BananaRunning

TNF100
Results are out. Visit tnf.mobile-synergy.com and click on race results.

Remember I said I was listed as a male runner … well because of that I now have my own claim to fame.

Here is a clip from the official race results.

Oh yes boys and girls … I can tell my grandchildren that I finished a trail run 14seconds faster than EverestFame Romy Garduce. hehehe truth be told, I heard him telling his friend that he just walked the 10Ks. But still … hehehe

Takbo Bayani
And then there is this race …

Thanks to DATC for bringing this to our attention, myironshoes for eloquently arguing for us and all ye runners who nagged and bugged the organisers to include female runners.

The question now is …. will I run in this race.

I’m due for a longer than usual long run … let’s see.

Btw, Elvie, the staff who entertained my call today was actually very nice and texted me the update. Thanks Elvie!

Mommy Milkshake Marathon

I will definitely be running this one. The first MMM was my official first race so technically this is my running birthday.

To register, email your name, age, mobile number, telephone number and email address to mommymilkshake@gmail.com

See you all on Sunday! Don’t forget to wear pink.

Click here for the results 10k-overall-results. And here for the milo-42k-overall-results.

Let me start this entry with a confession. I have been worried about my general running progress. I have been logging in my training runs but my race finish times have been on a down trend. Make no mistake … I had fun in all the races but of course there is still that niggling feeling that my finish times haven’t improved. I know, I know the last 2 race routes (Fuego Mizuno and TNF) were difficult. But still …

So the night before the race, I decided to aim for a subhour finish. I also wanted to try and run a negative split race. My plan for this race was to run the first 5K at 6:00min/km and the last 5K at 5:30min/km.

And like all the great plans of mice and men …

It was a mad dash for us to the 10K starting line. Largely my fault because I woke up late and domino effect to me getting to Mesh house late and we got to the T2 meeting place very very late. The race announcer was already giving the final call for 10K runners when we reached the 10K check in area.

Vicky, Kathy, Harry, Mesh and I stood at the starting line. We were all fiddling with our various gadgets while waiting for the official start. It felt great to be racing with my T2 friends again. Even if we end up separated by our respective paces, we always have a general idea where everybody is and we scan runners at the turn around to cheer for each other.

The rain started pouring down and pretty soon runners started pouring out of the starting line too.

Carried by the wave of runners, I abandoned my 6:00min/km plan at Km2. I was running at 5:30. I figured the rain would help cool me down and allow me to sustain this pace. I did a 5K tempo run last Thursday and I was confident I could sustain this pace.

The rain worked well with me. When I feel like I’m heating up, the rain would start again and cool me down. I was wearing my fuel belt and felt a bit silly. To rehydrate, you just needed to lick your lips last Sunday. And then I thought  … acid rain, yikes! There were lots of puddles … and yes I shrieked a lot but still ran across most of them. At least no mud.

I lost Mesh at Km2. Next thing I know, she was an orange dot in a sea of green at the Buendia flyover. Go girl! Harry was long gone. He managed to zigzag his way to the front already. I couldn’t look back but I knew that Vicky and Kathy were close by.

No dramas at the Buendia flyover, this is a gentle incline only and very short.

After the 5K turn around, I saw a fallen runner. I’m not exactly sure what happened. I slowed down and saw that the first runners to help out had everything in control. At the water station I told one of the marshals about the runner and he said that the medical team is near. In less than a minute, I saw the ambulance heading towards the runner. (I also noted that there was a roving ambulance with medical personnel … great job Milo and Mr Biscocho. You really know how to make us feel safe in your races.)

My pace has now dropped to 5:45ish at this point. I had a goal and I need to focus. I remembered runtintin’s earlier post so I was just kept focusing on what she said about cotton and steel. Here’s an excerpt from her blog

“3. Cotton and Steel. Trying to internalize more of Chi Running by Danny Dreyer, I pretended my limbs and all those connected to it (knees, ankles, feet, toes, arms, hands, wrist, fingers) were like cotton – light, airy, close to weightless, no tension there at all. As for my trunk, that was what had to feel like steel, although not in a tense your muscles kind of way but more like keeping it stable and letting it do all the work. Firm yet flexible.”

Whenever I would feel like relaxing my pace I would just look around me. All the inspiration I needed was right there in front of me. A sea of green, the color of hope, all saying “Kaya mo yan.” (You can do it.)

