Personal Best January (Part 1)

RACE: 1st Sinulog Fun Run

LOCATION: CSSC Track Oval

DATE: January 2, 2011 5:00-8:00 AM

RACE CATEGORY: 5K

TIME: 31:13:08 (My Time)

My very first race of the new year was the day after the New Year's Day, January 2. This was the Sinulog Fun Run to kick off the festivities of the feast of Señor Sto. Niño de Cebu (Child Jesus). It was rather a short race, only 5 kilometers. The route of the race is actually the route that is used in the Sinulog Grand Parade this coming Sunday, January 16. 

For this race, I was paced by my father, who last paced me in the Pinay in Action (PIA) last March 2010. My father pushes me to the brink that I will either cough or about to puke, but that's how he is. He likes me to push myself. That's the reason why we argue, but in the end he'll always win!

The first 2 kilometers was about running uphill to Imus Road away from the burgeoning crowd of students. We even overtook our city mayor once we got out of the track oval. But we greeted him as a sign of respect, though.

On the third kilometer, I took a very brief, as in 10 seconds of walk, then my father barked not to stop running/jogging, so pushed jog. Then, it's up to the rolling hills of Mango Ave. (also known as Gen. Maxilom Ave.). Oh, the hills were alive. I kept a steady pace, then run up to the hills.


On the last kilometer, I was literally running. I was already coughing, but I said to myself, "It's almost the finish line, run like you are chased by a pack of rabid dogs!". So when I crossed the finish line, I checked my watch, whoa, a personal best 5k! 


I am looking forward to run more 5Ks this year to break this PB. Hopefully next time, it will be a sub 30! 


Oh, my high school batch mates and I had a mini reunion. We even "modeled" for a sardines brand, as requested by the girl on their booth. The sardines brand was one of the sponsors. Sad to say, we did not ask where they posted the photos.


Hey, I'm on TV. One of my uncles watched the broadcast of the local evening news the Monday after, and saw me ran past the mayor! He even told his beer buddies about my exploits. Does this means that I am already a celebrity? Hahahahahahaha!

 Review:

It was a fairly well run race. There were marshals along the route, ample water station, and post race food and drinks. It was a turn off that they used the water from the fire hydrant as our "drinking water". We had foreigners and balik-bayans who joined the race, like Jappy and her friend Michelle. 

This race saved me from purchasing my "annual" Sinulog t-shirt. Instead of singlet, they gave away a t-shirt from local manufacturers, Kulas!

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.

 

Baby-sitter Runner (Mandaue City Run 2010 Report)

Race: 3rd Mandaue City Run
Date: May 2, 2010
Route: Mandaue City-Cansaga Bay
Categories: 21K/10K/5K (exclusive for Mandaue residents only)/3K (13 years and below)


A-Boo-boo


1. No Water. The same problem has plagued each and every race that have been organized in the Metro. There was even one 21k runner who unfortunately DNF (did not finish) at km 15 because she was already so dehydrated. By the way, that runner happened to be one of my friends in the dailymile. Cups were already gone in the second or third station. So runners have to drink straight from the gallon of pitcher. By the time we went back, most of the water station ran out of water. Good thing my dad who already finished his 10 earlier, met me up near the Mandaue Gym to give me and my companion the precious Gatorade.


2. Hey, where's my ribbon? My companion and I haven't received any ribbon at the turning point at Cansaga Bridge.


3. Singlet and number. There were still a lot of people redeeming their singlets and number. 


4. Marshalls. Good thing there were no close calls.


EXPERIENCE


This is my third 10K since my hiatus. But what makes this race special is that I was actually pacing the 14 year old son of our neighbor, Adrian. He used to run 10Ks last year, then stopped. The kid is more of a dasher. And since 5K is exclusive for Mandaue residents, so he has no choice but to run 10K.


My strategy for this run was again to do negative splits. And since we will be climbing the Cansaga Bay bridge, I am going to introduce "Chi Running". I kept on telling him not to speed up early on, we must conserve our energy in the final kilometer. There was one female runner who, "zigzag" her way into the crowd. I told Adrian that sooner or later the girl will get exhausted because she spend much of her energy doing laterals. And oh, yes I was right. At even in km 3, she  was already walking.  


As we experience elevation, I thought him the technique of Chi Running as taught by Ms. Abby Ponce. Adrian told me that we were like "brisk walking".On flats, I asked him, "Are you still okay?". He said he is fine. By this time around, we were overtaking fellow 10k runners who seemed to be wilting due to the intense heat and lack of water.

At km 7.5, an elite runner who could have recognize my face, as she went back to check on her ward who could be running 21K, told me that I should run faster. The prospect of an imminent podium finish is good, but i have to ask Adrian if he is fine if we're going for a full mach speed (Well, that would be around 5:50-6:15 mins per km.)? He did not answer. So I told him, let's be at pace, and go all out in the last 500 meters. By the time, we were about 300 km away from the finish,  my dad went back for us. He let me drink Gatorade first, then pass it to Adrian. Now, we were at full speed. We overtook a lady, and I was targeting another lady who was ahead of me. But it was too late. Anyway, I was the 14th female to reach the finish line. Not bad, not bad at all! I did not know my time, but base on the time clock, it was 1 hour and 32 minutes. The clock was timing the 21k runners.

This race marks my first anniversary of running. I ran the 2nd Mandaue City Run 3K last year. It was funny, I was 13th place, and was overtaken by a child in the last 20 meters! Super embarrassing!

That's me and Adrian. The photographer's my Mom.

Post script (PS): i already updated the race schedule. just click on the race schedule tab on my header. please check it out!