Better late than never. In case you want to join an aquathlon…er…tomorrow! 🙂

WHAT: Ateneo Aquathlon

WHEN: 17 February 2008

WHERE: College Covered Courts, Ateneo De Manila University

It’s an event aiming to popularize multi-sport activities within the ADMU community. It’s a 600m swim and 5k run for 13 & above while 400m swim and 2.5k run for kids 12 & under.

To all interested in joining the Ateneo Aquathlon, please visit their site or e-mail ateneoswimming@gmail.com to get a registration form.

NEWBIE FAQS: (answers are from organizers of the Ateneo Aquathlon)

What is the proper attire? Since it wouldn’t be a long race (half day, done na) for the swim it’s the basic bathing suits for women and swimming trunks/shorts for the men. (Don’t wear board short or anything loose, it becomes a drag)

How is the transition from swimming to running? There will be a transition area where you may prepare all the stuff you need for the run leg. This will be an area only accessible to racers. Don’t worry about your baggage, there will be someone assigned to watch your stuff. There will be signs on the race route to keep everyone well informed.

Do you a have a quota on the number of participants? We’re looking at 300 participants tops.

Where can we register for the race? You may visit ateneoswimming.multiply.com. There’s a link there about the race, online reg form and instruction for payment.

Registration forms are also available at Planet Sports V-Mall, Alabang Town Center, Shangri-La Mall, TriNoma, and Rockwell, The Athlete’s Foot Glorietta, and New Balance Glorietta. No purchase is required to get a registration form.

Onsite registration will be Php450. For past and present Ateneans, registration fee will only be Php300, so please bring proof of current of former enrollment. Visit our website to see pictures of other Ateneo Swim Team events and past aquathlons.

I don’t usually include a list of triathlons in my List of Races so I decided to give this race its own post instead.  It’s just so unique (and hilarious!) it has to be shared:

Are you afraid of the dark? Or maybe those that go bump in the night?

Then it’s time to put your night light on and swim, bike and run like hell!

The UP Mountaineers and the UP Varsity Swimming Team present the 1st “Multo-Sport” Night Race, a beginner and sprint-distance triathlon.

The race starts at 10:00 pm and a monster of a party will follow at the stroke of midnight.

Hurry! Only 100 participants will be accepted.

Event Details:

Date: 1 March 2008

Time:

8:00 p.m. start of registration
10:00 p.m. start of the race
12:00 p.m. awarding and party

Venue: UP Diliman Pool and Academic Oval

Event Distances:
Beginners Category: 500m swim – 11km bike – 2.5km run
Open Category: 750m swim – 20km bike – 4.7km run

Categories:
Male and Female age groups (below-25 / 25-40 / above 40)

Mandatory Equipment
– bike
– helmet
– bike blinker (front and back)

Optional (but recommended) Equipment
– headlamp of bike lighting system
– reflector strips

You may visit the UP Diliman Pool from 4:00 p.m. onwards during weekdays to submit your entry form and payment.

We hope to see you there (or we’ll haunt you forever! bwahahaha!!! )

Last February 9, 2008, the Pinoy Ultra Runners composed of Neville Manaois, Elizabeth Siojo, Olive Cortez, Dani Dematera, Peter Rivera, Jose De Vera, Jocelyn Saw, Andrew Chinalpan and Pen Nepomuceno conquered their 2nd Run For Your Life Ultramarathon. They ran 65 km from Banaue to Sagada in 9 to 10 hours. Congratulations to the team for a successful and safe run. They raised a significant amount of funds for the benefit of Kythe.

According to Neville, they will soon be offering training for runners interested in joining ultramarathons. The team is currently planning for two races this year. For those interested, just wait for future posts here.

To read more about the Sagada-Banawe adventure, read Neville’s blog.

Lucky for us mere mortals who didn’t have the energy to join their run (at least not yet, right?), the Pinoy Ultra Runners have awesome pics to share. Sit back and drool…

Thanks to Nards for the photos. For more photos, click here and here.

It has been one month to this day since I last ran.

This kind of long-lasting injury can easily lead an obssesed runner like me to jump off the skyway, rob a bank, or watch Wowawee all day. But, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could easily keep my composure—or better yet, my sanity despite the absence of a run. The farthest I had gone to relieve myself of this pent up anger and frustration was to gorge on Lay’s potato chips all day.

Lucky for me, I was too busy the past month to get too depressed about this hellish situation. How could I even find the time to mope? I got into so many new activities—swimming, weights, yogilates, therapy—just to strengthen and stretch these leg muscles so that I could run again. Work also poured in enough to keep me busy with nary a time to shed a tear about my lost marathon goal.

For now, my objective is to run for 15 mins. straight without feeling any tightness or soreness thereafter. Just last week, I walked for 10 mins. on the treadmill and felt soreness in my knee again. The pain was not intense but it bothered me nonetheless. It got me wondering when this knee would ever heal. What was taking so long? Was I doing enough? How could I speed up recovery?

I continued with my drills, swimming, and weights and fortunately my work paid off. This morning I attempted the treadmill again for a 10 minute walk. The results were more encouraging. I felt no pain, nada, nothing. It may be too early to tell that things will progress from here on but I’m certainly more hopeful about it now. Please let this be the start of better days ahead.  I don’t know how much longer I can wait.

Chi Running, as its name clearly denotes, is a fusion of the ancient principles of Tai Chi together with the power and energy of running. Created by Danny Deyer, an accomplished ultramarathoner, this unique running form focuses on relaxing the muscles and keeping the body aligned to run efficiently thereby preventing or completely avoiding injury. Dreyer teaches his runners to fall slightly forward while keeping the back straight so that the weight is supported by the frame. The legs remain loose and are just lifted; they don’t push down.

[youtube=http://http://www.youtube.com/v/zdMOrgQgH2A&rel=1]

I learned about Chi Running only recently when a friend of mine—perhaps after reading through the pitiful posts I’ve written over my condition—emailed me about Chi Running and shared how her knee pain vanished after practicing this for over a year. She ran the half-marathon at Subic and was pleasantly surprised to feel minimal pain or soreness the day after. She says, and I quote, “it has become my running bible.”

In back issues of Runner’s World, I do remember reading about the benefits of the Pose Method, which like Chi Running, prevents many of the common injuries runners experience. A quick google pointed me towards an article where Danny Dreyer discussed the differences.

Now I don’t have the book nor DVD yet, so I wouldn’t be too quick to call Chi Running my own bible. However, I would go as far as saying that this has certainly piqued my curiosity and given me some sense of hope that my love for running won’t have to hurt me again this way. I will probably get my hands on the book soon. And, should it prove to be as good as it sounds, I just might become a Chi Runner without this Runner’s Knee someday.

More articles on Chi Running:

ChiRunning on Runner’s World

Chi Runners Poised for Softer Landings on NPR

Runner’s Chi on MedicineNet.com