Monday, April 28, 2014

I'm Registered for RU2

...and one step closer to completing the Trilogy!

How about you? 

Registration opens today (via online at www.runrio.com or by visiting Riovana stores)

Luckily, I was able to register early due to participating in RU1 21km.

Now, how to do my long runs in this Insane Hot Weather??!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Earth Run 10km 2014


This was a hilly course as it went through Kalayaan Bridge and onto Buendia Avenue which is rare for a 10km race.

There were also some small inclines on BGC which we had to tackle too.

But aside from the course being difficult, it was nice in that it was pretty much straightforward and didn't have a lot of turns like most of 10km races held in BGC.

When we ran the 10km race, there was another ongoing race (St Luke's Hospital) and for the last 3 km, we would run on the same route so it was difficult to weave through all these runners!  

On the hydration aspect of the race, it was more than enough as it was placed every 1.5km and aside from water, they had Pocari Sweat too (but since there was another race, I wasn't sure if this all belonged to our race).

Still, it was a good race and one to test your speed and endurance.


Quite surprised with my finish time but very happy too!  Praise God!  Not only did I beat this year's 10km PR of 1:04 but I also beat last year's 10km PR of 1:01 (6:08 pace), which was my ultimate goal for 10km for this year!

Having finish this race at sub-60 (although technically short 200 meters) is another bonus for me!

Thank God!  To Him all the Glory!!

Thanks Alvin for all the speedwork and tempo you made me do.  I hated it every single time but it is nice to see some good thing come out of it! Ha ha!





Monday, April 7, 2014

Extreme Back to Back Race!!

RACE # 1 - OUTBREAK MISSIONS INTRAMUROS 5KM


Considering this is an Outbreak Mission, there are less running and more walking but it was still a tiring one as we walked on the uneven walls of Intramuros, do quick sprints as we try to avoid the Zombie Horde and try to solve the mission.

Our race started around 9:30PM...


at the beginning

 And we were a team of 5, but one of the rules of the game was to group ourselves into 10-15 members so we found two more groups and designated ourselves as TEAM CHOPSUEY!

Immediately after we were released into the Zombie Infestation, we all ran separately as we would do our best to avoid their Zombie hands on our precious "red tape" lives.  It lasted two minutes and most survived with all three red tapes intact.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case for Per as she lost all three lives in that two minutes.  How that happened we had no idea!  She was dead in this game!

But at least she had no pressure to run against the zombies!  Haha!

There were a few more attacks inside the walled city and there was a new gimmick as well:  we would follow the red light on the ground and we would be safe.  Of course we didn't expect the red light to disappear mid-way and there was a big panic as zombies headed toward our direction! 

As in previous Outbreak Races and Missions, casualties were bound to happen and one of our team members fell to the ground early on and cut her knee and elbow.  There were also some people who couldn't handle the stress and wanted to quit the game altogether.

So from 9:30pm start in a 5km race, we ended at 12 midnight!  Two and a half hours!!!

team Chopsuey

Luckily Alvin found an extra life and gave it to Per, who needed it badly  This time she kept it intact till the game was over and got a dog tag out of it.






Definitely not the end!

We haven't eaten anything yet for dinner so off we all went to Binondo for some authentic Chinese food!


Forgot the name of this place but it was really really good!  Thanks Alvin for the nice recommendation!

After having our midnight dinner, it was time to go home, take a shower, and sleep for two hours because at 5:45AM, it was time for

 RACE # 2 - TAKBO NG PAMILYANG MANILENO 10KM

 My legs were tight from Outbreak and I lacked sleep.  Still, I managed to wake up at 4AM and took that as a sign that I could do a 10km race.  Not sure on the pace though as I wasn't 100% that morning.

I wanted to at least do a sub-7 minute per kilometer pace all throughout the race and beat my 7:34 average pace that I did in a 10km race last January. 

Even with the tight legs which thankfully got looser at the second half, I was able to maintain a 6:45 average pace and even brought it down to 6:31 average pace and do a negative split!  I beat my previous 10km record for the year by more than 10 minutes!

PRAISE GOD for this!

Too bad I didn't make it to the top 100 finishers for the10km category and lost my chance to get one of the finisher shirts but it was still a fun event!

10km Route Map

two conquered races over the weekend!

Of course with all the running and lack of sleep, I ended up sleeping for more than 10 hours Sunday night!!

Thank God for keeping me healthy, safe and strong!


Thanks Alvin for the ride to Luneta and for the race kit for Sunday's Run!