Paying It Forward: The Run for Bebe

Don't you just love helping other people in need? Well, I do! Anyway, yesterday, the Code Blue Running Club of the Chong Hua Hospital along with Runcheck organized the Run for Bebe. This is a fund racing activity for one of their colleague who is fighting cancer, and her name is Bebe.

WHO IS BEBE?

She is the assistant director of Ms. Naomi Fajardo, the Chief Nurse of Chong Hua and one of the pillars of Code Blue Running Club. She was diagnosed to have Stage 2B Nasopharyngeal cancer, and now has under gone 33 sessions of radiation and a weekly concomitant chemotherapy sessions.

Nasopharyngeal cancer, if you are also a basketball fan, is the same cancer that Rommel Adducul had.


When I read the morning paper while eating a hearty breakfast with my parents at the IT Park, the organizers were able to raise P100,000.00. Not bad!

THE RACE

So the race was smoothly run, with less hoopla and NO ELITES! Yes, there were no elite runners in sight. I dunno about their reasons for their absence, but maybe because there was a race today (Sunday).  They might be saving their energies for today's run. Pinoy Ironman, Noy Jopson was there, but he was not present today.

There was no grand starting/finishing arc, not even a timing device. The crowd was fine, not too many. So the runners were there to support Code Blue and Bebe.

In the starting pen, I positioned myself somewhere at the back. On my head, I was thinking of doing a tempo uphill since 1/2 of the 5K race is uphill. When we were off, the crowd tried to outrace each other into a crammed J. Llorente St. I just paced myself in a slower pace at this part. At this junction, my right gastrocnemius or the muscle of you bagtak, stiffened.  Uh-oh, it's the stiff gastroc again! I talked to my gastrocnemius to just let me run according to my evil plan. And it went away. The pain went aways as we were heading for  B. Rodriguez. This is where I paced Melissa, our lab rat-on-leave. She is on leave because she is reviewing for the Vet Med board this August. She and her friends were running only 3K, but changed their plans that they will go on to run 5K. She told me to go ahead, so I went ahead.

The first 5K turning point was at the Petron B. Rodriguez station. That was where I remembered that I did not turn on my timer! Yikes, MAJOR BLUNDER! So anyway, I wouldn't let a stupid mistake get in the way of my plan. I was running in ace, as one after another, those who were ahead of me already decided to walk. 

At the second 5K turning point between the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Satellite Office and Cebu City Central School, I started to increase my pace and outrun those who were ahead of me. I managed to caught with Ms. Twinkle Ignacio at McDonald's Jones Ave.  (FYI: McDonald's Jones Ave. is the first McDonald franchise in Cebu. It first opened in 1992.) I asked her if she was already registered for the Energizer Night Race this July. She said not yet. I encouraged her to join since there's a limit in the number of participants.

Me with Ms. Twinkle Ignacio on our way to the Provincial Capitol. Photo courtesy of Jojo Osorio from his Facebook account.

I left Ms. Twinkle at the last water station. I am so sorry for not telling her that I will go ahead! Sorry! On our 3rd and last turning point in front of the Cebu Provincial Capitol, I decided to increased my pace. Someone was already breathing at the back of my neck, so I increased my speed. I was already "sprinting" once I reached the gate of the Chong Hua Medical Arts compound. Once I crossed the finish line, I was very happy that my plan worked.

 With fellow blogger, Manny Camacho. On our back that's Mr. Jojo Canete of CERC doing a wacky pose.

When Ms. Twinkle reached the finish line, I pointed to her where to get refreshments. That is where I met fellow blogger, Manny Camacho. He was actually the one who approached Ms. Twinkle for a photo op. I introduced myself to him, and he was surprised.  After the race we talked about our running misadventures, and how we enjoyed this intimate, yet inspiring race. He was also racing today, but sad to say, we did not get to see each other. It was nice to talk to a fellow blogger in person!

REVIEW

Overall, the race was well-organized. Marshalls were also present, although I did some little marshalling as Ms. Twinkle and I were about to cross on to Fuente Osmena, when this Guadalupe-bound jeepney tried to block us. And water? Well, there were lots of water during the race. There were even refreshments readily available once you crossed the finish line. My overall rating for this race is four doggy paws.

To Tita Naomi (I call her "Tita" since she is my Mom's classmate back in college.) and the rest of the Code Blue Running Club, and Runcheck (How can I forget!) for a successful race! And to Maam Bebe, our prayers are with you!

PS: From now on, I am grading each races with doggy paws. One (1) will be the lowest, while five (5) being the highest.

PS2: Cebu's Running Queen, Mary Grace delos Santos won second place in the Kuala Lumpur 21K event! Congratulations! I got this information through Scientist Runner status on Facebook.