Posts Tagged with: "Run"

Murhpy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.

I was intent on joining two runs this weekend. The first was the 12-hour Multi Sport Celebration in Memory of Gabriel yesterday followed by the Fil-Mus Run For Peace 10k this morning. (Please pause for a while as I shut my ears to avoid hearing any sermons about tapering.) But, with bad cough accompanied by sore throat, I hesitantly passed on Gabriel’s run to save the little that was left of my barely audible voice for a workshop I was giving yesterday morning. Man, I should have seen this as an ominous sign.

Today, the morning of the Fil-Mus race, I woke up at 4:45 a.m. feeling like I had to peel myself off the bed. I should’ve seen flashing lights and warning signs all over the bedroom, but I was in no way going to pass up another opportunity to race. I took forever to get ready and finally left the house at 5:30 a.m. The race would start at 6 a.m.

Okay, now for the fun part. This is where anything that could go wrong…did go wrong. I can almost hear Murphy laughing!

{ 1 } Running Late…Literally

At 5:57 a.m., I was so near the race area, yet so far! Traffic enforcers had blocked the roads leading to the venue and, after frantically circling the roads twice, I knew I wouldn’t navigate my way through the back roads in time. So, if I wanted to make it to the race, I knew I had to walk…no run! I hastily parked at the Yacht Club, almost a kilometer away from the assembly area, jumped out of the car, and ran towards the starting line. After cursing myself all throughout that..err..warm up, I saw Banggi and Renz among the runners waiting for the race to start. I quickly asked “Is it starting?!” It was music to my ears when they said “not yet” so I made my way to the restroom yelling to them “I have to peeeeeee!”

– The view from my parking area. Sad, this was the only photo I took as my camera was left in the car, almost a kilometer away from the race –

{ 2 } The Cough Race

The 10k course was very simple. It was two laps around Roxas Boulevard starting and ending at Plaza Rajah Sulayman. I had ran that same route before at Run To Bring Hope, the last race where I set my PR. It was going to be flat and long and I was all set.

Two kilometers into the race and I was feeling unusually tired. I was coughing almost every 3 minutes and breathing was not difficult but neither was it easy. My cough was so embarassing. I thought perhaps it worked as an incentive for runners around me to gain speed in an attempt to get away from all the noise I was making!

{ 3 } Tired and Weak

By 4 km, I seriously considered ending the race at 5k. I was tired and I was slow. I was close to giving up but I pulled myself together and coerced myself into just finishing the 10k. Fine, I thought, I should just think of this as a training run and forget about competing. With the pressure off, I enjoyed the run a little bit more.

In the middle of the run, I was surprised to see Robin Padilla, a popular showbiz personality who was once known as the “bad boy” of Philippine cinema until he converted to Islam, running along with us. Hey, no matter how tired I was, that bit of entertainment sure added some color into a lifeless run. I swore he winked at me, but then again, that could have been hallucinations brought about by my sheer exhaustion at that point.

By around 8k, I still felt exhausted, almost like my steps had no power in them. I just wanted to finish the race. Pouring cold water over my head during the last three water stations helped to keep me going. I also had brief walking breaks at these stations to recover. Ack, I hated this. At my recent races, I would not walk nor stop at water stations at all! This was devastating to me.

{ 4 } Another Death

I used my sparkling new Mizuno Wave Creation 8‘s today. And, yes yes yes, they were awesome. I am in love! I barely broke them in (just used them twice on a treadmill) and still I took the chance and used them in a race. Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint.

I made a big boo-boo though. I doubled my socks as I do with my old NB 1222’s. This made the shoe too tight for my toes. So, after the race, when I felt my 4th toe throbbing, I took a deep breath before I pulled my socks off. My toe had died another death! Is that possible at all? Lazarus who came back to life (this dead toe nail had fallen off and started growing already) had suddenly been killed off again! Boy oh boy my foot is unbearably and undeniably u-g-l-y. Yes, I have to spell that out to stress how hideous it is.

{ 5 } My Time

I ended the race at 49:15 minutes, 2 minutes more than my last race. I am competitive against myself so, needless to say, I was shattered. Hey, I hear ya, it was bound to happen. Not every race is a PR race as Ben said. But, you know, I was always hoping those non-PR races would occur sometime in my late 60s.

I came in at 12th place though so that I feel good about.

Until the next race then. To Murphy, please find another runner to haunt.

How can one find the time to run when you are neck-deep in life’s oh so many demands such as: over a hundred pages to layout, a press kit to finalize, an upcoming workshop to give, a 2 year-old requiring “comprehensive rehabilitation” of her milk teeth, a 6 year-old who’s preparing for a little performance at school, two PTA meetings, three birthdays gifts to purchase, and so so many more?

