Crash

	Dave Matthews - Crash Into Me
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

It was a typical drive home last night when RX93.1 played Crash (Into Me) by Dave Matthews Band. It's just so amazing how a song such as Crash could put one into senti mode.

As the vocals sailed through the lyrics and the acoustic guitar strumming in the background, my thoughts went to how fortunate the missus and I are to have Lucas and Matteo, both wonderful (wonderful!) boys that have completed our family.

Sweet like candy to my soul

Sweet you rock

and sweet you roll

I remember that moment last Sunday evening, when, after having arrived home from Paranaque, the missus was on the passenger seat carrying a sleeping Lucas while I was on the driver's seat with a dozed Matteo around my arms since the yaya had to walk ahead in order to open the main door upstairs. As we waited, it was only the car aircon and soft music from 96.3 that was heard. I looked at the missus and, thought to myself, this is a Kodak moment. The missus and I just looked, and smiled.

When you come crash

into me, baby

And I come into you

In a boys dream

In a boys dream

I just look several years back and remember how the missus and I met and first fell in love. Who would've known that as we were getting to know each other deeply, we would end up having these two wonderful boys come into our world. If I'd ever go back, I would never change a thing.

My senti-ness had been interrupted for I had reached the compound and parked the car. Beyond that walk down to the dining area, the missus and my 2 boys would be there, waiting as always.

Oh and you come crash

into me, baby

Hancock (2008)

Hmmm, ok lang.

Weight Loss Update: A Good Morning

It was a very good (good!) morning earlier today as I stepped on our weighing scale: 170.4lbs!




This is the first time that I've reached the 170lb mark since I've started this weight loss goal of mine. A major contributing factor has been all the kilometers I've been marking on my tickerfactory.com since I started running late March.

I hope to keep this momentum until December since EG had extended our own Biggest Loser contest until the end of the year. The prize? Still the coveted Zoom Kobe IV lang naman. Among the 5 contestants, I'm required to lose the most pounds: 19lbs to be exact. Whew!

Ngayon pa naman na dumating na cholesterol/tryglycerides results ko from my annual physical, both of which are away from the normal readings, kelangan tuloy-tuloy na.

On running, I've already psyched myself to step up to the 10km level. I started a 10km test-run last week with LA and BE which was quite satisfactory on my terms since I didn't walk the entire time. Sobrang bagal lang on the last 4kms since I found it quite difficult to finish. This morning, before my weigh-in above, I ran 7.5kms para naman di ako mabigla when I try the whole 10km next week. Next race: the BOTAK 10k Paa-bilisan series at The Fort on May10.

Yup, running's really addicting especially if you have a goal to lose weight. Sarap ng pakiramdam when you step on the scale afterwards.

Btw, my Slimmerun official time is 31:02 which is an improvement from my Condura 33:50 time.

Step Up For a Cause 5k

By Thursday morning I was already decided not to run for the above event on Apr26. However, MP handed me his registration form and, since I lived near the GMA network office, asked me to register him and his friends. 

It was too hard to resist. Ahhhgghhh. I finally succumbed to my new addiction and printed out a registration form for myself. By lunchtime I was at the GMA office to register MP for the 10k ---and myself for the 5k. 150 bucks. Not bad seeing that the racebib has a barcode marker which looked promising since the Condurarun had a barcode monitor as well.

So, I'll be waking up early tomorrow for my 3rd 5k run in over a month. Btw, the Slimmerun 5k official results just came in. My official time was 31:02 and finished #150 out of 450 5k runners. Still, an improvement from my Condurarun which was at 33:50.

I wish the missus could join me (who btw is starting to train via 30-45min walks on the treadmill regularly) in tomorrow's run since there COULD BE a few showbiz personalities from the Kapuso network running although the missus, a Kapamilya, said, "Malamang hindi ko naman makikilala karamihan dun" since she watches ABSCBN more often. Never the less, I'll bring my trusty ol' digicam in case I need to be a paparazzi on the run, hehe.

I could only imagine if Mike Enriquez ran and, if I overtake him, he would shout out and say:

"Hindi kita tatantanaaan!!!"

So, as in the Slimmerun, I hope to finish faster (below 30mins sana) before I move up to the 10k races.

Wish me luck!

The Masked Runner

Anybody know this guy? I saw him at the Slimmerun last Saturday stretching out during the cool down after the race. This is actually the 2nd time I saw him, previously seeing him a year ago at the UP Ikot walking by his lonesome around the famed oval. Spooky. That was when the missus and I went to her old campus to find out if the famed fishballs are still there to our detriment.

