Posts Tagged with: "Bonifacio High Street"

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait for RUNNR, a new cutting edge running specialty store, to open at Bonifacio High Street.  The store will carry big name brands such as Adidas, Asics, Mizuno, New Balance, Nike, Hammer, Nathan and Polar. Plus, it’s going to be filled with some of the running items we could only drool over online: CW-X and Fuelbelt.  It will also be the first to launch the revolutionary line of Newton Running Shoes in the country. 

RUNNR will also feature an exclusive Footworx Fitting process that leads customers thru a comprehensive series of tests such as their Footprint Scan and High-Speed Video Gait Analysis.  And, even better news for flat-footed people like me, they will be the first to offer Custom Insole Moulding in the store, while-you-wait. Woohoo!  

RUNNR is set to open by the 2nd week of June.

Presently, Runnr is looking for people to join their sales, operations, and marketing/events team.  The number one criteria: You have to be a passionate runner.  So far, they only have 4 out of the 7 people they need for the store as they’ve been very picky.  If you are interested, you can email hrd@runnr.com.ph.  By the way, running and trying out the gear is definitely part of the job!

As corny as it sounds, the greatest gift this blog has given me was the opportunity to meet people who share the same passion for running as I do. Yesterday, I realized that I started and ended the day with some of these people with whom I have had the good fortune of training (and talking and laughing) with:

{ SWIMMING WITH ME-ANNE, 7 a.m. }

When Mary Anne first commented on this blog, I couldn’t help but reply immediately.  We had too many things in common: both in love with running, in our 30’s, and with 2 kids.  When I met her, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we also had the same NB 1222’s (that we’ve now gotten rid of) and we live in the same area.  Then, last month, we bumped into each other and discovered that we both signed up for our first tri at Animo; she instantly became one of my text mates for pre-tri anxieties over wardrobe and gear.

Yesterday, Me-Anne and I met up for a quick swim at 7 a.m.  I usually swim on my own and, most of the time, that’s the way I like it; there’s something about swimming alone in an olympic-sized pool early in the morning that allows me to reconnect with myself, feel completely at peace, almost like I’m a step closer to heaven even if half my body is submerged under water.  Yesterday, however, I was glad to have some company. 

Me-Anne and I are both newbies at swimming but we’re trying our best to improve with hopes of doing better at our next tri (don’t ask me when that’ll be). We spent perhaps half of the time talking in between laps, but I’d like to think we got some exercise in that morning. I swam just 500m but Me-Anne probably did more. Let’s meet up again soon, Me-Anne!

{ RUNNING WITH PINOY ULTRA PEEPS + DON, 7 p.m. }

I met up with Marga, Hector, Neville, and Don (Jeremy, where were you?!) at ROX, Bonifacio High Street for a quick run around BHS. It took us forever to start (too much conversation going on) but, hey, once we started, we ran a good steady pace all the way (not surprising when you run with these ultra runners). 

Sometime during the run, Neville talks about the first time I emailed him requesting for an interview for this blog. Wow, it seemed like ages ago! Then, I remembered how I met Marga via email when we promised to meet each other at Milo last year. And, when I first saw Hector as he talked about the Nike Lunar during the test run months ago. As for Don, I finally got to meet him recently after hearing so much about him from Marga.

So, there I was running around BHS realizing how much shorter these loops seemed when you talk with friends rather than run solo with an ipod.  Neville even spiced things up a bit when, for one loop, we did what he called “Indian Running” wherein we all ran in a line with the leader setting the pace.  The last man in the line then heads towards the front to take leader position and the cycle goes on until everyone collapses (I’m kidding about the last part.)  We ended our run alive and breathing at 7.5km for around 50mins. drinking to Neville’s stash of electrolyte drinks in the BHS parking lot.

Double training day was doubly fun with friends. I would do this again in a heartbeat.  If only I had all the time in the world!

It was my first Mizuno Run Club session this year and it was, for me, a reunion of sorts.  

Last year, I never missed the run club, which is held every 1st and 3rd Thursday at 7 p.m. in Bonifacio High Street.  Nope, not once.  There was this one time when, despite a minor injury, I drove all the way there with my two kids in tow just to watch the runners from afar and smell the sweat from their bodies (er, the last line right there must not be taken literally.)