When the rain showers stopped, I could feel my self heating up. To cool down, I poured water from my fuel belt on my arms and neck. I did this a couple of times. It really helped a lot.

I was also consciously pacing behind one female runner. I have seen her training at BHS and I felt that we have the same pace. She was wearing a blue hoodie. (Hey great pace!) With 3Kms to go, 2 female runners passed me. One was wearing a black belt bag and another wearing an Ipod arm band. When I checked the blogs earlier, I found out the TheFitMommy was the one wearing the black belt bag. Their legs were pretty fresh. I decided to switch and paced with them.

As I got nearer the finish line, the number of people walking to the finished increased. This made it a bit difficult and slowed me down. Luckily, when I turned towards the grandstand, I saw Harry. When he reached me, he pointed the way to the finish line and he said he will clear a path for me. I tried to catch the eye of the girl with the arm band and motioned for her to follow us. I literally had a hawee err hawi boy to get me my subhour finish. Salamat Harry!

My unofficial time is 59:39. Shaved off  3 seconds from my Runnex time but I’m just too happy and glad that I have regained my pace. At subhour pa rin yan … woohoo!

T2 unofficial times: Harry 46:something PR, Mesh 54:40 PR, Bards 59:39 PR, Vicky 1:06something and Kathy 1:11 PR. *dance of joy*

I saw Dingdong at the finish and had a brief chika. I checked his Garmin distance because my polar registered 10.6km. He said it was 10.03km.

We had breakfast at Pancake house. *Yum!*

On our way home, we saw the the 42km runners on their way to Roxas. We cheered for some of them. I saw a familiar face and cheered “High Altitude!” … I should have said “Hi! HighAltitude” but it’s a bit difficult to say.

This is another great Biscocho race. Congratulations po! Not a lot fuss and not a lot hoopla but I felt safe the whole time I was running.

Thank you Milo and Mr Biscocho!

Special thanks to Cathy for taking our picture and getting us to the starting line on time!

*clipped from the Philippine Star

 Are you ready for Sunday?

Here’s the map.

Before you go to bed on Saturday start chanting “rain, rain, go away. you can come back at 930 am on Sunday”

Good luck to Prom, Iban and HA!

T2 … let’s volt in!

I will be running 10K only and that is the only thing familiar about the whole thing.

First off, I won’t be racing with my T2 friends. Luckily, I won’t be racing alone. I will be running with my friend Abe and his officemates from Saatchi. Ey Abe, thanks for including me in the freebie reg!

Trail running is really new to me. I can’t even begin to imagine running in mud … and really why would you run in a muddy path, it’s slippery! You can fall and break your neck.

Even my shoes are new, I only have 5kms on the NBs. The only trail they know is the footpath across ISM.

The runners were a mix of road runners and mountain climbers. The girl behind me in the race bib line was a mountaineer and she said she wanted to try trail running. I was also happy to see the familiar faces of Cecil and Eric at the starting line. I also saw Taki, High Altitude and Ibanrunner.

The 20K was scheduled to start at 5am and the 10K at 6am. It’s really a good thing that they moved it a little later. It would have been very tricky to run in the dark.

The sky was overcast and it was very windy when we were called to the starting line. The race announcer said that we were lucky to have favorable race conditions … hmm. But he was right, I wouldn’t have traded the overcast sky and slight drizzling with an uber hot morning.

The 20K race was delayed a bit by the arrival of one of the 100km solo runners. Everybody cheered for him … after running 100km I’m sure it was a treat to be welcomed that way at the finish line.

The 10K started at 6:55am by my watch. It was a 50m uphill dash to the main road. I opted to stay at the back of the pack again. I started the race with Abe and Rex but we got separated.

Km1 The race info said we will have about 500km of paved road before we hit the trail. Running the muddy trail was like a speed workout. We would run a few meters and then walk in a line to cross puddles.

Km2 The trail was better here. No more puddles. I was able to maintain a 6:30min/km pace. There were areas where  I had to hop around a bit but I was still running. I had my hands out on my side most of the time for balance. I was able to overtake a few runners. Yey!

Overtaking in a trail run is very different. In road races, you just move to the side and find a path and accelerate. Last Sunday, we only had 1-2 paths to choose from so to overtake I had to wait for a wider path, find another path , make another path or wait for the runner in front to stop so I can pass. Sorry po, I think I added to the food crisis kasi I stepped on a few crops. I stepped on a few crap too … will it balance my karma? Hmmm..

