My Dream Peloton

Blame it on the free movie tickets for the last full show and the fantastic company of our two good friends--I'm spending a lazy Sunday morning at home having slept in, instead of my original plan to hit the mountain bike trails of Rizal. Unsure of what physical activity to partake in during the day for running or cycling, I'm currently living vicariously via blog posts of people who recently ran with Haile Gebrselassie here in the Philippines, and fantasizing about singletracks.

Fantasy of course, is a great way to escape albeit inside your head, hence the proliferation of fantasy games such as Fantasy Football geared towards avid daydreaming gamers who fancy themselves as big shot managers. While I do have a proclivity for video games I never understood the charm of virtually "managing" a team. However, because of Lance Armstrong's return to the Tour de France last year and the advertisements for Pro Cycling Manager, I became interested in the game and wondered how I would fare as a future Johan Bruyneel.

Pics of the Day: PWW at Century Superbods 2010

Collected

Pics of the Day: Regular Joe

Looking through the interwebs I've been fortunate enough to see images from a photographer who goes by the handle regularjoe on Flickr. He takes awesome photos and it was difficult to choose a favorite, so I chose three.

Above by regularjoe

Beautiful Climb by regularjoe

Ridge Riding by regularjoe

Like I said, awesome.

The Amazing Kidney Race: Confirmed!

I just received an email confirming my slot for The Amazing Kidney Race which will be held on March 7, 2010 at UP. My cousin and training buddy Alvin will be running his first race, joining me on the 15K Eliminator Pursuit, where race participants will negotiate the infamous Heartbreak Route at UP Diliman campus. All participants who meet the 45-minute halfway mark or 1 hour 45-minute finish point cut-off times will receive this:

Century Superbods 2010: My First Half Mary

Three alarms were set to go off at 3 AM, but I needed none of them. Excitement woke me up with 17 minutes to spare, which I quickly put to use. Heeding advice tested time and again by veteran runners, I prepared a familiar breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal, two bananas, and a power bar washed down with Gatorade and water. I left one of the alarms to go off for Cherie, who was coming with me for support. She was supposed to run 5K, but unfortunately, was one of the many who were on waiting list (and weren't so lucky) due to the high demand of people wanting to join the race.

We arrived at The Fort before the full force of over 11,000 runners arrived for the 2010 Century Superbods Run. I've always made it a habit to arrive at least an hour before gun start to have ample time to attend to all pre-race rituals. Later on I found out that there was a reason behind my overzealous punctuality in a country where "Filipino Time" always carries a negative connotation. After a quick warm up, an announcement was made calling all 21K runners to the starting chute with plenty of time before the start of the race. I ran from one end of the corral to the other for a few more minutes, then stared in amazement at the massive LCD screens at the starting line. The frenetic activity came to a sudden halt as the Philippine National Anthem started playing and with hands over hearts, we all stared at those screens which now showed a digital Philippine flag waving in the wind. As far as I can remember, this was the first race I attended which played the national anthem at the start of the program. Maybe I have, but nothing with the kind of nationalistic fervor which inspires and makes you hold back tears.

Soon afterwards, a 30-second countdown flashed on the screens. It all boils down to this.

Warrior Wisdom: Mark Twain

- Mark Twain

The Amazing Kidney Race

I'm thinking about running this race as it will be held right in my training ground! For more information, read the detailed post from Kulit Runner by clicking here.

Preparation and Pre-race Paranoia

While I was browsing through my neglected personal site yesterday, I saw this photo taken on the early morning of January 20, 2009. At 5:19 AM, I was lacing my shoes up to go for a run; my first in years. Motivated by my disgust over the prominent beer belly in the mirror, I stepped out of my building into the cool air and made my way to Visayas Avenue. Soon afterwards, I was out of breath and only by sheer will made it to Quezon City Circle--about one kilometer away from my starting point. It's fitting that those memories came back to me this weekend, and that I'm reminded of how far I've come since.

Tomorrow, I will be running my first half-marathon; by far the longest distance I will be racing in. A year ago, running 21 kilometers seemed an insurmountable task, something only the elite could participate in. Heck, after my first 5K it took me an awful lot of time to even consider signing up for a race twice the length. While I have yet to finish the race, I believe I'm prepared; physically, and mentally. And that's one of the things I have learned to appreciate about the sport: you take out what you put in. You can fake 5Ks or even 10Ks but without the proper amount of training and preparation, you can only go so far.

