Race Review: JG Summit Employees Run

This was the very first orgranized race conducted inside Heritage Park. With runrio.com overseeing the race, the 5km route would comprise two loops while the 10km would have 4 loops. With an entrance fee of P250, it came with the standard racebib and a cool singlet with the JG summit colors.

I have to admit that running 4 loops would seem monotonous. But that changed when the gun sounded. The last time I ran inside Heritage Park was during the Autoreview 10k and that was only 1 loop since it was only part of the Mckinley "killer" route. Running 4 times around Heritage Park was a "killer" in itself since it had its share of steep and slow inclines and descents.

I was aiming for a more respectable finish versus my 69mins PR ---but failed. I managed to arrive 72mins, my worst performance yet. But at least I got to beat our company CEO and 2 other VPs to the finish. That's me below reaching the finish line with our CEO and 1 VP a good distance behind, hehehe.

This Sunday is another run at Heritage Park: the company sportsfest. No registration fee so definitely I'll run this one, lalo na that I want to improve on yesterday's dismal run. 10k again so I hope to do better.


Great organization of the race although I heard two officemates who ran 5k made 3 loops instead of two (runners or organizer's fault? hehe).

Goodbye Michael

I felt sadness for Lucas when I heard Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest yesterday. Lucas, by the influence of the 2 bugoys last year, had learned to idolize MJ and his songs and moves. He'd always insist on playing his favorite MJ songs in the car (imagine playing Beat It over and over again from our house to Lolo's house, grabe). He's memorized the tunes (and lyrics, although not clearly) to Beat It, Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, Dangerous, They Don't Care About Us, and Black or White. He doesn't like Thriller ever since he saw the MTV on Youtube. Got scared with the monster make-up I guess. At Owa's smooth bedroom floor, Lucas has learned to moonwalk in his own cute way. MJ had definitely become Lucas' 1st idol.

Below is one of Lucas' favorite MJ YouTube videos (aside from the Beat It MTV):

He's too young now to realize that MJ had passed away but I'm not. Again, seeing a high profile celebrity die had made me wonder again on my life, on how I'm living it now, and on how will I be able to face death when the time comes. I hope I'll be ready to answer to my Maker when that day comes.

Life is short so I have to continue striving to live it right.

Btw, my all-time favorite MJ song is Billie Jean in case you want to know.

Madagascar 2 (2008)

Funny, especially King Julian!

The First(?) Laiya 10k

It was the day before our department's planned summer outing in Coco Grove Resort in Laiya, San Juan, Batangas when I thought of a crazy plan: why not run 10k along the main road of San Juan in the morning? This, of course, after hours of drinking the night before the run.


MP, AQ, DB, and BE all agreed it was a crazy plan but, addicted runners as we are, we all turned up for the 4-hour trip the next day with our running shoes and gear in tow.


Friday night was the usual drinking spree of Sanmig Light and Grand Matador Brandy. I sneaked off to my bed at around 1:15am. The drinking spree ended at 3am with AQ, BE and MP still there. I felt since we all slept late, it would be bad for us to wake up early for this run.


Nevertheless...the phone's alarm clock rang at 6am.


I woke up trying to fight the laziness to go back to bed, and put my running gear on. I woke up the rest of the gang and, surprisingly, they all donned their gear as well. MP brought his Nike hydration belt since there'll be no water station to assist us on this trip. And so, at 6:30am, the first(?) Laiya 10k began.


We had to pass through about a 400m dirt road off the resort just to get to the main road. We setup our stopwatches and my NSTB and off we went on a 7min/km pace.


This was everyone's first here so we had to watch out for dogs (fortunately there were none who took interested on our sweaty legs). Bystanders were in awe as well since they saw these 5 (stupid) guys destroying a completely relaxed vacation away from Manila.


"Running team kayo?"


"Kaya mo pa abutan yun!"


Those were some of the chants we got from them which was quite new to me since I don't encounter cheering when I run races at The Fort.


At the 5km turnaround point, we all went to our preferred paces: MP and DB zooming off, BE increasing a little, while AQ passed me to run his pace. I remained on my pace although I started slowing down to about 8min/km (haaay, maling strategy na naman). I later found out from MP that the 7min/km pace that I started with was too fast for a warm-up pace.


The route back was a killer in terms of slow inclines and turns. But it was all worth it.


Towards the 7km mark, I saw BE covering the back of his neck with his palm since the sun started to shine already. Good thing I wore my trusty cap and switched it a la Robin Padilla to cover the back of my neck. Ayos.


BE started to get thirsty so he had to make a stop at a roadside carinderia in which the tindera obliged to give him water from their cooler. It was about 9km at this point. He zoomed off when I told him the remaining distance.


I clocked in last at 1:12 when I reached the finish. All of us tired but smiling towards our way back to the resort. It was a great run. It was now time to go have our breakfsat buffet and hit the beach to relax.


Saraaaaaap!

Btw, the NSTB for this race can be found here.

