Posts Tagged with: "Annie"

Best running buddy is back home from Singapore! Of course, we had to celebrate her homecoming with a run.

Annie and I dashed through our playground yesterday in between guffaws and short walk breaks (we are so not in serious training mode) to cover 7k of one of the first of our many holiday runs while she’s here.

Tomorrow, we spend the morning running through hills and ending it with Bikram Yoga. When Annie’s here, there’s never a dull workout moment!

– Here’s Annie with her pasalubong for me: my favorite Bee Chieng Hiang! Drool drool. I’ll save this for Christmas Eve cheat day! –

Whenever Annie is visiting Manila from Singapore where she’s based, we make the most out of the little time we have together.  For some women, that would mean countless hours of spa dates, shopping sprees, and long chats over coffee.  Not for Annie and I.

We spend our time running as much as we can.

MONDAY

Last Monday, we ran under the intense heat of the 9 a.m. sun at our favorite playground running our usual course.

Just like the good ol’ days, we warmed up with a short walk that extended to 1km without our knowing because of our endless chatting and laughing.  We ran the course paying no attention to pace since there were more stories to catch up on.  How’s life in Singapore? How much are local races nowadays?  Remember when we were both 5 to 10lbs lighter?  In between talking and laughing, as I ran with my bestest running buddy, I was glad to know that it was as if she never left.

After our run, we didn’t make plans for breakfast or meet ups.  We only set the date for our next run: Ultra on Wednesday.  That’s the way we are with Annie.  We don’t chat on the phone nor do we text each other often, but we always show up for our running dates.  And when we see each other, we have the best time sweating it out together.

WEDNESDAY

This morning, we met Coach Rio and friends Jay and Jun at Ultra track oval.

Annie and I reminisced about the summer of 2008 when we trained together under Coach Jo-Ar.  How he made us do intervals  with Coach Lydia de Vega and her highschool track team.  There we were, two women twice the age of these long-legged sprinters attempting to match their pace.  Or how Coach would make us run up the stairs with Annie reaching the top so quickly as I always struggled to run the last 3 steps.  Aaah we were much fitter then.

Coach Rio asked us to run a 1-miler, 800, 400, and 200 earlier today.  As usual, I chased Annie from behind; she’s always been the stronger runner.  With both of us not being at our fittest, we huffed and puffed all throughout the run.  Just like before, we would complain about what we had to do, but deep inside, we both knew we loved the speed.

– with Coach Rio, Chino Trinidad, Noy Jopson, Jun Bisnar, Jun Cruz, Mart Miranda, and Annie-

– Annie in serious conversation with our good friend, Jun. I bet they’re talking about injuries or insoles –

– sandwiched between two super celeb athletes, top triathlete Noy Jopson and Coach Rio de la Cruz. Starstruck ako, guys! –

MORE TO COME

Annie will be here until next week.  Needless to say, there will be more runs to come.  Hill training, maybe another track workout, and definitely Rexona Run where we’re registered for 21k.  Aaah, runs are going to be fun in the days to come!  Isn’t this what running buddies are for?!

My best running buddy is back!  She came home from Singapore to run the Condura Run and to spend time with family.

Would you believe that the first time we saw each other since she got back was on the Skyway during Condura Marathon?  It was shortly before Magallanes when I spotted her a few meters ahead of me. I ran faster and managed to catch up with her; I tapped her on the shoulder and we laughed as if we had never been apart.

This was a rare scene. Annie and I running at the same pace in a road race.  You see, she’s much faster and stronger than I am.  But, crazy and stubborn Annie girl insisted on running Condura 42k despite a nagging injury, which started to bother her even before we hit the turnaround.  Still, she was the same Annie who, despite the pain, was laughing and smiling every now and then and still managed to finish with a respectable time.

– Annie and I were lucky enough to bump into our favorite photographer Ben Chan of Photovendo. Thanks Ben for the photo! –

Today, we met up at our favorite meeting place, the same place where we used to meet every Saturday for our long runs.  So many things had changed.  Annie lost her way.  She now wears earrings, shades, and even wanted to take a hydration belt along.  So different from the purist Annie I used to know!  But, as soon as we started running, everything was the same again.

We talked about Condura. How from the moment we saw each other, we started to compete with each other.  From Magallanes to Bicutan, we were outrunning each other. I would leave her behind only to find her pop out of nowhere in front of me.  And vice versa!  We’re such good friends and we’re alike in so many ways that it’s this kind of healthy competition that sort of binds us together.

– Race Mode on the Skyway. We can be friends again after the finish line hah! –

For the next easy 5kms this morning, we filled the road with laughter talking about anything and everything just like the way we used to.  Aaaw, it’s nice to have crazy, competitive Annie girl back.  Can’t wait to run with her again this Saturday.