In good times and in bad times...

I didn't expect to do a run this month as most are located far from where I live (Milo Provincial Races, Subic Legacy Run, Makiling 10K Run to name a few). The only runs held near my place were the PMI PROUDLY 60 RUN in UP and Raising Hope 2 Run in Rockwell, both to be held on September 21, 2008.


I didn't expect to join any of these runs either as my Saturday was quite busy... busy going to Tagaytay with my girlfriend Per to eat at Sonya's Garden. The travel time alone takes a lot of patience given the long distance and the heavy traffic from road closures in South Super Hi-Way but make it we did for the salad and pasta buffet.


This was something Per and I planned for a few weeks now (and to which I secretly planned for more than a month) as a place to head to and have a good time. We have eaten here twice already in the last three years but we were both pleasantly surprised that it was still a crowd-drawer (nevermind how far it is) and it even looked better as it expanded its dining area to serve hungry customers and now has body massage and bed & breakfast options as well.


It was here that I popped The Question to her. My plan involved a secluded place, a game board and some added bonuses at the back of the car to still be given to her regardless of her answer. A camera is always handy too. If things turn favorable for you, you can have some keepsake memory. If things do not, well ..... said camera has an erase option. Haha!


Luckily, I didn't have to press that button as she said YES to my question, which made me a very very happy RFB! :)


Heading back to Manila, I came up with an idea that we should celebrate being engaged by doing a run together and finishing at the same time (I know, moment ruiner!). But that's what we still did. We chose the UP Run as wanted to do an actual race to motivate ourselves for a nice finish time.


I woke up at 4AM, picked up Per and we headed to UP. We got there around 520AM, registered for the 10Km race, put on our bibs and did some stretches at the starting line. My plan was to keep Per strong thoughout the race and running beside her the entire time. There was no sun and no rain either so weather was quite good. The course was mostly downhill and for the 10Km course, it's two 5Km loops to the finish line.
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Running in U.P. Campus is still the best place for me given its nice road course and lots of trees that surround the area. Our race started at 6AM and before long, the 5Km race started as well with fast runners from that category overtaking us. But we ignored them as we focused on our own running. There were enough water to go around as well..
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As in any marriage, there are always some good times and some bad times. You just got to figure out how to work things out. The important thing is doing it and handling it together.
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As a symbolism of things to come, that is what we did in our race this morning: doing it together. And as for the good times and bad times, well, in this race, Per had her best time in a 10KM race, beating her goal of 1 hour 20 minutes by completing it in 1 hour and 18 minutes, a full 7 minutes faster than her previous 10Km record of 1 hour 25 minutes.
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And as for me, it was my worst finish time, a full 20 minutes slower than my best 10Km time of 58 minutes. But that is okay, because finishing a race with Per, well, that would still count as my best time ever....
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Relaxing the day before at Sonya's Garden.
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Still at Sonya's Garden

Spur of the moment race the next day

My race bib


We got here quite early so took some shots before race began

First race we started and ended together...definitely not our last one.