Greentenial Race. I joined this race not because I am alumni of La Salle. Yeah I made the Brothers very happy for spending 7 years under their educational system (undergrad and graduate) but really, the sole reason why I joined this race is because..its libre pare! I honestly thought the race organizer is practically giving race kits away as I’ve been getting offers for free race kits from several friends/team mates*laughs*.

I woke up around 3am, too excited kse. It was a familiar feeling, waking up early, prepping up the stuffs I need, checking my shoes, clothes to wear etc. I was out by 3:30 am and was able to find a very convenient parking area just few meters from the starting line. As I’ve been training the past few weeks with gel-based orthotic on my shoes to deal with my heel spur, I used it as well for this road race, although this would be the very first time I would be using it on a race. I met Blas who gave me my race kit, met fellow Powerpuff Boys and greeted some friends. The race started at exactly 5:am after some stretching exercise by Argo (who also gained weight).

I run comfortably for the first 5km with an avg pace of 6-6:15min/km. However I have to slow down from time to time as I felt my orthotic insert moves sideways. It was a pretty annoying experience as I knew it would be just a matter of time I will have to take off my shoes, re-adjust the thing and continue my run. On the 8th km, I saw my inserts protruding from my ankle area. I have to stop, remove my shoes, re-adjust the thing and move on. This happened several times on both feet. You know the feeling, its so hard to continue a constant pace if something stops you from doing so. By 15th km, I have had enough of it I removed both my inserts and hold it on my hands while running. As I don’t want to risk again my injury, I slowed down considerably for fear I might re-ignite my injury. I’m fortunate that even if I was running without my inserts, I don’t feel any pain. Somehow, I’m thinking if buying custom-made orthotic  is more practical. I finished the race in 2:21min(unofficial), too far from my 1:56 PR but still glad I’ve made it without any serious issues.

After the race, I stayed around with Powerpuff boys for some post race ceremonies and games. It was something I’ve never done before, as I usually left the race place practically right after I cross the finish line. I just soaked myself in this race atmosphere. Seeing other people crossed the finish line, seeing people have photo-ops with other people, seeing friends running again…it was really a blessing that we were all given an opportunity to run today.  I will be chasing Half Mary again next month and I promised that this time, I will do better than before.

I just hope to find a new shoes that will have the best cushion with plantar support so that I don’t have to buy orthotic (by the way, it also cost almost same as a running shoes!). I wonder what the running ninja’s next shoes (weapon of choice) will be….Nuninuninuninuni….

Tomorrow marks my return to extramarital affair with the road. Yeah, I’ll be running 21km at Greentennial Half Marathon tomorrow Sunday at MOA complex. Just to let you know, I’ve been running the past few weeks. Logging in an average of 30-40km/week with tempo run, interval run,simulated hill runs and resistance training in a gym. While I don’t expect a sub 2 hours for this race (my P.R for 21km is only 1:56), I just hope all my efforts will pay off. My aim for this is to test if I’m fully healed (heel spur), or its just my brain telling me I’m healed (hahaha may ganon??!!)

Hope to see you guys around tomorrow.

Thanks to Blas for the free race kit!

I missed blogging. But for the past 3 months or so, I just lack the energy to write. I didn’t bother to read other running blogs, because it just frustrates me. Imagine the pain I have to go through of not being able to run, while seeing your friends enjoying each race and blogging their experience.  A major factor for this lack of energy to update this blog or get into running groove is my injury. Some of you knew that I have this injury called heel spur. I went through several doctors, the last from St. Luke’s BGC which told me to try four things:

1. Heel Cap
2. NSAIDs (e.g anti-pain medicines)
3. Orthotics
4. Physical Therapy

I tried heel cap, I used it when I ran that Yakult run at Roxas Bldg months ago. It was useless. I also tried NSAIDs during one of my easy run; I went home with swollen face and abnormal palpitation of my heart beat. It was then I realized I can never take any NSAIDs again. I bought a gel-based Orthotics from Runnr store, it cost php700+ (can’t remember the brand). I bought  2 pairs, one for walking, the other one for running. I can say that did this trick plus physical therapy; I can now train sensibly without having the fear of recurring pain.  I’m doing fine now, starting to regain my fitness and my speed. The tempo run I did this morning had me running 5km in 25 minutes. I did that in a treadmill, I have no idea how this translates when I start hitting the paved road. Soon I will know if I’m fully healed.

I’m looking forward for exciting things to come.

In his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place (the movie version is 127 hours starring James Franco) Aaron Ralston described being trapped for several days against a canyon wall with his forearm crushed by a giant boulder. Using his own knowledge (he’s a mechanical engineer), he tried to device a lift to get rid of the huge stone. He also tried to hack parts of the giant boulder using his dull knife, thinking that it would crack on its own where he could break it apart easily. Unsuccessful and with no rescuers around, he thought he would die soon and so he decided to write an epitaph showing his birth date and his assumed date of death. With limited resources, he was also forced to drink his own urine. Finally on the 5^th day, upon realizing that it would take time before rescuers could find him, he cut his own arm using a dull knife to set himself free.

The decision to cut his arm clearly saved his life as he was able to escape the deep canyon border and was rescued by the authorities. The question is, what triggered him to do it? Read the rest of this entry »

Several months ago, a runner joined Adidas King of the Road in 21km category. He was full of confidence that he will be able to beat his previous PR of 1hour and 56minutes. He got there very early to make sure he will not have issues with parking. He checked his splits, 5km sub 25 minutes, 10km sub 56minutes, 15km sub 1h:23minutes so on…at 17th km along Lawton Avenue……..he just lost it. He didn’t feel any injury, didn’t encounter any untoward incident, he just lost his running mojo. He didn’t finish the race, he went straight to the parking lot, didn’t bother with other runners nor socialized with friends, he just drove away his car….away from it…..away from everyone. He was surprised at this random event, as he never encountered this previously. While driving, his mind was asking “what the hell just happened”. He didn’t bother to over-analyzed the situation; he went on to sleep with that question still unanswered. The next few moments of his life would be characterized with less than enthusiastic training, lousy finish times on road races and worst, a heavier weight, injuries and so on…THAT runner was me. Read the rest of this entry »