My (First) Ketchup Run: Planet Sports Run

I was about to answer the call of nature, when the 10K starting gun was fired. What the?! Forget about emptying my bladder, I immediately went down the staircase toward the starting corral, only to find out it was already closed to accommodate the 5K runners. I have no choice but to run and catch up with the last of the 10K runners without stepping on the starting mat (Well, as if we were wearing timing chips!). 

This ladies and gentlemen, this is the story of my catch-up run during the first Planet Sports Run.

If you are a devoted follower of my blog, you know that I am such a negative splitter, but on this occasion, I was a positive splitter for the first few meters or so just to catch up with the tail end of the pack. I caught the back of Sun Star journalist Rene Martel, and targeted him. Yes, during races, I target a certain individual or group of people in order to catch up with them. I do pick them in terms of their speed and endurance level, and sad to say, most of the runners are positive splitters or are rabbits, as they say.(RUNNER'S LINGO: Rabbits/Hares- are runners who usually run fast right from the get-go, but usually slows down in the home stretch. Think Aesop's "The Hare and the Tortoise" fable.) My competitive self is shown in races sometimes, but I know who I am messing with. Hehehehe! I am soo super bad! Anyway, I was literally just behind Mr. Martel, when I saw another runner who was wearing Vibram 5-Fingers! Wow, more and more people are into barefoot running without exposing their soles to the wicked broken glasses, and the blistering heat of asphalt. Oh, which reminds me, I must write a review on Nike Free 5.0 v.4! Anyway, back to the story, so I caught up and eventually overtook Mr. Martel and Vibram 5-Fingers guy in front of the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos. So my next target was Ms. Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM)-Velez Runner. She was running at pace which was good. When we were already in the vicinity of the IT Park, there were no marshalls in the two roads going to that place! A car nearly hit Ms. CIM Runner at the del Mar St. entrance, so I have to man traffic for her. And then, Ms. CIM Runner was about to overtake a maroon SUV that suddenly burst into the scene. Analyzing the situation that the driver will not give in (Ms. CIM Runner is trying to overtake on the right side of the vehicle.), I told Ms. CIM Runner to go to the left side of the car, and she followed what I have said. I finally overtook her near JY Square.

At around UP Cebu College area, some friends of ours from the Mandaue City Runners Club paced with me. Believe me, these guys can run a full marathon in less than 4 hours. My pace is already their LSD pace! I talked to them about the latest innovations of the up coming Milo Marathon, since they have anticipating for it.


I overtook a lot of people along the route. I overtook Maam Twinkle just a few meters from the turning point. I told her that I have to go ahead. Then she nodded. I overtook Mr. Viking guy (whose costume reminded me of Gimli from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy) who was running 5K just 300 meters from the finishline. I was actually planning to overtake my Tita Nene before the finishline, but it was a bit too late. I finished the race in 1 hour 10 minutes and 1 second! Not bad for someone who was playing catch up. But I surely hope this will be my first and last "ketchup" run.


I caught up with fellow blogger, Katol V., I briefly chatted with him. He was in his "lunch break" and photograph the event. I did not see Sir Manny after the race.

Me with my "Wazzup, dude?" look after crossing the finish line.

Photo by Katol V. 

Energizer Night Run Race Route

Thank you Rodzz Guardiario for sending the race route for the up-coming Energizer Night Run through Facebook. For the benefit of those who still have doubts about the route, here they are.

3K

5K

10K

*Click on the photo to bigify!

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.

 

Run for the Club Foot Babies

photo credits from the official website.

Another run for a cause will be held this August 8 at the Terrace-Ayala Center Cebu. This is for the benefit for of babies with congenital club foot. To download the registration form and race route, you can download it in their official website.

Other race details will announced later.

Someone's Pimping My Post

 i got this from their Facebook fan page.

As I was goggling my blog(I'm a bit of a narcissist!), I glanced on one of the results. It's the fan page of Bohol Runners Club, and someone's pitching on my post on the upcoming Energizer Night Run. Click here.


To Ms. Yam Garote, thank you for featuring my blog!