Bradford Centennial Run

Bradford Church Centennial Run

Oct 26 2013 Saturday

at Bradford Church Osmena Blvd 4:30 am

21k 3 hours and 19 minutes

After a fun time in Palawan, here I was dreading saturday. I had a headache on Friday so I had no choice but to drink medicine, but afterwards I was feeling groggy. To top it all , my period arrived. But I need  to go back to road running again, hence my decision to register in the first place. I knew that after my puerto princesa trip I would feel lazy again.

So after I hard and tiring day at the office, I went home after 5 pm so I can rest and prepare for my run. It was a rainy friday so I was a bit worried. I was able to fall asleep right away, that was how tired I was.

I woke up at 3:15 am, still feeling sleepy so I forced myself to stand up, eat and dress my running gear. I decided to bring my cp for the first time to do some selfie pics. I went out of the house at 4pm, the air was so cool, then got on the pedicab, then taxi. The warm up was already starting when I arrived. I was looking for the courtesy booth, took me a minute to find it, then left my bag and returned to the starting area. I remembered to turn on my blinkers this time while waiting for the gun start. When I saw the runners for the 21k, there were about 200 of them, yup so few, I felt I'm gonna be the last finisher this time.

The experience during the run  was okey, it was a cloudy day so the sun wasnt so hot,  as expected the route was a bit tiring but familiar. I just tried to distract myself and think of puerto princesa. After the turning point, I was mostly walking than jogging but I persisted. Good news, I wasnt the last finisher, there were about 5 runners behind me. I didnt know there were that many. My time was as expected 3:19, I knew that kapamilya run was a fluke.

During the run, I lost my hand towel and dropped my water bottle twice. I also forgot to bring my shades, good thing the sun decided to hide behind the clouds.

Thanks to Bradford church for the nice medal, bananas and hotdog. I liked the location of the starting/finish line because it was easy to go home. I hope you gathered enough funds for the renovation of your church.

Will I join a bradford church run next time? Sure, why not.

                                 thanks to the safe marshall for taking this pic 

                                                           practicing my selfie skill

I Left my Heart in Puerto Princesa

My Puerto Princesa Adventure

Oct 18-22,2013

One of the things in my bucket list was a trip to palawan. Then a co-worker mentioned that she with other staff will be going there. It felt like a drop from heaven, but I was hesitant at first, what if UPS calls and wants me to go to diliman. But I decided to take a risk, Thanks to my co-workers from library, they arranged my ticket and accomodation. On top of that, 2 other co-workers decided to join us, so originally there was supposed to be eight of us for this trip.

On Friday, Oct 18 was the day of departure, 1:00 pm, 3 of us only since there was no promo fare on the 19th. I went to office, signed some papers 'till 11:00 am, then off I go to the MIA. There wasnt really much going on, the plane departed on time. When we arrived at the PPA, we had to look out for our sundo, the Trip@PAL tour service. After about 2-3 minutes of looking, I found them, then off we go to Payuyu pension, Manalo st. extension

Day 1. Self tour since the tour starts on Saturday.

We had a late lunch at Chao long for some beef stew with noodles. I'm not so sure of the name, I keep forgetting about it. Then the three of us went to LRC Tiangge and did some shopping. I spent P1,200 for accessories, food and bags. Then dinner at baywalk with Ms. Portia and Annabelle. We ate fresh fish sinigang, inihaw and barbecue. Yummy. Then the lights went out, ughhh brown out. Good thing it was the full moon. Then we went to Remari pension house to look at the place and get Portia's hopia. Payuyu pension afterwards, lights didnt come back till about 3 hours later.

Day 2. City tour. Tour starts at 1:30 pm.

Four a.m. I woke up for my jogging. I didnt bring my rubber shoes so I just used my flat closed shoes with socks. The bantay at the pension house was asleep so I had to wake him up. I was able to get out at about 5 am, I was in a hurry because i wanted to see the sunrise. I was a bit scared coz there wasnt much people around, just some tricycles passing by. It was the longest 2k run in my entire life, my right shoe kept coming off. When I arrived at baywalk, there were already lots of people walking /jogging, so i felt relieved. I walked, jogged, took some pics. The sea breeze was so cool, the sea looks great. Perfect stress reliever. The I went back home, but I had to drop by landbank to get my salary. AFter taking a bath, we did some sightseeing at Provincial capitol, did some picture taking. Then early lunch at Nocinoks. There wasnt much food there when we arrived so I just ordered halo-halo and burger. My other companions ordered veggies and rice. So after we were full, we went back to the pension house to rest. I went downstairs to use the wifi and upload pics from my baywalk jogging. 4 of our co-workers arrived, 1 had to beg off becoz her dad was in the hospital.