Warriors Within

I knew it! There's warrior blood in me and my family--and I'm not just talking about the weekend adventure type. The scans below are from a souvenir program where the earliest history of the Ganchero (my mother's side) clan was published. These pages were taken from the labor of love that is the Pedregosa Family Tree. Click on the images to enlarge and be fascinated by my anscestry. Hehe.

Pic of the Day: Brownie Points

Brownie Points by Pinoy Weekend Warrior

Green Silence from Brooks

A few weeks ago, I read an online article about a pair of racing flats from Brooks. To be honest, I never paid much attention to products from this particular company despite the fact that there's a pair of Brooks (Cherie's) inside our apartment. But after reading Born to Run and discovering that Scott Jurek, my current man-crush, has a healthy athlete-sponsor relationship with Brooks, I started digging around and became an instant fan of the brand primarily because of this pair-- the Green Silence. It's a perfect marriage between two of my passions: running and the environment. And while I'm not as vocal or active about issues on nature as other people I know, I try to make a statement in my own way from time to time, and this shoe is bound to make a loud one despite its name.

Epic Relay

Man, I need to find more friends crazy enough to attempt something like this with me. This sounds like a hoot! Or maybe I just need to find more friends, period.

What is This?

It's a 40 hour running party with friends where sleeping is a luxury. All you need is you, nine of your friends and the desire to run through the most beautiful countryside in North Luzon, sample local food, and a passion for adventure.

The Epic Relay is a 250 kilometer, 10-member team run through some of the most beautiful scenery and historical landmarks of North Luzon. Beginning in Subic Bay to the small communities of Zambales to the hilly terrain of historical Bataan (death march) highway to the breathtaking uphill climb of Mt. Samat and back. Non-stop running day and night - relay style.

 

For more information about the Epic Relay, visit the official website.

Warrior Wisdom: Unknown

- Unknown

Running With Safety and Smarts

Running With Safety and Smarts: A Guide for Female Runners
by Cherie McCosker

As you might recall, it’s been less than a week since I’ve started running again. Given my excitement about getting back into the sport, I was keen to keep up with my training despite a provincial work trip away.

Unfortunately I had an uncomfortable experience whilst jogging yesterday that made me realise that running is a different game for a female – we need to be more streetsmart, I think, than men in our situation do. So, this blog entry aims to empower other women like me, who decide to run alone, to run safely.

Run confidently with safety and smarts

Let me tell you about my experience yesterday. I was up in Cagayan Valley on a work trip, and keen to keep up my running and more keen to do so in a beautiful area filled with rice paddies, beautiful beach vistas and mangrove-lined rivers (not to mention fresh air). So I decided to bring along my running gear.

Despite the drizzle, I kept up my plan for a 5km jog. Already walking out from the lodging house, I found myself calculating risks, and decided to run along the main road as 1) I was familiar with the road; and 2) there were more people around should I need help.

The Shortest Distance

PWW Note: I found a link to this blog entry this morning. While it's a day late for Valentine's, a story with this beauty and power needs no special occasion to be fully appreciated.


The Shortest Distance
by Haide P. Acuña (Marathon Foodie)

“The marathon is a charismatic event. It has everything. It has drama. It has competition. It has camaraderie. It has heroism. Every jogger can’t dream of being an Olympic champion, but he can dream of finishing a marathon.” – Fred Lebow

I finished the Cebu City Marathon in 5:11:13 (official time) or 36 minutes faster than my first marathon time of 5:47set last October at the QCIM. This was enough to land me in 17th place in a field of 31 women and 191st overall out of 394 runners male and female.

Giving up my humba and other porky stuff, switching to vegetarian food, being ten pounds lighter (from 132 lbs. at QCIM to 121 lbs. at CCM) and swimming at least a kilometer every other day really did pay off. Plus, I'm beginning to master the negative split, which Coach Precing and I have been working on for the last three months.

But my biggest story of marathon triumph is about one of the last four guys who crossed the finish line that day – my husband Eugene.

