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 well 

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 this pair with much gusto – it felt good at first; but after around 25 kms of running , I felt a pain in my inner foot, just below my right ankle.

After the race, I ended up with a very big blister in that area of my foot – an area that used to be blister free. I thought it was because I haven’t  broken it completely yet. But after almost 300 kilometers of running, the blister machine is still at it.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the new pair is an excellent shoe, except for its blister-creation mechanism.

I wonder if there are any other Nike Triax users who has the same problem ?

Anyway, this is how I feel when running with Asics:

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

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 — http://soflypinay.wordpress.com), 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 video could have been better if the vocalist just stood there singing while leaning on one of the buildings.

The song starts with this: “The city feels clean this time of night, and me walking home to clear my head, I know it came as no surprise.”

I prefer to run.

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 player played U2’s Where the streets have no name – ahhh such a relaxing combination.

When I got home, I texted Ian and asked him if he participated in the said rowing event. He told me that their boat capsized due to the strong waves. Well, things like that happen – it’s how you get back that really matters.

MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

You see the problem with trail runs is that they are usually held far away. I don’t have enough cash for gas and besides my trail running shoelaces have been damaged during my last trail run. They aren’t ordinary laces (kevlar) so I still have to wait for the replacement set to arrive.

As I was running along Roxas Boulevard, I was suprised to see a water aid station near PICC. Hmm .. could it be that there is a road race which was not announced in Takbo.ph ?

I arrived at the KM 0 marker with no incident and as I was eating my Kit-kat Wafer bar, I have noticed a support vehicle running along Roxas Boulevard followed by a group of runners. It seems that there was indeed a race and it started late (around 6:20 am). I think this is a “special” race because aside from regular runners, I saw people in their wheel chairs joining the race. It was a sight to behold, too bad that I wasn’t able to take pictures of them.

At that time, since I have already depleted my water supply, I thought of running as a bandit with this race but then again, I was too shy to do so. I folowed the runners until I entered the PICC compound.

It was a relaxing run plus I also now know how it feels to be a spectator in a road race.

I have learned a few things from this experience :

1. Bring cash in small denominations. Since my car is parked in MOA, I wasn’t able to drink water when I needed to. There were Buko vendors along the stretch of Roxas Boulevard, I could’ve had BJ at that time.
2. One Kit-kat bar is not enough. Hehehe. I don’t know why when I reached KM 0, I suddenly felt very very hungry. Energy gels would have been better but I didn’t bring my “stash“. Hammer Gel is so expensive and I only use them during road races

Since this was a solo run, I didn’t bring an MP3 player with me, although this song would have been a relaxing tune to listen to while running :

I have brought with me  a bottle of Gatorade and 2 Milo bars just in case I get hungry.

I arrived at MOA at around 5:30am and started my long slow run from there. I felt ecstatic being able to train again after four months of  stress. The stress from work isn’t over yet but I’m glad I was able to take a break today.

I have seen a few runners doing their long runs along the way: I even saw a lady wearing her Mizuno finisher’s singlet.

Let me share with you some pictures I took while running:

Milo Bar

Bay Walk

Bay Walk

Manila Yacht Club

PICC

KM 0

Luneta

Luneta Job Fair

Breakfast after the run

C25K program, Couch to 5K | Run 5K within 9 weeks!