22 hours all over Metro Manila..

What a busy Sunday (November 30th) for me. My schedule that day were as follows:

3:50AM - Alarm of cell phone goes off. Time to wake up! But very hard. Sluggish!

4:00AM - Call Per and wake her up too.

4:45AM - Picked up Per in Pasig City. Drive to Luneta Park for Milo 10k Race. Pass through Pasay City instead of Buendia to get there as last time we went through Buendia for Milo race, they closed off most of the road and had us going in different detours, which made us arrive late for the run.

5:30AM - Arrived in Luneta Park with no problems getting here. Only problem is the parking. Lots and lots of runners already lining up at the starting line.

5:40AM - Found our secret parking spot only to be shooed away by security guard. Ended up parking elsewhere. Walked to starting line where it had started to drizzle a bit.

5:50AM - Went to 10k starting point and had ourselves checked in. Very tight area and hoping race starts already!

6:00AM - Mayor Alfredo Lim fires off the gun, signaling start of race. Per and I run together in our 2nd 10k race together. Our target is personal couple best with ultimate target of 1:10. We only stopped at the water stations which caught me by surprise as expected Per to do some walk breaks in-between. She wasn't tired yet so we just kept on running at a comfortable pace. There were times when I was doing the walking myself while she was still running and I just caught up with her again. Pain in my shin but kept it to myself as really wanted Per to keep on running and won't let myself be reason for her to walk. There were some bands here which gave us some entertainment. Race route is just along Roxas Blvd. Lots of water stations. Heading back, there was a siren of police bikes and cars as series of 42km runners were coming back already! Wow, pretty cool seeing them there!

7:20AM - We finished race at a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 21 seconds. We didn't reach our ultimate goal although it was still our Couple Best and also Per's Personal Best, which was a pretty good finale for her final race for 2008! Will try again next year to improve on our time by increasing pace. Our average pace was 07:31 minutes/ km but total distance according to my garmin was at 10.16 km. Per's knees were in pain so rest of the year will be rest and recovery for her muscles. Headed immediately to Milo stands for chocolate drinks after which I went back to my car to fetch my camera.

8:00AM - Left Luneta to eat breakfast. Since Roxas Blvd was still closed for marathon finishers, we went to Ongpin instead to look for chinese restaurants but with no parking, we left place again and headed to Taft Avenue to head out of Manila area.

8:30AM - Arrived in Magallanes and ate at Pancake House. Saw three guys eating there with two of them wearing their Milo Shirts. Was wearing mine as well. Haha. Had heavy but oh so yummy breakfast of pancakes with bacon and egg.

9:30AM - Dropped off Per at her house, and head on home for quick shower. Brother and mom went with me to Megamall for Sunday service. Lunch at Megamall with family.

2:00PM - Picked up Per again. Brought mom and brother home and Per and I went to Commonwealth, Quezon City for Christening of Godson

2:30 - 3:20PM - Super heavy traffic along EDSA. Cars not moving! Refusing to accept it but nothing to do. Found out that a car accident was causing the traffic. Finally got out of jam and drove fast to make it just in time for the ceremony. PHEW!

4:30PM - drive to QC Sports Club for birthday party of Friend's daughter. Ate a lot: Kare-kare, lechon, chicken, etc. Met some college buddies there.

6:00PM - went to Shakey's, a 10 minute drive from QC Sports Club for another birthday party. Ate again! Pizza, chicken, mojos, spaghetti !!! Dizzy from eating already! But can't resist the food smell. Yum!

8:30PM - 10:00PM - hang out in Per's house.

10:30PM - 12:30AM- Watched Twilight with friends at Shangri-La Mall. Theatre packed!

1:00AM - 2:00AM - drank beer at JJ's near Metrowalk. The rest ordered food there. Couldn't eat anymore today.

2:30AM - Home Sweet home! So glad no work the next day... so so tired.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Very cool 0 Km marker. I wonder how may km I drove today? Good thing gas prices got low again!!

Per got a new PR for her 10k! Woo hoo!

Played some games using my camera. For example: here's me, trying to imitate the runner in the photo...

And here's Per playing game of Where's Waldo?

Where In the World is Per?

My version from our first Milo run was a little bit harder. Click on this link: WHERE'S RFB

Mizuno's Sunset Run - Dec 13, 2008

Got info on this race via a text message from my sister last night...

SUNSET RUN

Run with us on December 13, 2008 as we celebrate The 10TH ANNIVERSARY SUNSET RUN organized by Club Punta Fuego Inc. in cooperation with Mizuno.