Eugene and I are hardly ever together in the same place. We’ve been married for a little over three years now, but if we count the number of days we’ve been together it won’t reach 365.

It is not true what the cliché says about distance making the heart grow fonder. Instead, time and distance can erode affection and the lack of shared experience can make strangers of two people, more so when you have little in common to begin with. We were in trouble and just about ready to give up.

Eugene has no love for running. To him, running means covering two miles or 3.2 kilometers of ground space in 18 minutes, which is the minimum requirement in the military’s physical fitness test.

So it was a big surprise when after dragging him to Coach Jim Saret’s lecture at the CCM running clinic, he registered for the 42K instead of the original plan of running only 5K while I do my second marathon.

On the day we registered, my training was peaking while Eugene only had 3K runs to speak of...


To read the rest of "The Shortest Distance", click here for the full, original post at Marathon Foodie.

I Heart Getting Sweaty

Happy Hearts Day. Do it a favor--go out and get it pumping hard. I spent the day cycling 35 kilometers in the morning and running eight and a half in the afternoon. That's because my date's 16 hours north of the country, prompting me to do some Valentine's Day shopping for myself. Keeping in tune with the celebrations, I bought a running shirt... in red.


Image via source

Book Review: Born to Run

Honestly, I couldn't be any happier that Christopher McDougall once suffered from a plethora of injuries which made him go from one doctor to the other in hopes of finding an answer to his hurting foot. Otherwise, the world would have been robbed of the greatest written tribute to running.

Born to Run is an epic tale that puts the spotlight on the Tarahumara, a tribe which blends themselves into the unforgiving terrain of the Copper Canyons in Mexico. If running was a religion, then the Tarahumaras are the gods who yield unfathomable skill; able to run ultramarathon distances wearing nothing but thin, leather sandals on their feet, and enjoying every single second of it. Powered by a frugal diet, members of the tribe keep running fast and far onto the twilight of their years, perhaps living to a ripe old age because they run.

My Story: Cherie McCosker

I Am a Runner, This is My Story
by Cherie McCosker

For the first time in about 15 years, last night I ran 5km non-stop. Do I feel sore? Yes. Do I feel proud of myself? Yes. Do I want to do it again? You bet!

You see, last night, I realised for the first time in my life what running is about. Of course, running is personal, so my perception might be different from yours. But for me, I realised that running is about meditation. It’s about focusing and channelling your thoughts to allow your body, as a temple, to achieve your mind’s goal.

I dabble in meditation. I wish I did it every day, but I lack the discipline. Here is where running comes in. I spent every step of those 5 kilometres meditating – encouraging myself to continue. I celebrated the fact that I’m alive, and thus I should use my able and youthful body to attain strength. I told myself that people run for 42km, 21kms and therefore I could make 5km.

Each and every step my body was telling me to stop – and usually I give into this. But last night my mind won. I won.

But it wasn’t always this way. Permit me, if you will, to share my journey to get to this point.

Merrell Adventure Run

This looks awesome. Let's see if I can get myself in on this action!

First things first: I have to get my trail runners a nice hit of rugby! For more information about the race, go here.

Lace those trail runners up and hit the dirt!

Heartbroken?

I really wish I'll be spending Valentine's Day this year running The North Face Thrill of the Trail at Nuvali. Something made me look back at the race details and it was only now that I found out there are a couple of shuttle buses taking runners to Nuvali from ROX. Not only that, but there's an open space designated as a camping area! My main hurdle for this event was the logistics--not having a car and not wanting to spend for accomodations made me chuck the idea out the window. Had I known I could bring my tent and camp out, there's a big chance I'd be heading there this weekend to run my first official trail race. Unfortunately, registration closed on the 28th of January but I won't lose anything if I ask, right? I just shot off an email to the organizers to see if I can still get myself into the race. Fingers crossed, I'll have a date with a curvy heartbreaker come February 14.

For more information on the race (just in case you'd want to break your heart too), click here and here.

Warrior Wisdom: Dean Karnazes

- Dean Karnazes

Firefly Brigade Call for Volunteers: Ride Marshals for Tour of the Fireflies

I'm reposting this from our good friends over at the Firefly Brigade:

The Tour of the Fireflies “I VOTE TO BIKE!” happening on April 18, 2010 (Sunday) is fast approaching! Signify your intent to be a ride marshal by signing our online form here.