It was about 1:30 when Trip @pal crew arrived then we started our tour after picking up a couple from another hotel. It was a quick tour, here are the places we went, as far as I can remember. there was a lot of picture taking but I got too tired when we went to bakers hill.

Tiangge

Baywalk ( it was hot so we just passed by)

Immaculate concepcion church

Crocodile farm

Iwahig Prison

Bakers Hill and House of former senator Mitra

Then we had dinner at Baywalk again, same place. We tried to have some pictures taken but the power went off again.

Day 2. Palawan underground river

This place was my target to go so i was excited for this trip. It was about 2 hour drive with some stopovers plus 30 minutes travel by boat. There wasnt any swimming because of the big waves. Reminders, wear shorts and slippers. Prepare to get wet. There was more pictures taken while waiting for the boat, then the arrival. We were warned not to carry plastic becoz the monkeys are attracted to them. The underground river is a different kind of experience. You cant help but to sit down, not move, stay silent and observe the wonders of nature. Its hard to describe, you just got to see it. After the trip we had a nice lunch, everything was tasty. At that point, I felt that I was done, I'm contented already...boy was I wrong. After the trip, we went back to tiangge, then went to church at 4:00 am. Dinner was at Razons, last night with one of our companions, since her trip to Manila was 7:30 pm.

Day 3: Honday bay ( Pandan island and Luli island)

Early morning after some snacks and coffee, our sundo arrived, we had a slight detour to pick up a couple from Turkey, then off we go to Honda Bay. We had less than an hour land trip, stopover for snorkling gear and bread, then another boat trip with life vests on. When we arrived, we tested our snorkling gears. Boy was I excited. I couldnt believe it, I was able to use the snorkling gear. The water was so deep, there were a lot of fishes in the sea. Once you give the bread, lots of fishes just come to attack the food. Not good for picture taking, lemme tell you. So i just gave some of my bread to my companions. I was just happy enjoying the view under the sea. Then lunch was ready, we had ordered sinigang, taho and some shells on top of the lunch provided by the tour. My tummy was so full with all these goodies, I particularly love the talong. Then we did some magic photoshots with the talented bangkero. It was hot but the experience was great. After that, we were off to Luli island. It was drizzling that time, the waters wasnt so clear so the fishes were barely visible. We had a great time do some picture taking, did jumpshots for the nth time, snorkling and fish viewing. There was a diving board where some of my friends did some jumps. After a bit of convincing, I also jumped. My ears were ringing after the jump, but I'm okey. I'm glad I jumped and have pictures to prove it. There was no bathroom in Luli island so we went back to the van wet. After taking a bath and rest, we went back to tiangge again. i think I went to that place about 5 times. Then dinner at chowking, we were supposed to go to Kalui but you need reservations to go there. We actually walked from Kalui to chowking. Mode of transportation in Puerto Princess is by tricycle, P8-10 rate. I keep running out of loose change because of the tricycle rides and we had lots. Did the backride btw.

 One of the magic tricks in picture taking, No Photoshop needed. Just a bottle, camera and lots of imagination.

Day 4. Go home

Woke up at dawn to pack my bags. The other group went out to tiangge and NCC Mall to shop for some stuff. We had lunch at chao long again and i bought sandwich for baon. Then our sundo arrived to take us to the airport.

Thats it, that all i can remember, I hope the sequence is correct. I had the best time ever. The timing was perfect after the big quake in cebu last Oct 15. We escaped aftershocks for 4 days.

Will I got to puerto princesa again? Maybe but I'd like to go to El Nido next time. Thanks to Jonilyn Abrenica and Trip@PAL tours for the experience.

     Jumpshot at Luli Island, Honda Bay Palawan. Its More fun in the Philippines

The Day 7.2 Earthquake hit cebu on 10.15.13

I debated with myself if  I should include this in my blog. Well, since my memory is not so good these days, might as well write all things down before I forget.