DATE & TIME 13 December 2008, Saturday Assembly: 4:30pm Start of Race: 5:30pm Awarding Dinner: est. 7pm

VENUE Start/ Finish Area Main Rotonda, Peninsula de Punta Fuego, Nasugbu, Batangas

CATEGORIES 3K/ 5K/ 10K

ENTRY FEE P500/ Pre-Registered Member P650/ On-Site Registered Member P650/ Invited Guest Non-refundable.

Includes: Race Kit, Giveaways, Awarding Dinner & Use of Facilities for Guests

ADD P2,500 FOR A PAIR OF MIZUNO RUNNING SHOES! (Precision 8, Precision 9, Rider 10, Nirvana 2, Elixir 3, Inspire 4, Aero 5)

REGISTRATION
1) For Club Punta Fuego members/guests, registration and payment must be made or before 08 December 08 (Mon). For more information call 751-4027.

2) For Mizuno invited guests, registration and payment can be made or before 08 December 08 (Mon) at Mizuno stores in: a) BMG Center, San Antonio St., Paseo de Magallanes, Makati City b) Bonifacio High Street
For more information call 757-3160 loc. 515

COLLECTION OF RACE KITS & GIVEAWAYS Participants may claim their Race Kits containing the Official Race Number, Safety Pins and Route Map upon registration.
Certificates and giveaways may be claimed upon completion of race course.

PARKING Free parking is available on a first come first serve basis.

BAGGAGE AREA Baggage deposit is available at the Customer Service Station at the Main Reception as indicated in map.

DRINK & FIRST AID STATIONS Drinks will be provided at the finish line and at every 2.5k in the race course.
Medical aid and ambulance will be on standby throughout the event.

PRIZES PER CATEGORY First placers will receive: Medals and Mizuno Shoes plus Shoe Bag for 10k Winner
Second Placers will receive: Medals and Mizuno Team Bag
Third Placers will receive: Medals and Mizuno T-Shirt

To all participants, present race number and avail of 20% discount on Mizuno running shoes (2008 Models) in all Mizuno shops (Club650-Libis, Festival Mall-Alabang, Bonifacio High Street, BMG Centre)

RULES & REGULATIONS
1) Participants below 18 years old must have their entry form signed by a guardian.
2) Race bib numbers must be worn at all times during the race.
3) The Organizer’s decision is final.


This is probably the last race for the year. Best of all is that you don't have to wake up early for this one! And includes dinner as well! A perfect ending to a year of running don't you think?

For more info (including resort and race map) , go to www.mizuno.ph

RFB's November Records (and other news)

November 2008 is a busy month for me and will go down in my books as The Month ...

1. I've ran the farthest in a single race via the NEW BALANCE 25KM POWER RACE. I can finally say I ran more than a Half- Marathon.... by 4KMs! Haha!

2. I've done my first Back-to-Back 10k race. Two 10k races in two consecutive days is a big accomplishment for this Running FATBOY ! And at a good time for me as well. :)

3. With the above three races for total of 45KM plus the VSO Bahaginan Race at start of month with distance of 15KM, this is also the month I've had the most/farthest races with Total Race distance at 60KM!!!

A pretty good start for my 2nd year of running but that's not all...

Upon testing my girlfriend if she wants to do a race after her New Balance 10k, she immediately said yes to it and so here I am for my final run for the month of November:

It's back to Ground Zero (KM Marker that is) for us as we head on to Luneta Park on Roxas Blvd. for the Milo Finals on Nov. 30th. Nope, we won't do the Full Marathon but just the 10km. Still, if I finish the race, that would extend my month's race distance to a total of 70 KM, a number I don't think I can beat..... EVER !!!

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Since this will be Per's final race for 2008, I have agreed to accompany her all throughout the 10k course. This will be only be our second time running together (PMI Proudly 60 Run was the first) so our Goal is to beat our Couple P.R. Time of 1 hour 18 minutes with an ultimate goal of 1 hour 10 minutes.

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For the Milo Race, there are 3k, 5k and 10k categories but think they may cap it to a maximum of 2,000 participants so better hurry if you want to join this race!

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Registration for the Milo Race is now on-going in Vasquez Madrigal Plaza Bldg., 51 Annapolis St. in Greenhills, San Juan. Incidentally, they also have registrations there for the Yakult 10-miler race on Dec 7 to which I have also joined for.

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Other NEWS:

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1. New Balance has extended its promo to all NB Power Race runners in Clark two weeks ago. If you bring your bib to New Balance stores and select Planet Sports branches, you will get 20% off all regular item (new and old). So you can buy singlets, shorts, bag, socks, shoes, arm bands, etc. The downside: they will take your souvenir bib! Awwwwww! This promo is only up to November 30th and we were informed by the staffs of NB Store in Glorietta when we went there last Saturday.