WHAT IS THE TOUR OF THE FIREFLIES?
The Tour of the Fireflies is a 35-kilometer bicycle ride around Metro Manila at an easy, controlled pace that allows everyone, even the occasional bike rider, older children, and senior people to participate and have fun. It is also a costume parade of cyclists leisurely pedaling at an average of 15 kilometers per hour (kph) through different Metropolitan cities. The Tour promotes cycling as a sustainable means of transportation.

The Tour started in 1999 with less than 500 participants growing steadily each year. Volunteers organize the event, a time-consuming and challenging effort that begins at least 5 months before the actual April date of the Tour. More volunteers, approximately numbering 150, operate on the day of the Tour.

WHAT IS A RIDE MARSHAL?
Marshals are volunteers who shepherd the peloton (bicycle caravan) at the Tour of the Fireflies. They serve to guide and protect the group as it winds its way along the route of the Tour. They keep the peloton intact and help cyclists in the Tour who need assistance.

Ride marshals should be physically fit, have basic road riding skills, patient & cool-headed, can follow instructions and can work alone and as part of a team.

Reebok Revisited

Remember that pair of Reeboks from yesterday? I found out what the name of the model is: Mobile Speed. And it comes in gray!

I also found out why I couldn't find it on the Reebok site yesterday--the shoes were listed under the category "Training" and I was searching under "Running" simply because at the Reebok store, the shoes were displayed prominently on the Running shelf. I even asked the staff who concurred that they are indeed runners.

Now, is it just me or does the shoe term training conjure images of lifting free weights with a personal trainer and going for 30 minutes on one of those elliptical trainers at the gym? Today's footwear technology has produced an array of shoes so specific, they target anyone from flat-footed overpronators to eco-conscious distance runners. Categorizing what is essentially a running shoe seems to veer away from this trend, which is quite refreshing.

Oooh. Reeboks.

It took a hefty serving of self-control to prevent me from whipping out my credit card when I saw a pair of running shoes yesterday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Reebok doesn't seem to be making serious waves in the running scene nowadays--I'm not even sure if it did before. As a runner, I have a habit of checking out other runners' shoes (as I'm sure a lot of you do) while on a training run. Among other benefits, I think running has helped me develop better attention to detail. For example, while I was out for a few laps around the university oval a couple of nights ago, I noticed a svelte, lithe (wow--even my vocabulary has improved) I guess 20-something lady about 40 meters ahead of me, wearing a white top with neon green piping and light gray running shorts, running at a 6:15 pace. As I slowly caught up to her, I noticed she was about 5' 4", had chin-length hair which she held back with the use of a black headband, and she was running without music. Svelte, lithe, 20-something girl also had tattoos on both her inner forearms, shoulder blades, and ankles. It was a display of symmetry, with different designs on the left matching those on the right, and to top it off, she had a triangular tattoo on her nape. What shoes did she wear? I have no idea.

Pic of the Day: Tomas Leonor

Tomas Leonor by LJ Pasion

LJ Pasion writes:

Tomas Leonor arrives at the University of the Philippines on February 5, 2010 after walking since January 11 from Pagudpud on his walking expedition called Step Juan. The expedition, which spans the entire length of the Philippine archipelago, aims to raise support for about 300 children under the Cancer Warriors Foundation. To learn more, visit stepjuan.com or stepjuan09.multiply.com.

Eventually... Ultras

I have yet to place a half and a full marathon under my belt, but this is something I'd like to work towards. I'm looking forward to experiences such as these in the future.

UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.

Onwards. One step at a time.

Be contagious

I think a few people might have caught the running bug from me. A number of my (irregular) running buddies have expressed their interest to join the 21K event at Century Tuna Superbods after finding out that I've signed up for the race. If I've influenced them in one way or another to train more and run further than usual, that's very cool.

Be contagious. Get other people moving.

Registration for Century Tuna Superbods Race is ongoing! For details, check out their official website.

Pic of the Day: Flying Men

Flying Men by Arnold Pouteau