Oct 15,2013 was declared a holiday because its a special day for the Muslim religion. For other religion, its a day to relax, enjoy, maybe do some chores and other stuff. For me, its either run or swim, I chose swimming.
Its been weeks since I last swam at cebu city sports center because of a lot of things like menstrual period, pool is closed for treatment, and other reasons so I was looking forward to this day. The night  before I decided to drink tea, fitne viva slim so I can poop in the morning. Unfortunately, I was only able to poop past 6 am so I arrived at the pool  almost 7 a.m. But thats okey, since I only swim for an hour and the sun wasnt so hot. I didnt swim as much as I had planned, I was mostly just standing there in the pool and swim when I'm in the mood. I noticed the clock was already 8:15 am so i decided for one last swim then stayed near the stairs to enjoy the water for a few seconds before getting out. Then it happened. I heard a loud noise, I didnt really know what it is until I looked up. The side part of the stadium was moving really fast. It was like an invisible hand was shaking it hard. I looked around, I see people out of the water, trying to duck,trying to run, trying to panic. 
I was still in the water, holding on to the handle bars near the stairs. I figured I'm gonna have a hard time getting out of the pool with all this movement. So I just waited and prayed for the shaking to stop. It was a long wait. I looked around, I see white smoke..nope not smoke,  more of concrete dust. Something was breaking apart. Finally the noise stopped, but I was sure aftershocks will come minutes later. I can already hear sirens outside. What going on outside? I was outside the shower, undecided..should i take a quick shower or just change?.. I checked the walls, no cracks..no lights either...Oh well, i will  take a risk, if the shaking comes back, just run outside. So I went inside, took a shower, didnt do it in a hurry. I didnt want to go outside right away. In the first 10 minutes I was the only person inside, then a few ladies came later.
I dressed up, finished everything and I was ready to go outside. The first thing I saw was the people, patients of St. Vincents hospital with the dextrose bags. I see babies, I see old people lying on hospital beds. I got on the Andres PUJ, I was planning to stop by Chowking fuente but changed my mind when I saw more people outside. I see store clerks,  tourists, some even in bathrobes..more patients of Cebu Doctors Hospital...Then I arrived home, everything seems normal..Nora and her family are still preparing to move to lapulapu city. I went inside and got my netbook and checked my facebook...I noticed some of my stuff are on the floor but nothing broken.. I saw the news in Bohol, I saw the damage...THat was a strong earthquake in Cebu. Sto. Nino Church was partially damaged..omigosh, whats gonna happen to the Sinulog next year. Right now  Cebu is still experiencing aftershocks..some are really strong.. I'm not afraid..Some stores and schools are closed today, But will go to work tomorrow. So many things to do.. I already checked the office earlier.. No damage. Just some folders and supplies found on the floor. Will cebu survive this? Of course, cebu has to survive. I just hope and pray that  cebu will never experience this again. We are not prepared for this kind of calamity.
Side effect of the earthquake: I was constantly hungry.
p.s. Condolence to the people who died during the earthquake.

20th Anniversary Run Gaisano Country Mall

20th Anniversary Run Gaisano Country Mall
Venue: GCM Talamban, Cebu City
Distance: 15k   2:17 with finishers medal and loot bag
5:00 am