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2. Nike Sportsband: gave up on this product already but Nike was kind enough to have us exchange it for items in their store. So it's like free shopping for Per and me. WOO HOO!!!

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3. Nike Training with Coach Rio: Wow, this is sooooo hard for me but as the saying goes "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Haha! Harder than the race itself which is a good thing ...I think. Hehe. They were kind enough to even bring two boxes of bottled water for the runners who need it. Good turn out when we went there last night and session yesterday had lots of speed drills, stretches and core work. A very successful training program. Thanks Nike! Thanks Rio and to the other coaches! Hope there will be more like this come 2009!

RFB's New Running Challenge Conquered!

Can I run two 10km races in two days and still maintain a good finish time for both of them ?

That was my self imposed challenge last week as I joined for both Race for Life at Fort Bonifacio and Animo Run in Mall of Asia grounds. Here's my account on both races:

NOV 22, 2008 - RACE FOR LIFE, FORT BONIFACIO

The race starts at 6:00AM but figured I was quite early as got to Fort Bonifacio area around 5:35AM so there was enough time for a little warm-up and stretching. Unfortunately, I thought that this race will be held near NBC Tent as most Fort Bonifacio races were. Good thing I had the race map with me and by the time I found the starting point, it was just 5:40AM so there was still time..

BUT... there was no parking space in sight! Unlike races held at NBC Tent, Serendra or even McKinley Hill where there were ample parking spaces, here it was the complete opposite. Cars were parked on one side of the street and that was already filled up by the time I got there. I made a long drive to look for an empty spot and even ended up outside British International school. Still no space available! In the end, I ended up at the carpark of Market Market and had to jog a little bit to reach the starting point.

By the time I got to Starting Line, the race had already started so I had no choice but to just keep on running. So unready in that my Garmin was still tracking the satellite and my IPOD was playing a sloooow song. No stretching and no warm ups either. What a bad day! Really disappointed that organizers didn't foresee a need for car parks and with 1,000 runners, they should have at least thought about it. Street parking is never enough for this magnitude of runners.

The course itself was mostly flat to downhill so figured a lot of runners got their Personal Best time here. Due to my Garmin not starting on time I don't really know what my finish time is but based on my calculations (Garmin recorded 9.25km distance at 55 minutes), it should be around 58 minutes to 1 hour 1 minute. Arrgh! What a waste!

The road was closed on one lane only so it was very tight as there were a lot of runners. I had hoped they would close at least two lanes but that wasn't the case here. We even went to a construction zone where we had to weave around the workers standing outside it (there were about 6-9 of them)! Some (but thank goodness not all) marshals let cars go FIRST before the runners so some people had to stop running and wait for 3-4 cars to pass by them before they can cross the street. First time that happened to me which kinda ruined the momentum I already had.

On a good side, the water stations were all in the right places and in the end, I looked at the bigger picture: that this race is for charity and therefore, for a good cause. But there is some room for improvement here in terms of race organization and hope they do so in their future races. Maybe get Coach Rio to run it???

GOAL: To finish under one hour and get Personal Best. Maybe I went under an hour. Maybe I didn't. I don't really know! At least I finished strong in that except for the three water breaks and that one time I couldn't cross the street, I ran all the way and didn't feel tired after the race. I just did my stretching after the race. No pictures from my camera as my car was parked far from the finish line and too lazy to get it and go back here.

NOV 22, 2008 - ANIMO RUN, MALL OF ASIA

I didn't want to be disappointed again so I made sure to be really really early today! Easy to find parking spot and went to the starting line. This time, I made sure to do all the things I missed yesterday: warm-up jog (first time I did this as usually saving all my energy for the race) and stetchings afterwards.
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The 10K race started at 6:00AM via a gun shot into the air, but some marshals were waving their hands in the air trying to stop it. I think it had to do with a lot of runners not checking in yet for the race. But it was too late as the shot was fired and the runners were off! Determined to finish fast today and with yesterday's frustrations, I ran hard here. No pain in the legs so that was a good thing. And didn't feel any fatigue yet given I ran the day before. I pushed myself to run all the way in this race except for the few seconds at the water stations. I was quite happy in that the weather was nice and the course was flat most of the way.

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GOAL: To beat last year's Animo Run finish time of 1 hour 7 minutes. YES, I BEAT THAT!

YESTERDAY'S RUN GOAL: To finish under one hour: I didn't know if I was able to do so in that run but today it's a confirmation! I finished at 59 minutes 10 seconds!!!

