Sunday’s big event.  After months of logging in the miles, training is over and it is nearly time for the final performance on July 5: The Milo Marathon.  

One friend, a soon-to-be first time marathoner said that “he will never feel completely ready for the marathon.”  Another running friend who has 2 or 3 marathons under his belt, ran 16k last Sunday morning and spent the afternoon touring his support crew (just one driver) around the full 42km course.  A third friend is carefully planning his nutrition and hydration plan, computing how often he’ll hydrate and take his Hammer gels.

I didn’t register for Milo as I’m hopelessly and inextricably in love with my long, slow training runs lately.  I’m enjoying the quiet time, away from the nervous breaths and sweaty palms of the sometimes maddening racing crowd. The relaxed pace gives me time to enjoy the run in its purest form without focusing on pace or distance, but just going by the sound of my feet landing on the ground. Aaah, while I run easy on Sunday, I shall be with my Milo Marathon friends in spirit.

To everyone running Milo, especially those anonymously mentioned above (haha), I wish for strong legs, boundless energy, and cool and cloudy skies. Break a leg…just not your knees!

Click here to visit the Milo Marathon website.

* Photo used was taken from Milo site.