Uhm…one tries to wake up earlier to squeeze in a quick workout.

And, when one fails at that attempt (i.e., one wakes up 15 minutes before alarm clock rings only to reset it to the usual waking hour), the only recourse would be to abandon—albeit temporarily—all of these demands and run without thinking. Run as quick and hard as you possibly can with the goal of getting a quality workout at the least possible time.

That’s what I’m about to do. Just wanted to let you in on my busy, busy life right now. Wish me a good run. I’m off.

I am pooped.

Annie, Mary Anne, and I ran an estimated 18k for 1 1/2 hours at Alabang early this morning. That’s the farthest I’ve gone ever. Close to the end of the run, my big toe started hurting (I cringed at the thought of another dead toenail), my calves felt sore, and I was slightly exhausted…but, boy oh boy, did it feel awesome.

Now I know what Rick, my new blogger friend, meant when he wrote “My legs stiffened up quickly after I stopped running, a good sign that they got a good workout. Just an overall pain and stiffness from hard effort, nothing indicating injury.”

I read Rick’s blog just last night and thought little of the post, but after this morning’s run, I completely got it (as I’m sure all of you other running masochists do!) Eureka, I thought!

Last summer, when I had started building up to a 10k, each training day challenged my body to its fullest. I would arrive home feeling like a truck ran over me yet my mind would be racing with excitement over the next run. Nowadays, I’ve been religiously running at an easy to medium intensity 4x a week but I knew something was missing. On good days, I would run 10k nonchalantly. On bad days, I wouldn’t wake up for a scheduled run and force myself to make up for it later on the treadmill. Either way I’d end the run feeling like I didn’t even workout at all.  Yup, I was still running but I felt like my body was bored.

Now I know the reason: it wasn’t challenging for me anymore!

So, today I declare that, every Saturday henceforth, my runs shall be long, intense, heart-wrenching, leg-numbing, belly-shrinking, toenail-blackening workout days. I shall challenge myself to run longer every other week (as best friend Jeff Galloway advised) and welcome, if not conquer, sore muscles and aching feet. I shall focus more on my time, not my speed nor my distance.  And, I should arrive home saying only these five words: “I’m pooped…but I’m happy.”

Bring on the pain, brother!

– Poster image from Sabah Climbathon 2007 –

Congratulations to Merlita Arias, a Filipina runner, who won 9th place in the Women’s Open (4:25:23) of The Mt. Kinabalu International Climbathon held August 25-26, 2007. The course involved running up and down 21k of Mt. Kinabalu (4095.2 m), Malaysia’s First World Heritage Site. It’s no wonder why it’s called “The World’s Toughest Mountain Race.”

Other Filipino finishers include:

Ige Lopez, 40th Men’s Open (4:11:47)
Nina Dacanay – 22nd Women’s Open (6:22)
Mon Marchan – 26th Men’s Veterans (5:50)

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas—especially Pinoy runners!  Haha.

Click here to read a related article from Journal Online.

Thanks to King Bernas from Pinoy Runners E-group for the information.

If you need even more reason to run (and bike or swim) then this should give you one. On Sept. 8, the Gabriel Symphony Foundation will hold its 5th Annual Multi Sport Celebration in Memory of Gabriel, the little boy of Atty. Butch Sebastian and Senator Pia Cayetano, who was born with a rare chromosomal disorder and passed away at nine months.

The idea is to get people to participate in a sports event of their choice for the purpose of raising funds for the foundation (while having fun and getting a good workout, of course!) The foundation supports children with disabilities, such as those in need of cleft-palate-lip operations, as well as blind and deaf children.

On Sept. 8, you can choose from the following activities: (as taken from the Gabriel Symphony website)

• Individuals – they can do the regular run, walk or bike for any length of time and distance and target a specific beneficiary by donating a specific amount for every kilometer that they make.
• Kids – there will be a Maxitoylab Super Kids Triathlon wherein kids will accomplish a triathlon with distances based on their age category.
• Pinay In Action (PIA) Women’s Tri – this will be a buddy system triathlon wherein a seasoned triathlete is partnered with a first time or neophyte triathlete to guide them through a triathlon distance of 250m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km run.
• Clubs – groups of friends belonging to a Club that will run or bike together for a cause and not just simply for a workout.
• Corporations – employees of a corporation come together for a team building activity and get fit by doing a relay for 12 hours.

This will be held from 6:00AM to 6:00PM at the Polo Field of Alabang Country Club, Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa. Food and drinks will be available for all participants. For more information, visit Gabriel Symphony, email blessings@gabrielsymphony.com or call Vib Marabut at 552-9003 or mobile number 0927-4045187.