YESTERDAY'S ULTIMATE GOAL: To try get Personal Best time of under 58 minutes. Based on my Garmin, the distance for this race was at 10.29 KM. Upon reaching the 10.00KM distance, I checked my time to be at 57:35 minutes. My average pace for entire race was at 5 minutes 45 seconds, which was my target pace for yesterday's run. So, in a way, I also fulfilled this goal in that my 10km was under 58 minutes and got my target pace as well.

L-A-S-A-L-L-E .... LA SALLE RAH!

Met blogger High Altitude

10km Finishers: Jeanne, Janine+, me, Gigay

Running Bloggers Unite: Jinoe and Que of Takbo.Ph, Tech Spec, RunUnlimited, Nora the Golden Girl, High Altitude, Meek Runner

Janine with her brother in his first 10k run. With most siblings running already, how soon before mom and dad will join the running band wagon ?

Gym buddies and good friends Gigay and Meynard

Onward to new runs and to new challenges !!!!

In Running, Have You Ever....

1. Ran Bandit? That is running in a race but without registering for it?

2. Ran using some one else's race number?

3. Quit a race?

4. Thought of quitting running altogether?

5. Missed a race due to alarm not going off?

6. Dreamt missing a race due to alarm not going off but in reality, you still woke up too early?

7. Crawled to the Finish Line? Or worse, fainted/ collapsed upon reaching finish line?

8. Felt good after a race, went home to take a shower and shouted at all the cuts you suddenly had all over your body? (Chafing)

9. Cheated on a race course by cutting short at turning point instead of running further ahead?

10. Panicked in a race looking for the nearest portalet? And possibly getting goosebumps all over your body

11. Hit a fellow runner in a race by stretching your arms?

12. Hit the "Wall"? Suffering during a race and thinking over and over as to why you joined it in the first place

13. Sang loudly as you listened to your IPOD or grunted loudly that runners in front of you turned to look where the sound was coming from?

14. Raced barefooted?

15. Worn wrong pair of shorts and it just keeps falling off when you run?

16. Registered for the 5km race but come race day, ran the 10km instead or vice-versa?

17. Cut in front of somebody else at the water station?

18. Threw out your paper cup/ water bottle and it hit another runner?

19. Went outside your house on race day to find out that it is raining really hard but still decided to go to the race no matter what? (Don't forget to bring your swim goggles)

20. Ran with your pet?

Some I've done, some my friends and family have done and some I have seen being done or heard about. Just some of the stories that come with running.

New Balance Power Race RESULTS!

Wow, in just a few days, results are up already. Its arranged by bib number instead of finish time and still unofficial but it's already there for your viewing pleasure/ displeasure!

Check out http://www.extribe.com.ph/

Congrats to everyone who joined this race.

Keep on Running!

RFB's New Challenge!

After surviving the 25km New Balance Power Race, Running FatBoy has a new challenge to himself:

Can he run two 10km races in two days and still maintain a good finish time for both of them????

This will be another running weekend for me as I will be joining two races in the Metro Manila area.

First is the RACE FOR LIFE 10km event happening on November 22, 2008 at Fort Bonifacio (6:00AM). This will be my first ever race on a Saturday (so even without the 2nd race, I will still be doing something new). I have registered for this online just last week and went to Nike Store in Podium today to claim my race kit. Online registrations have been closed but I think forms are still available in selected Nike Stores. Entry fee is at Php 250.

My goal in this race is to finish race at most at an hour with ultimate goal of trying to go under the very elusive 58 minutes. But with my body still recovering from NB Power Race, I doubt this will be achieved. Still, I like a challenge no matter how hard it may be.

The second race will be held the following day for the DLSU ANIMO RUN. Having done this race last year with fellow running friends Janine and Jeanne, I aim to beat my previous record of 1 hour 7 minutes. This race will be done in MOA at 6:00AM. Challenge here is whether I can still run fast given I just ran hard 24 hours ago.

Both 10km races will do two loops in their respective 5km courses.

Whether I attain my goals or not, I know I will still be having a good time in both these races.

Animo Run 2007:

I remember last year having a really hard time finishing this race after doing Menshealth Urbanathon just a week ago and telling Janine that we should never do a back-to- back weekend race as it's just too difficult. Look who's eating his words now! ME!

Race For Life race kit includes DVD, map, race number and baller ID. Unfortunately, the baller ID is a little too tight for this FAT BOY'S fat wrist but it's for a good cause so all is forgiven. :)

More details on each race on their websites. Just click links above.