Km3-5 The trail was gently slooping down. Now if the trail was not muddy, running this patch wouldn’t be too  hard. During road races, I like riding the downhills. But yesterday, I had to slow down on the downhill. I didn’t want to slip and slide away. The polar registered an average pace of 8:05 for this 3kms.

Somewhere in Km3, I also managed to land my right foot then my left foot in a puddle. Splash with bouquet of Eae de Carabeau. The goodnews … I now have proof that my footpod is water resistant.

Overall, the route was 75% trail and the trail was 99.9% muddy. Hay! Running in a muddy trail turned out to be very tricky. I had to be alert and choose my path at least 3-5 meters away. It’s like playing chess. Definitely no daydreaming and no time to enjoy the scenery. I was too busy choosing the right path and balancing. I also kept a watchful eye on the other runners as they might slip and take me with them.

Km6-8 The route info said that at MP03 Bridge-taas the trail drops to a steep slope. They weren’t kidding or trying to scare us! This was a bottle neck area for the runners because you have no choice but to wak/crawl down the slope to the wooden bridge. I would have loved to see how the elite runners tackled this portion.

After the steep slope down we crossed a wooden bridge and then it was a steep slope up. Fun! I think it was a 60-70 degree angle. While I was climbing up, I heard the runners behind me shouting “Give way, give way” . Then 3 elite runners passed me. I was crawling up and they were bounding up the steep hill. Kaya sila elite at ako pilit.

At the steep slope the trail was much better. It was more compact but it was still sloping upwards. I really wanted to run this part but my legs couldn’t run yet. My pace was 14:30, 13:41 and 9:51 for this segment.

Km9-10  We hit paved road again. Hurray! But it was still uphill and very windy. I alternated running with brisk walking.

My unofficial time is 1:30:52! No face plant, no spills! Ohyeah!

Will I do it again … definitely!

After 7 straight days of not running … I managed to squeeze in 3 runs in the last 4 days. I know, I know … cramming is not applicable to running. But in my twisted world, I’m hoping it will help.

13K Saturday The plan was to run 20ks in UP. Unfortunately, after 10ks I was feeling restless and unfocused. I just wanted to stop and eat corned beef. Taho break at Km8 did not help.

Even if Beni and I cut short our run, I still enjoyed running in UP. The shaded oval was pleasant change for me. We agreed to return and run around UP again.

5K Monday I was lucky enough to find trail shoes within the budget I set. I got NB809 from Php1480 from Shangri-la last Sunday. I just need to log in a few kms in it to give it trail cred. Its a bit dusty now … that will have to do.

I did one big loop at BHS and headed towards the footpath across ISM. The 809s were a bit clunky on the pavement. When I got to the footpath, I was happy that it offered good support and cushioning. I had to stop a bit to adjust the laces a bit. I wanted it snug across my arches but a little loose around the toes.

Wayne said that the 809 was one of their best selling trail shoes last year. *whew relief*

I finished off the run with one last loop around BHS.

5K Tuesday 430pm Tuesday. From my desk, I could see dark clouds over TheFort area. Oh no! At around 6pm, it was drizzling. Luckily the sky cleared out by 7pm.

Vicky and I headed to TheFort. I wanted do a bit of speedwork but settled for two 200m speed burst.

We saw runMD. I said hi and then I realized I only knew him as runMD so I had to ask his name.

When he finished his 10K he walked back to FF with us.  Nice to meet you runMD!

I was going through my tag surfer when I saw a blog entry about this exhibit.

Here is an excerpt from the press release that describes Martin Creed Work No. 850.

Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2008: Martin Creed Work No. 850.

“ … A runner will speed through Tate Britain’s dramatic neo-classical sculpture galleries, again and again, running as if their life depended on it, every day for the next four months. The tightly choreographed live performance Work No. 850 has been specially devised by Martin Creed for the Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2008 sponsored by Sotheby’s.

Work No. 850 centres on a simple idea: that a person will sprint as fast as they can every 30 seconds through the 86 metre gallery at the heart of Tate Britain. Each run is followed by an equivalent pause, like a musical rest, during which the gallery is empty.

Work No. 850 is about the purest expression of human vitality. This investigation into the body celebrates physicality and the human spirit, the constant ebb and flow of nature. Work No. 850presents the beauty of human movement in its purest form, a recurring yet infinitely variable line drawn between two points. … “

Click here to see one of the runners and to read the interview with Martin Creed.

