Instead of starting my run at 4:30 this morning, I waited for the rain to stop – but then, it didn’t .  So, at around 4:50 I decided to give it a go. It’s a good thing that I decided to push on, since the rain didn’t stop until 7:30 am. Running in the rain can be an enjoyable experience – it is way better than running under a humid environment. A lot of things have been said on the dos and don’ts  when running in the rain, so please humor me and allow me to add my 2 cents : Just because you are running in the rain doesn’t mean that your body temperature won’t rise – so it is very important to keep yourself hydrated. I won’t get in to the details as to how much fluids you need to ingest : when you’re thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Sometimes a drizzle can add to the humidity, making your body temperature rise faster. I wouldn’t recommend using a rain coat when running in the rain; hell, I wouldn’t even recommend wearing a raincoat when running under the heat of the sun. Wait, wouldn’t that make it a “sun” coat ?  – I have seen a lot of runners doing this lately: I don’t know if there is a scientific reason for this but I’m sure that people who do this are at a higher risk of suffering from heat stroke. Wear technical clothes – need I explain ?  Imagine running under the rain wearing a cotton shirt : I’m sure it will weigh twice as heavy. This is the most important tip : If you have more than a pair of running shoes,  use the pair which is due for cleaning  This...

As usual, work has been more hectic : an audit here, a deadline there , another deadline over there …. ok, I know you get the picture It really is difficult squeezing in runs at 4 in the morning on a weekday, considering that you have slept at 11:30 pm the day before. So this is the best schedule that I came up with last week : Monday – Rest Tuesday – 21 KM Wednesday – 8 KM Thursday – 20 KM Friday – Rest Saturday – 21 KM Sunday – 23 KM I was able to do only 93 KMs for last week and my knees are sore – my weekend runs couldn’t even be considered “long” runs. I hope I could sustain this mileage for this week before increasing it next week. Wish me...

I only ran twice and covered around 15 kilometers two weeks after the P2P 70K run. I have popped the blisters but both of my big toes still retain liquid which I have to pop after my easy jog/walk routines. Recovery isn’t that quick for me – and the leather shoes which I have to wear for work aren’t helping either. I envy those runners who recover quickly. Work has never been easy – it seems that my load has doubled (if not tripled) and I’m getting less sleep than before . I wasn’t even able to enjoy the three day weekend. On a lighter note, both my big toes feel better, hopefully I could start really running again this weekend in order to prepare  for my next...

  This morning, I was able to run almost 30 KM.  I feel a sense of accomplishment- it has been almost 4 months since I have stopped running due to an ankle injury and work related training during Sundays.  The only other long run that  I completed before this  was running 25km during the Milo half-marathon ( yup, i added loops before heading for the finish line). It’s also my first time to run that distance alone ; you see running  that long by yourself is very difficult. It’s a good thing that I brought my iPod with me to keep me entertained. I  had to take a different route for this run since MOA was filled by the participants of the Rexona Run.   Cones lined along Macapagal Avenue … This is the first time I ran this route alone … When I reached the Quirino Grandstand, I was looking for the mosaic containing President Cory’s pictures but didn’t find any … This is the distance I have covered upon reaching the Quirino Grandstand according to my GPS watch. It seems that I wasn’t the only one doing a long run this morning – I met Pat of Takbo.ph twice. Upon reaching the 28th KM I suddenly felt weak,l then I remembered :  I didn’t eat breakfast! Almost 30 KM – I had to stop due to the heat; next week I’ll try to start...

I was able to squeeze in a few runs after the Rizal Day run; but that was just they are  – a few. So I decided to run around 10k today and 20k tomorrow. I was supposed to do a single loop around MOA and then to CCP, knowing that the Black Nazarene was in Quirino grandstand and that there will be a lot of devotees there. But then again, when I met Ian who was about to start his bike training, I changed my mind and eventually ended up going to the Quirino  grandstand anyway. I have been to the Quirino grandstand a lot of times before, but this is the only time that the atmosphere was so solemn.   Devotees on their way to the Quirino Grandstand – Most of them are barefoot Mass After running, I returned to MOA but ended up limping again, this was due to the blister on my left big toe. Since I didn’t anticipate a long distance run, I just used ordinary cotton sports socks when I should have used running socks instead. ( I only use them during races since they are a bit expensive). The thing about running socks is that it provides proper cushioning (that is why they are left / right foot specific), it wicks away moisture and most importantly, they don’t have extra threads protruding near the toe area. – I think that was what caused the blister on my foot.   Nike Running Socks Nike Elite Running Socks – No Show Don’t get me wrong, ordinary cotton sports socks work for me for distances  up to 10 miles. I was about to call it quits after 20km but I ran (pun intended) into Ian (he is running this time, after...

As I look back, I remember the first time I asked my sister to register me for a race. I eventually didn’t participate in the said 10k event because I was too lazy to wake up at 4am so that I could simply run. I quipped ”Why should I change my routine?”. I usually wake up at around 6:00am and do my 2.1km jog around The Fort area and more recently, around MOA. I even remember a female colleague telling me this: “Ano ba yan, papahirapan mo nalang sarili mo, magbabayad ka pa!” I eventually joined my first race (which covered a distance of 10km) wearing my very old Nike cross trainers (the shoe’s sole had been replaced with locally available soles since the original air sole has already leaked). … and here I am, 11 months and 3 running shoes after –> running my first ever full 42KM marathon. What can I say? I didn’t even plan joining this event until 5 weeks ago. I was undertrained . Thanks to the effort of ultra runner friend Isko who patiently trained me in such a short time, I was able to complete this run together with another running friend, Ian. The concept of running SCTEX at night was very appealing to most of the people who participated in this event, after all, you can’t run along this route on a regular night (pun intended). This could’ve been a next to perfect race except for the following: • No water for four consecutive water stations – I think that the water stations were more than 2.5kms apart, so you could imagine how thirsty the other runners were when they came to our support vehicle (the white van with the team hardcore tarpaulin) asking if we...