Halika Bata, Mag-Yakult Tayo

Race intimacy. I do not know if there is such a phrase, but this is something I have been longing for the past few months. I miss the good, old, inexpensive races. So when my left calf muscle finally loosened itself, I let go of Php300 for a chance to do my 4th Yakult 10-miler.

The Yakult 10-mile race is a classic and it never fails. Once again, Rudy Biscocho started earlier than advertised and I was late again. I did better this time actually. My friend Sid and I were just 4 or 5 minutes late! My Yakult tardiness record is about 30 minutes, so late I ended making a wrong turn at the start and running a total distance of 21kms instead of 16!

Sid and I were taking it easy after an arduous Sierra Madre ride the day before. Easy runs can do wonders to the body and spirit, especially on asphalt roads and cool weather. With no time pressure and under the cover of darkness, we even managed to do pee stops along more rustic portions of Roxas Boulevard (We were too late for the portalets at the start). Peeing on the road -  one of life's guilty pleasures and something I have yet to do on the "sosyal" grounds of Bonifacio Global City. I did pee on the road on queaky clean Singapore during a marathon along with dozen others unable to find an open restroom in the wee hours of the morning.

The Yakult course is two loops along scenic Roxas Boulevard - best road for a run in my opinion if a race starts earlier than pollution. I am glad to report that I ran all throughout, even on the flyovers, and catching with many others along the way. Sid and I gradually caught up with the race crowd, and by km12, I upped the ante a bit by promising myself and my faster companion that we should overtake at least 20 runners from then on. We were on a negative split mode so it was a good challenge. Slowly we overtook them, mumbling the count to ourselves a good distance after every overtaken runner. Halfway through we already reached our target, so we simply counted how many more we can overtake. By the time we reached the finish line, the count has reached 42. We outlasted all 42, even the lone brave heart who tried to overtake us back. Not bad at all for an easy, cruising run capped by 3 bottles of Yakult.

It was fun observing the runners running towards or away from us. This crowd is clearly different from the usual crowd, but on that particular morning I actually welcomed the change. Like us, this crowd was here for a basic run, and we got what we wanted. There were two Kenyans, a generous sprinkling of nameless, serious runners, and hosts of ordinary people out to push themselves a bit. I saw familiar faces from Adination BHS, MOA and Alabang, running ninja Sam, forefoot runner Mar, as well as meek runner Anna taking photos and still basking on her TBR marathon finish :-)

In the middle of the run, Sid and I encountered a runner or two shouting "Endure" to us. We smiled and nodded back. I thought maybe they recognized me from my blog, or from our recent Endure BlackBerry Aquathlon, but our funny conversation from some people at the finish line made me think otherwise. At the finish line, we made small talk with a parent of our aquathlon participant. Before leaving they had a photo taken with us. They were on their way out when suddenly the dad blurted, "Wait, Sid, ikaw ba yung nasa Endure video "Halika Bata, Mag-Triathlon Tayo". We all had a nice laugh. Sid, sikat ka na. Haha.

You can view Sid's video for Endure's BlackBerry Love video contest here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8tNI63Ex0o

Check out Endure's BlackBerry Love on Facebook if you want to win a BlackBerry Curve phone.

Small is Beautiful

I can easily recall my most memorable foot races.

The 5k run that defined me and inspired the title of this blog is a small Milo elimination race in Baguio. My first race back in 2003, I was late, no warm-up, sprained an ankle in my stupidity and haste, persevered and limped the whole way to complete my first 5k and claim my first finisher shirt. Small race, lasting impressions.

My favorite 10K thus far is the 2008 Ictus Run in UP Diliman. It was my alma mater's centennial, I was running for a personal best in honor of my beloved university. It was my personal offering, my oblation run. I came short, but my personal effort - it was pure, it was honorable. Small race, grand intentions.

My best marathon experience occured not in clean and fancy Singapore, but in hot and dusty Manila. In 2009, a small group of friends and I did our maiden marathon during the Milo eliminations, supported by well-meaning friends who believed in our quest for self-actualization. It was a most beautiful story of camaraderie, encouragement, community spirit and mutual support. The 42k Milo crowd was smaller then, but big on courage, heart and spirit. Small race, overwhelming experience.

I long to experience again the beauty of the small race. On March 27, I shall do my favorite Yakult 10-miler for the 4th time if I am not mistaken.

Running with Others, For Others (Yakult Race 2008)

Pre-race

For my favorite 10-miler (Yakult) race, I was already all set the day before. I have packed my running gears and accessories. I even checked the tire pressure on my bike and then loaded it into my vehicle in the event I still have the energy for a 30K ride. Optimist that I am, I also brought swimwear and goggles in case I make a crazy attempt to swim in Rizal Memorial Coliseum thereafter. "Pasma" is folkloric belief without scientifc basis, according to anthropologist Michael Tan, so a reverse-tri should be no harm. Besides, relaxed swimming is physical and mental therapy for me.

At 5am race day I was already in my vehicle to go to CCP. I turned on the ignition key. No response. I did it again. No response. Did it 3 more times. Crap, I am going to be late again for a race! I remembered Colossian 1:17 and my post "There are No Bad Runs". Ok St. Paul, what is God to trying to say to me this time?....Hmmmn, so you want me to remain positive in the midst of adversity. Okay, I will walk to the village gate and look for a cab. Fifteen minutes later there was still no cab. Times I like this, I miss my condo in the heart of the city. Anxious but still upbeat, I flagged a tricycle to bring me to bring me to where taxis abound. After 2 taxi rejections, I was finally taxi-bound to CCP.