Training Program for 21k

My long-term goal for running is to at least have finished a half-marathon. In particular, I would like to run (and finish) a half-marathon by next year's Condura Run which I hope would have an exciting route similar to last March wherein the runners traversed the Skyway. It was truly an amazing site to see 21k runners approaching the finish line and being given their finisher's medal (not a shirt, mind you, but a medal).

I would like to be one of those (elite) runners come Condura Run 2010, hopefully to conquer the Skyway as well. No need to chase a PR since finishing the whole 21k will be a major feat in itself. Something to add on my "been there, done that" list.

I've been browsing around on the 'net for possible 21k training programs and I chanced upon an article on coolrunning.com. Has anyone tried following these training programs and successfully managed to finish their target race?

Bedtime Stories (2008)

Nice popcorn movie. Classic Adam Sandler.

Fabulous Finds: Chef's Bistro

The missus and I've been wanting to try Chef's Bistro ever since we saw it a few months back just off Tomas Morato. Last Saturday evening, we were already going for Chinese but then decided to give Chef's Bistro a try since anyway, the missus hasn't failed yet in trying out the places to dine.

When you enter the place, you'll find yourself looking up to appreciate the works of art hanging above the walls.

They have a brief menu going thru the usual courses. The missus a.k.a. "pumpkin soup connoisseur" ordered the usual soup and I had the seafood chowder. Both tasted great.

For the main course, I ordered the salmon. I was quite disappointed since the white wine was only on a per bottle basis. So the usual seafood dish that I order was accompanied by Coke Light that night. The salmon tasted well especially with the green pistacchio sauce.

The missus ordered the porkloin which tasted good as well.

Owa, my mom-in-law, got the Bistro Red Pasta, a hefty serving I might add.

Desserts listed are all crepes so the missus ordered butter and sugar, the same crepe she orders at Cafe Breton.

In summary, Chef's Bistro serves great food with average price. A fabulous find, indeed.

Angels And Demons

Great plot. Not bad. The missus and I almost got teary-eyed in the last scene.

Watch it.

Race Review: Mizuno 10k

After days of rain, the sun had greeted all the racers yesterday morning at the starting gate of the Mizuno 10k. The 15k racers had left a little before 5:30am since I saw the lead pack when I was heading for the BHS parking lot.


I pinned my racebib and headed to the corral where I met Obet, an old football buddy in DBTI. He was running the 5k and said he usually averages below 30mins which has improved his game. He encouraged me to come back and play every Saturday again but since I live far from Makati now, I told him I'll just try one of these Saturdays.


There were a lot of 10k runners compared to the Autoreview 10k I joined 2 weeks ago. Each of them stretching and warming up to the leader at the podium giving instructions as I entered the corral. Being a Japanese company, it was only right that the starting gun be triggered by one of their nationals (and probably big bosses here).



It was 5:55am when the gun fired. Wow, so far so good.


My learnings from the Autoreview 10k have been put into this Mizuno 10k. First, I went to the CR twice before heading to the starting gate so as not to embarass myself from going to a resto helplessly looking for a place to pee. Second, I adjusted my playlist such that the first 5k will play slow to middle tempo songs while the second half would play my usual upbeat tunes. This coincides with my strategy to have a good pace throughout the race.


Time to beat: 69mins.


The race route is similar to the BOTAK 10k last month except that on the way back from the Buendia flyover, we turned right towards Rizal avenue and traced the route back. BOTAK 10k went straight from Buendia flyover towards Serendra past Market2x.


I felt I ran better this time since I learned to maintain my pace past the 5k. Further, the slow elevating incline of the Buendia flyover was "panis" this time since I slowed my pace on the way up, passing by panting walking runners who might've not considered the killer incline on their way back (which was the case for me during Botak 10k).


I accelerated my pace on the last 500meters since I saw my watch at 1:07. Damn! That meant I won't be able to beat my 69mins PR. But still I sprinted since at least I could stay within my current PR of 69mins.


I made it to the finish line at 69mins 40secs. Well, to please my efforts, the NSTB app recorded the distance at 11.13kms at an average pace of 6:15. So, if I were to proportion that to a 10k exact distance, my time would be 62mins. Ok na rin yung 69mins if you look at it that way. Hehe.


I think one downside of this race was that the Gatorade booth was mayhem. There was no queue to get a bottle of Gatorade so you have to squeeze in to get one. This was opposed to the finisher shirts booth which had queues for different mens and womens sizes. Nice shirt btw!


I uploaded my race stats to the Nokia Sports Tracker Beta website which you can see here. It was nice to see that my pace is improving so I hope in my next 10k I'll be able to beat my PR.


My next race? It'll be a company run hosted by JG Summit for all JG companies. It's gonna be on June 28 in Mckinley Hill (another hilly route) and I'll be running the 10k. A week after that, it's another 10k company run (sportsfest) at Mckinley Hill again.

For now, I'll be thinking of playing football in the next raceless two weeks.

Below-Zero Conversations

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27 Dresses (2008)

Maganda na sana pero it failed me in the ending. But I'll forgive it since Katherine Heigl starring.

Pwede na rin.