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...

Lately, I have returned to sedentary-overworked individual mode. There were no regular training runs save for a few like the back to back weekend when I did a 21k on a Saturday and  then a day hike in Tarac ridge in Bataan the day after.  Should I mention that I slowed everybody down?   Thanks to Jeff for the photo I took a 2 week break afterwards before running again due to an ankle injury.  You see,  I wasn’t supposed to run yet but I was able to acquire a GPS watch ….. Timex Speed + Distance A bit cumbersome, don’t you think ? I think I have aggravated the injury, oh...

When I started running about a year ago, I ran my first race using my old Nike cross trainers and it carried me smoothly thru 10 kilometers of pavement so I thought that maybe, there really was no need to buy running shoes; but  since it was an old pair, I decided to buy a new pair of running shoes anyway :). My first pair was the Adidas Adizero Mana, it worked well for me. In fact, I still have it with me and it almost looks brand new since I wasn’t able to use it that much since I immediately increased my mileage  so that I could run the Condura half-marathon a few months after. While training for my first half marathon until I completed my first full marathon, I was using the Asics Gel Cumulus Eight – for me, this was the perfect pair, it carried me through new heights during the Condura half-marathon in the skyway, the dust of the 1st BDM 102 while we were pacing Isko and finally,  the cool asphalt layers of the SCTEX during my first marathon.     .. and just like any other pair of running shoes, it has already reached its maximum mileage. After 10 months of sweat and pain,  I have retired it after running the Subic International Marathon – a fitting end for a shoe so great. Since we were in Subic at the time, we decided to drop by the Nike depot and there I found my new running partner – the Nike Structure Triax 12  (and it was on sale!) .     I was so excited with this pair, thinking it will outperform my old Asics.  So when it was time for the Pasig International Marathon, I put on...

There are billions of reasons why people run. The one I find the funniest was what Joanne said after Adidas King of the Road 2008, when we ate this huge-ass servings of pancakes at Flapjacks without feeling guilty at all. “May nasunog na naman tayo eh, time to fill it up again.” Bwahahaha. I haven’t used that loveable lame excuse for a long time now. A little before I got hospitalized (the blog entry about it is still a draft … as many of my entries imported here from my previous blog), I have cut down on food. I’ve always thought that making me lighter would make me run faster (people who make lame reasons tend to have lame logic as well hahaha). The melodramatic part is I’ve been cutting down on a lot of things as well. Cutting down communication with people I don’t want to be hanging out with: emotional vampires, parasites who cling for made-believe affection, and just plain lies. I could hold them all off by being indifferent with just the snap of my fingers but I knew I had to run all the pressure and stress off sometime. Even the skies were gloomy. I would have gone for a run last night, had it not been raining, had I not been discharged from the hospital a little more than a week ago, and had it not been darker than the usual late nights I spend working on freelance projects. The sun is out now and I’ve been listening to a very calming song since yesterday: Kaskade – Empty Streets. I’ve posted it below, and you will notice that it is as relaxing as a night you have envisioned to be, when suddenly nobody and nothing exists around you. The...

After staying in Cebu for a week plus all the free meals that I have consumed, I decided to do my usual long slow run yesterday. But to my dismay, I woke up late. I guess I’m still tired from work. Luckily, I was able to wake up early today (that was around 5:15 am, is that still early? heheh).  By the time I got to MOA, the streets were still a bit wet, probably from last night’s downpour. So I did my usual stretching and ran my usual route, but as I was running along Esplanade, I suddenly felt pain on my left knee. Uh-oh … I guess I haven’t fully recovered from last week’s 21k.     Chocolate – In case I get cramps   But then again … I thought that maybe the endorphins haven’t kicked in yet and true enough, after around ten minutes of limping and running – the pain disappeared. While traversing Roxas Boulevard, I have noticed that the south-bound lane was closed to vehicular traffic. “Could there be another race ?” Yup there was definitely a race – I think it’s the PNP fun run thing. Since the road was available, I decided to run with the registered runners. I’d prefer running on asphalt rather than the brick-like sidewalk of Roxas Boulevard without the fear of being side-swiped by incoming traffic. On my way back from KM 0, I have noticed that it was crowded along the Pedro Gil area. It seems that there is a dragon boat event and that the rowers were doing their warm-ups. I tried to look for my friend Ian who is also a rower but to no avail. It was around this point when it got a bit cloudy and my mp3...