Very interesting. Wish I could see this one. The runner is not in a cordoned off area and will weave through museum visitors. However, visitors who will try to join the runner in Work No. 850 will be stopped by security. Kasi, running is not allowed in the galleries.

This looks like an interesting race.

Short … its only 5K and Sweet … you run and finish with a buddy or even better with your hunny! Might be the ideal race for runners wishin’ and hopin’ to get their friends, family and sweets running.

Check it out! The fun run is limited to 300 pairs and registration will close on July 24.

This is brought to us by the same guys that organised the Pringles run … so it should run smoothly!

Happy racing!

Signs of colds and waking up a bit late didn’t stop me from lacing up and going for a run last Friday. I planned to run for a couple of hours to see how far I can go. I was also planning to try a new route. This route will take me all the way to the very end of Lawton (if I woke up early enough my plan was to cross SLEX and run all the way to NAIA Terminal 3). I started my run later than planned so I had to scratch my SLEX adventure. Maybe next Saturday…

I started at BHS and after I reached the very end of Lawton I turned back and went to Bayani Rd. Instead of heading down to C5 I decided to run inside the Libingan ng mga Bayani first. I wasn’t up to running Mckinley Hill and the 2kms inside Bayani will make up for it.

As I entered Libingan, I saw 4 runners about to start their run also. I went ahead but they eventually caught up with me. I turned and said hello to them. The other 2 guys were running much faster and left us. I ended up running with Nap and Godoy…more like running after. Before I joined them I was cruising in my comfortable 7:30min/km. They were running at 6:30min/km and since I wanted company, I stayed with their pace.  My running companions were from the Army (they were wearing the green army running kit).

After we finished the 2km loop, I said I will drop out. I turned right to head out of Libingan and they went straight. I knew that they were deliberately slowing down to accommodate my pace. So after a few meters, I turned back to check how fast they really run and their running form. And they were nowhere insight… not hidden by the trees, not exactly sure if they were THAT fast and disappeared quickly. Hmm… They must have turned left somewhere and they were really fast. That’s why they disappeared, di ba?  This is how I explained to myself why they disappeared so quickly.

And I ran Km11 down to C5 at breakneck speed. Haha

I completed 16.5kms last Friday in 2 hours and had a leisurely breakfast at McDonald’s.

I think I agreed to do the 10K  of The Nortface 100 trail run. I haven’t registered yet. And I’m not really sure if I can do it. I will be away most of next on a work trip … plus I’m such a big klutz and I can picture myself rolling down the hill instead of running it. *These are new my excuses. *

Reading Harry’s trail run story and seeing HighAltitude’s breathtaking Batulao trail run pix is making me rethink TNF. (Loved HighAltitude’s pic … you gotta visit his site.)

My indecisiveness is the exact opposite of Mitch’s determination to do this race. After 2 HK marathons, I think she is itching for a new challenge. *bow … running guru* (Plugging: Mitch is a regular contributor of the Phil Daily Inquirer, check out her articles in the Lifestyle section every Tuesday.)

So I got a call from her this afternoon, she was asking what I thought about TNF. I gave her the same excuses err .. reasons I gave Mesh for not running the race … its trail and it will feel different on the knees and hips … im not very confident about the support from the organizers … it might go well into the night *madilim* … what about personal security … I even went as far as “100K?!? papangit ka nun after” hahaha.

But she is one determined girl, I got a text again later confirming that she will be doing the 100K relay with a work colleague, Tony. I just love it when I find someone crazier than me. But of course, fussy friend that I am, couldn’t help but finish off my text with reminders to plan their strategy with their support team and to do practice runs with their mandatory gear. Update: 20080712 latest update from Mitch is she lost her partner … but knowing her and her powers of persuassion im sure she has her sights set on a new partner. Go girl!

So will I be running on July 27 … I haven’t even registered yet. *oh and yes Mesh, im a wuzz*

But one thing is certain … I’m running long tomorrow. Woohoo!

Ive been setting my alarm for 430am since last Friday.

Number of morning runs, still zero.

I still cant bring myself to get out of bed in the morning and do my runs. Somehow my brain has gone on vacation mode and will only wake up early for a trip to the beach.

To make up for my laziness, I started running in the afternoons. I ran 5ks last monday and another 5ks yesterday.