This year, however, I realized that my injuries had kept me from attending the run club for half a year already.  You can only imagine how ecstatic I was over the fact that, with my shin splints gradually disappearing, I could finally run with everyone again.

So, I arrived a little before 7 p.m. to see that I didn’t recognize anyone except KC from Mizuno.  All of a sudden, I turned shy and went to ROX to drool over the bikes first.  I returned around 10 minutes after happy to see a lot of familiar faces.

From Happy Feet, there was Ben and his fiancee Missy who was going to run for the first time.  Marga and her bike Sixto arrived along with her good friend Jeremy, my “editor”.  I finally got to meet Maui who I have forever seen online and in pics but never got to talk to.  Taki ran too soon after he signed up for the TNF at ROX.

My pathetic goal was to run a safe and slow 3k.  This was, after all, just my second post-injury run.  I started out with Ben, Missy, and Taki chatting about running, biking, and everything else in between.  Soon after, I ran alongside Coach Ige who, as it turns out, was injured like me.  I asked him the cause of his injury and he replied “overtraining.”  As if we were two athletes on the same fitness level, I answered “hey, me too!”  Then, he adds “Yeah, I just came back from two marathons, one in Vancouver, the other in Singapore.”  I wanted to slap myself in the face; I just got injured from a pitiful 5k in U.P.

As we ran, I saw a man in white running in the opposite direction.  It was Bald Runner.  Now, I know for a fact that BR is true to his word.  In his last post, he said he would try waving at lady runners just to see their reactions.  I told him I would look forward to a wave from him should we run into each other soon.  That wave definitely came sooner than expected.  We got to run together for a few minutes but ended up parting ways as he completed his 10 mile goal for that evening.

I ended my run at exactly 3k.  No more, no less.  And, oh, no pain after the run either.  Yes!

“Time trials!” Coach Ige declared loudly as he arrived at the Mizuno Run Club. Chatting away with Marga and a new blogging-running friend, Taki, we almost fell off our seats when we heard this. I glanced at the other lady runners across me—two long and lean sisters who were half my age and another runner who looked like a track-and-field athlete—and I knew Marga and I were the only intermediate women runners there. I wanted to hug her and condole with her for our upcoming demise.

Coach Ige comforted us by saying this was all in the spirit of fun. (No, they wouldn’t post a list in front of the Mizuno Store for the viewing public to laugh at our time way down at the bottom.) We were running against ourselves and no one else. Weeks from now we would time ourselves again and astound ourselves with our improvements. Okay, I was up for it.

We were to run 3 laps around High Street, six runners at a time. Men were going first. As we watched the first group of runners speed away, I laughed nervously. I needed a warm up.

We asked Coach if we could run along with the other group for a warm up and he says to go ahead and time ourselves already. Oh okay, this was going to be it. I ran with Gelo, a regular run club participant, and Marga. We started off slow then gradually found our own pace and separated.

I ran the 3 laps (4.10 km) at 20.19 minutes with a 4:57 min/km pace. Not my fastest as I didn’t hear Lance congratulating me on my nano, but it was still a good time for me. I ran another two laps at a slower pace just to get a little bit more mileage in for the day.

After the run, I saw Jujet de Asis and asked his time; it was 11 minutes. Then, I met other athletes, Liza Yambao, who won the Milo Marathon at age 21 and held its record for a while, and Barz, another young athlete, who both enthusiastically shared their tips on training for a marathon. We all agreed to meet up one time for a training run in the future. Little ol’ me running with these super athletes?! I was bewildered, amused, and oh so excited!

Running with elite runners could significantly improve my runs. I look forward to learning the technical aspects of running and other aspects that should help me modify my training program and show some results. But, more than that, I’m looking forward to just being around people who love running as much as I do (or perhaps a little bit more!) They’re energy alone is intoxicating.

For starters, Jujet shared a little tip that can help ease pre-race jitters: Drink a bottle of beer before hitting the sack. Hmmm… I’m not sure if that’s one tip that will work for me, but I’m pretty sure some of you guys are looking forward to trying that out.