The guy looks creepy, but I bet he's a good runner. Probably the costume is something that he wants to wear to release his dark side.

Btw, my mind is back and forth thinking if I should run again this Sunday: Step Up For A Cause 5k c/o Q-TV. My original goal is to participate in a race once a month, probably running the 5k for 5 months before I step up to the 10k level.

Oh well, if you don't see me at The Fort on Sunday morning, then I would probably be in UP Ikot running with my officemates in preparation for the company's May17 Fun Run. Who knows, I might be running (literally) into the Masked Runner again.

The Promotion (2008)

Uhhhmmm....naaaah. Don't watch it.

Taken (2008)

Ang gandaaaaaaaa!!!!! Heart-pounding action! Mabibilib ka kay Liam.

"I have a very special set of skills...."

I think if you have a daughter you'll think twice on sending her abroad for a vacation or anything.

You NEED to watch this!

Race Review: Slimmerun 2009

If only my 1st official run wasn't the Condura Run, the Slimmerun would've been great. However, I can't help but compare the two after the race.


Originally, the 16k runners should've started earlier at 5.30am but due to certain reasons I wasn't aware of, all 3k/5k/16k runners started at the same time which was 6am. I positioned myself towards the middle of the pack so as not to get tumbled on by the faster runners. After all, I wasn't there to be the fastest. I was there to beat my own personal record of 33:50 set in the Condura Run.

The host was doing his job well, greeting everyone and plugging products here and there until he suddenly started counting down.

10, 9, 8, 7.....

Syete! I looked at my watch and it was 6am but I still saw a lot of runners at the sidelines stretching, warming-up, chatting.

Imagine the queue on the portalets running towards the starting gate.

...6, 5, 4, 3....

Imagine the poor guy/gal INSIDE the portalets.

...2, 1...BANG!


And we were off! I promised myself na hindi ako padadala sa mga mabibilis tumakbo at the start so that I can pace myself up to the finish line but, as what had happened, my pace was fast going into the 1st 1.5kms. I slowed down my pace after that since I knew that from the end of Rizal Avenue up to the U-turn near Fifth Avenue Place, the elevation would be upwards. The water station after 2kms was set up poorly, i.e. it was on the other side of the road so we all had to cross to get water.


The next water station was before and after the U-turn. So the 5km leg had 3 water stations versus Condura which only had one. The thing that I didn't like was that the race officials didn't manage the traffic well since I found myself signaling to oncoming/intersecting cars whenever we crossed roads. The race officials should've taken care of this like how it was well-organized in the Condura Run.

I found myself walking for about 100 or so meters but that was all the walking I did. At the last turn seeing the finish line, I was proud of myself as I crossed the line with my new personal record (unofficial): 30mins, 53secs. I was about 3mins faster than my previous 5k. WOW!


Bumawi din naman in the end yung Slimmerun due to lots of giveaways. There was actually a total of 3 Vitwater bottles since the 1st one was handed to the runners immediately after the finish line before receiving the loot bag and t-shirt. The shirt would've been nicer if they've put in "FINISHER" on it, panindak when I take my UP-ikot practice runs. Hehehe.



Of course, the SlimmersWorld Miss Bikini 2009 models were there to cheer on. Magaganda? Well, let me just safely say: it's a bikini contest. ;-)

Twilight (2008)

Nice! Although many say that the book is better (like most adaptations).

* * *

Sunset

When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator --Mahatma Gandhi

My family and I spent the late-afternoon of Good Friday at Harbour Square. We were fortunate enough to view the wonderful sunset that Manila Bay is famous of. Here are some pics I took with my Nokia N85. Too bad I didn't bring my digicam since my cam-phone didn't give the sunset enough justice.

Paikot-Ikot

I have to admit, I'm addicted to running nowadays. I often wake up just about 6am every morning thinking if I should get up and lace on my shoes and run, whether on the treadmill or on the road. The reasons why I won't run is either Lucas is already awake or if I ran the previous day.

The missus has picked up running as well. Last week she bought a pair of Adidas shoes and started walking against the news of Jennylyn who had a freak post-pregnancy accident while working. Undaunted, the missus has proceeded in inviting me to try the UP Ikot route in Diliman. Owa, my mom-in-law, joined too.

Since then I've gone to UP Ikot on 3 occassions. The missus is well on the road to (sports) recovery as she has walked 1.5x around the circuit, with Owa covering a round of the route as well. My driver btw, ran around the oval 4 times (wow!).