For some reason, my body wasnt in the mood for this run. On Saturday, Oct 12, I slept most of the day. The weather was alternate rainy and sunny becoz of Storm Santi,  a good time to just sleep. I got a headache after watching TMZ so  I decided to take some medicine. Hooboy, now my body just felt lazier after the medicine. Anyways,  since I registered there's no choice but to prepare for the run. Good thing the rain stopped. Santi didnt affect Cebu much, thank God.
Dawn came, I woke up very early at 3:15 am, so I came down and ate some snacks, hopia and water.I really felt full at that time after just one hopia. When i went out of the gate, I was thinking of padlocking the gate but I saw this old guy stopped in front of the gate and started to pee, so I decided not to padlock the gate and walked as quick as I can. I was able to get a pedicab and taxi ride right away. Two minutes after I got inside a taxi, all the lights were off..as in brown out...ohhhhh that was scary... But it came back a minute after. I arrived at GCM at 4:30, I had enough time to prepare for the run.  The zumba warmup started but the instructor was too energetic. Too many jumps.. Joel Baring was there again to give instructions, again he had to look at the tarpaulin before announcing the name of the run... And then were off..Fireworks everywhere. Then I remembered that I have to turn on my 2 blinkers..grrrr..i forgot AGAIN!
Good thing I brought my blinkers becoz  there was brownout in salinas drive. Some of the buildings have generator but there were no streetlights..I love my blinkers! They are a lifesaver!
The run was just like my other runs... Gorordo, Escario and Banawa is really a tiring route so I walked more than I ran. I wasnt the last runner, but there were only few runners behind me. When I was near the finish line, I heard somebody shout behind me but I ignored it and ran.Then when I looked at my water bottler, the cap was gone.  I went back and a lady shouted that she has it. I asked if it was her behind me who was calling Ate..she said yes and I thanked and apologized to her. Lesson: Make sure the cap in my water bottle is tightly closed. It costs P299.00 . Going back for the cap cost me a minute.  My time 2:17 minutes...hmmmm not happy with it, but not surprised..I got to stop thinking about my PR and just enjoy the run.
Good stuff: Gatorade and Banana stations at turning point for 10k and 21k. Hurray! Loot Bag has lots of great stuff I can use, mostly food but i love it and the bag. Thanks GCM and Happy Anniversary. Hope you have another run next year.

                                tired selfie after the run. need more practice with the selfie thing :D

Next Run: Bradford church centennial run 21k

One run One Philippines Cebu

Kapamilya Run (One Run One Phils Cebu)

Oct 6, 2013 SM Northwing 4:30

21 k 3 hours 8 minutes and 7 seconds

First of all, happy 60^th anniversary ABS-CBN! Thanks for including Cebu in One Run One Phils. Hope you have another nationwide run in the future.

Also, thanks for the dark clouds that covered the scorching sun while I was in SRP. The sun came out when I was 3k away from the finish line. Thank God.

It was two months ago, after my usual googling that I found out about this event. But the registration started about 2 weeks ago. As soon as Leo Lastimosa thru his facebook announced that Cebu City Sports Center was one of the registration sites, I rushed to the venue and registered, and got my race pack right away. I'm so grateful for abs-cbn for choosing CCSC as one of its registration centers.

Why did I want to run for abs-cbn. 2 words?“Finisher Medal” I want to collect as many as I can from different race organizers. Second reason: SRP route. Its my fave route, I dont know why other organizers just chose this route instead of talamban. Much safer. Although when the sun comes out, the heat can be unbearable.

The day came, I used my new fave bagbelt with 2 SNS water bottles and sunglasses. I also have 2 small bars of chocolates for energy booster. When I arrived at SM Northwing, there were already runners there, the courtesy booth just opened. I've noticed there were no portalets, good thing I dont pee a lot during runs.

After the zumba warmup, the 21k runners went to the starter line, there were a lot of us..probably a thousand..just my guess..Then the emcees just kept on talking ..suddenly the gun went off..then off we go.. We are blessed to have such a nice morning to run. No rain, the air was cool..I felt good running to SRP. I didnt think about PR or finishing. I just enjoyed watching the sea, feeling the cool air. My legs just went on autopilot while I medidate.

Our turning point was just a few meters from Gaisano (again!) Capital, first time i've gone this far in Talisay City. As expected, some hydration stations ran out of plastic water. No bananas, no chocolates.. Good thing I had my baon. I heard there were already some runners giving up and asking for a ride back to SM..tsk tsk..

One thing that kinda pissed me off was when I was about 2.5k from the finish line. The truck from SAFE arrived carrying 21 runners that DNF. After the DNF runners were dropped, they mixed with us and continued the race...WTF...if the organizers run out of medals, I'm gonna race hell.

This is the biggest surprise of all, my time is 3 hours 8 minutes..WOW! Are you kidding me...My last 3 21k runs were 3 hours and 30 minutes.. I was having doubts about the distance..was that really 21k? Was that really my time? Maybe its a fluke..Maybe I just had a good day ..Maybe I should run in the Bradford Church centennial run to check if its still my time..... hhmmm You know, if my improvement continues, its possible I could qualify for the Milo 21k run.....Naahhhhh hehe

p.s. Abs-cbn has promised to send personalized certificate of finish sometime after the run when you register online.  This is so cool.
updated: my certificate of finish/participation from abs-cbn

Salamat abs-cbn.