With Bikining Itim and Butchikik as background music inside the taxi, I tried to discern God's message for me. Don't sweat the small stuff? Ok, I will finally bring the vehicle to the casa for its regular check-up... Oh I get it, it's family. I was so busy reading running blogs and forums, I forgot to book a place for our family Christmas dinner. Yikes, I haven't booked dental appointment for my balikbayan sister! I haven't began shopping for gifts. The list goes on and on...Ok God, I promise to attend to all these, but can you please allow me to run my race first?

The Race Proper

I arrived in the race site with enough time to take a leak and do warm-ups. Thanks, God. The race signal was finally given, but I still had no race plan in mind. Very uncharacteristic of me. All I wanted was to run this distance and route. So ran I did while surveying the runner landscape and scenery. There went my first flyover and I was in heaven again. After the second flyover, I saw the elite runners coming back from the first turn. Look at those quads and calves at work! God's bio-engineering marvels. My favorite female runner Ellen Tolentino passed by like Artemis on the road. For a dog lover like me, this was like watching the Best In Show competition in a championship dog show. If there is one strong motivation for me to run fast, it is to regularly behold God's magnificent creatures running on asphalt, and to appreciate them from a closer distance.

I saw more people. Statuesque running beauty queen Gem Padilla whose long legs and wind-caressed hair weaken my knees. I saw bloggers Taki (Tech Spec), Jinoe (Manokan Express) and Dennis (Running Fatboy). Sorry boys I have no lofty phrases for you aside from "you are way faster than me." I saw a girl in fuschia Adidas shirt with this phrase on the back: I like Men Chasing Me. She outran me for most of the distance, but I obeyed her wish towards the finish line. Cool shirt, Miss. I hope you have more along those lines :-). I also saw a doe-eyed female runner from Pinoy Ultra Runners and all I can say is, "May your tribe increase."

For most part of the race, my mind was shuttling between Philippines and Singapore. On the asphalt lanes of Roxas Boulevard I was imagining I was running in a marathon. I was still in the process of strengthening my left foot, but I was trying to go as close as possible and tolerable to my ideal marathon pace of 6min/km or a perfect 10kph. For the past few weeks I have been trying to slowly build my long run relaxed pace to 10kph. I would slow down at the first sign of pain for I cannot afford to be injured. I tried to distinguish between kinds of pain. Muscle pains I can endure, but joint pains I avoid at all cost. I welcome with courage the pain that screams my body is alive and is doing its best to regenerate and strengthen itself, but I watch out for that pain that tells me that I am doing something idiotic, egoistic or destructive.

While I concentrated on running form and pain watch, my mind would often wander to Singapore. I thought of my friend Karen who was doing her first marathon and her cousin Tsi doing the half. I wondered how they were doing, moreso Karen. I would often look at my watch and wonder at what kilometer they were. How was she holding up? I knew she trained hard for this, but as a friend I wanted to help. I thought by running strong that day I would somehow help her. Then I thought of cramps and quickly, energy-sapping Dementors entered my mind. I conjured up a Patronos in the mold of my Sheltie Sofia, and send her off to accompany Karen on her marathon. I thought of this blogger posting that marathoning is an act of insanity (My Iron Shoes) and asked Sofia to be on the lookout for her as well (I hope she is not afraid of dogs). I thought of the other Filipinos there - Jaymie the Bullrunner and many others. I hoped my Sofia would also bring them cheer.

As I tried to run strong for my friends and compatriots in Singapore, I would get pumped up and sometimes run beyond my maximum tolerable level of effort. I would remind myself that that was against the target race plan. One section I ran faster than planned and I experienced initial signs of side stitch. For a moment I panicked. My Patronos Sofia was in Singapore so I summoned my beagle Athena instead. I hope there wouldn't be more problems or I would ran out of mid-sized dogs to summon. It would be cruel to pit my tiny pomeranians against Dementors! With the virtual Athena running alongside me, I realized my diaphragm was just becoming tense and I should slow down to my relaxed pace. I forced myself to run only as fast as my nasal breathing would allow.

I wanted badly to race the last 1.5 kilometers but my shorts wouldn't let me!!! A week ago I did my 25K LSD with cycling shorts on. I thought hencefort I would follow this practice for runs above 10K to avoid chafing and rolling up of my shorts, and to provide support to my quads and hamstrings. What I forgot was that I have been steadily slimming down, and that the old pair I wore would slide down my ass. The effect was worse when I mustered my quad muscles for the sprint. Thank God I wore a long upper garment and I have hydration pack to cover my oversight. Drooping shorts notwithstanding, I overtook about 18 people within 700 meters from finish line. Last 200 meters I was actually laughing at myself as I faced the embarassing prospect of exposed behind as I raced a guy to the finish line. Bahala na si Batman!

I finished at my personal time of 1:47:43 (probably 1:48 on official clock). This was better than my VSO 15K of 1:50:34 last month and my 2003 Yakult 10-mile of 2:15. That's good enough for me. For now :-)

Post race

I will post after-race pictures in separate blog entry.

Photos from Yakult Race 2008

This is the view from my vantage point at race start.

I chucked up the courage to introduce myself to my favorite female runner, Ellen Tolentino, and have my photo taken.

Finally met Vener and his wife Christy (below)

I was also able to meet Bro J and his wife Baby, as well as Jinoe and Quennie, and Wilbert, but I forgot to take pictures in the excitement. Quennie and Wilbert, congrats on your Accenture runs.

Finally have a photo of Zorro, whom I used to see way back 2003 when I started running.

On my way to Roxas Boulevard to hail a cab, I passed by the dragon boat rowers. My team has finished their session, but I chance upon another team just about to board the boat. Ahhh, one of these days I will row again.