This morning, my 3rd time, I went there again with my officemate BE in preparation for next Saturday's Slimmerun race. I was able to go around the oval twice on a good non-stop jogging pace and then walked/ran/walked the 3rd time. Btw, the oval measured EXACTLY 2.2kms as proven by our car's odometer.

Tomorrow is a Sunday, and again, I'm thinking of running in the morning probably just around in our neighborhood.

But before tomorrow morning comes tonight's most important question: saan kaya kami kakaen? :-)

My Best Friend's Girl (2008)

Cute!

The Love Guru (2008)

Ang hirap pala magpigil ng tawa, especially when watching this movie in the office. Hehe.

If you loved watching Austin Powers, you'll definitely love this.

Funny!!!

SlimmeRun 5K-route Practice Run

At 6:15am this morning BE (my officemate) and I set off to The Fort for a practice run of the SlimmeRun 5k route. BE bought (finally!) a pair of Adidas running shoes yesterday and he texted me if running this morning was possible. Para i-break-in yung sapatos, I thought. Initially we were supposed to run here at my neighborhood but decided that the dogs here may not be too friendly on a Monday-holiday morning.

I found a nifty website called mapmyrun.com which uses Google Maps to help find out and measure the length/elevation of whatever running-path you would like (as long as it's seen in Google Maps). I traced out the SlimmeRun-5k route and, after several repetitions, I was (a little) disappointed that the entire race-length was short of 0.33kms.

So BE and I started off our run. Actually I started about 2-3mins earlier than him since he wanted a full stretch first since he was taking care of his left knee which was injured before.

I sort of skipped the last 200 meters to the finish (took a shortcut, hehe), looked at my watch and saw that I timed at 28+ minutes. Plus the remaining 200meters, I would've finished at 30mins, well below my Condura Run time of 33mins. Well, we'll just find out on race day if I'm able to do better.

SlimmeRUN 2009

The SlimmeRUN 2009. This is my next target 5k race. I think I'll try to join a race once a month, just to keep me conditioned in a race environment aside from my weekly 5k runs. I love the way such races are organized, i.e. vehicle traffic is cleared from the race path, no dogs, and there are water stops along the way.

I was able to coax 4 of my officemates (so far) into joining the race on the 18th. MP, who also ran with me in the 5k Condura Run, will participate in the SlimmeRUN 16k race ---not for me, YET.

I think my goal for next year's Condura Run is to run the 21k half-marathon, something to add in my "been there, done that" list.

Weight Loss Update: No thanks to Beer and Liempo

I think I have to set a short-term weight-loss goal. The 152lbs target weight seems to impossible at this point. Whenever I seem to be on a roll, the weekend is suddenly there like a table full of freshly-cooked rice and inihaw na Monterey liempo. The liempo is thinly sliced in such a way that the fatty part tastes so crispy and juicy when accompanied by a spoonful of rice. A sip of regular Coke will just take your breath away. The superbness of the liempo's taste just overwhelms the guilt that you'll only feel the next day when you tip the scales.

Monday evening didn't help as well since I had a drinking/pulutan spree at V8 Baresto courtesy of birthday-boy RC, who had just stopped courting a girl after their 2nd date proved too much for him. He said "she'd always put herself down," something that RC doesn't need at his current pre-mid-age crisis. There are many other fish in the sea, we told him. He just sipped his beer and continued on to the next topic: reminiscing our college days.

Anyway, the subzero/below-zero(?) frozen SanMig Light was a delight since I'm not really a beer-drinker myself. Normally I'd only finish a bottle since I find the taste so bland especially when the coldness drifts away. The beer served in V8 tasted well up to the last sip, making me finish 2.75 bottles that night (and a mountainful of pulutan).

The end result? I weighed 174.2lbs Tuesday morning.

Sigh....

Well I got back into perspective the next few days and ran 5km this morning on the treadmill and almost (almost!) beat my Condura Run time of 33:50 by almost a minute (34:46). I hope to be below my current record by Sunday morning's run.

After that run, I now weighed 173.8lbs. I'm back on course. Thank God!!!

Short term goal short term goal short term goal....

Ok here we go. I'll target to reach the (impossible) weight of 170lbs before Easter. A lot of holidays next week so that'll give me enough opportunity to run in the mornings without pressure of being late for work.

Wish me luck!!!

Smart People (2008)

Ok lang.