Makati City Hall Vertical Marathon 3

May 25, 2008 is definitely a day to remember. My debut to the running world. So far, I've been doing training runs and it came time to put myself to the test.





The plan was to join the Doc Fit Takbo Para sa Puso 10k at the University of the Philippines, Quezon City. It turned out that the registration was closed so we decided to join the Makati City Hall Vertical Marathon.

Waking up at 01:45 AM Sunday morning, I prepared myself (just had 1 & 1/2 hours of sleep). Meeting place was the AIIAS gate 03:00 AM. Sir Jerry, Sir Mac, & Wilson Kafiar & my sister & I were waiting for a bus. Got into one at around 04:00 and arrived in Powerplant Mall, Rockwell, Makati City at around 05:00 AM. There was no sign of anyone there, Jerry got hold of some runners and found out that the starting line was around a block from where we were!! At least, we got there and registered.

Waiting for the run to start, I was intimidated by all the HARDCORE runners around showing their massive quads & hamstrings, calves, & their almighty running shoes! I was dressed in jogging pants, a white shirt, and my trusty Reebok crosstrainers that I use all around. This was my normal parkour outfit.

When they called for check in, we didn't know which direction the run was going to go. We weren't residence of Makati City so we just followed the crowd. Later, though, we found out which direction we were going. Standing on the ready, and looking at the person with the gun... click.. and a couple more clicks.. a shout.. "GO!!" and we were off.. what luck!! The gun didn't sound!! Jerry & Mac were still chatting. They were waiting for the bang which never came. But since they saw everyone run, they ran.

It was around a 2k road run to Makati City Hall, went straight in through the front and up some stairs before entering the "gas chamber." Boy!! The emergency stairwell was full of runners on their way up to the 22nd floor. The air was damp, it was hard to breath!! I was panting badly after a couple of flights up.. I couldn't run anymore. I more of walked up 1 run up 2 til the 22nd floor. Then the "easy" part. On the way down, I went on to put my parkour training to the test.

Jumping from landing to landing of flights, parkour turned out to have a slight advantage passing some runners in the process. Out the building, I shot, back to the road and around the corner to the finish line. I finished between 12-13minutes. Didn't get a chance to time myself. I finished just behind the number 1 female finisher. I was tired but still pumping with energy. In around 12 minutes, the run was over for me. I'm officially in and I'm going to continue training for the next runs.

Thanks to Sir Jerry Karundeng, Sir Maclan Matthews and Wilson Kafiar.

Now here are some pics:





Here is Flash!! He beat everyone.. SUPER FAST!!



Here is a good ("excellent") example of a BAD example. I find this very ironic that people who are involved in fitness activities such as running have vises such as smoking that actually deteriorates your lungs which is very important for "airflow" in your body. Bad, bad, bad!! This guy is one of the organizers, or sponsors, or whatever of this run. He did the awarding. I didn't really catch his name.

..soLo RuN..

Following up the run to Tagaytay with Sir Mac, Sir Jerry, & Ate Jenn last Sunday (blog here), I decided to run the same route. But since Ate Jenn and Sir Jerry went on a hike to Pico de Loro (Mt. Palay-palay) and Sir Mac was doing a run in Pasig, I was alone.

May 18, 2008 - I woke up early Sunday morning to the rain. It has been raining recently with two typhoons in the Philippines' Area of Responsibility - one to the west of Mindoro island and one to the north-east of the Philippines - I decided not to run.

In the afternoon of the same day, I decided to run. starting at around 1730 I started my solo run to Tagaytay via Brgy. Iba to Brgy. Ligawan to Brgy. Bucal to Brgy. Tolentino East. The sky was cloudy so it wasn't all that sunny. It also rained on me a bit but it was refreshing. The run to Tagaytay took me 1hour 12minutes & 52seconds according to my clock. When I got there, I remembered I didn't have fare enough to get me back home. So I ran another 12minutes & 32seconds to Olivarez for a total of 1hour 25minutes & 25seconds which is a new record for me as the longest run I ever did.

With this new accomplishment came new confidence in myself. Hard Training together with good advice from experienced people helps.

--Road TesT--

Waking up at 4am isn't easy but I this day I was going on a run with Jerry & Maclan. This two guys are pros. They've been running for a while now and, as a novice runner, I look up to them. The route we were going to take is a back-route from Silang all the way up to Brgy. Tolentino in Tagaytay City.

The meeting place was the belltower in AIIAS. Time - 5am. I was there but none of them were still there so I waited. Then, Ate Jenn came. The night before, she was asking me if I was going to run with Mac & Jerry today, and I said that I was. It's a good thing that she decided to come along at least I wasn't the only novice runner. haha.

Anyways, after waiting for sometime, Mac, then Jerry showed up and we started off. Back down to Silang, up to Iba and on our way to Tagaytay. The run took around 1hour & 30mins - 2hours. The pace was slow and easy but was still challenging.

The route had a lot to offer. A combination of hills, flat, trail. It was good training. We ended up walking the last segment of the road up to the road connecting People's Park and Olivarez Plaza -- somewhere between "palenke" (market) and Olivarez. Mac decided to run to Olivarez while, Ate Jenn, Jerry and I flagged a tricycle for a ride.

I really learned loads about running this day from conversations with the two pros. Tips on how to keep hydrated to strategies on long runs to big names in the running world.

I am greatful for these people who gave me the enthusiasm to run. So far, it's been quite an experience. I'm still looking forward to my first race & still training for it.

Wallclimbing in SSD

In the afternoon of the same day, RJ, Ed, Shin & I with Jerry went to SSD for some wallclimbing. SSD has a wall behind the guesthouses in the basketball and tennis court area. The wall is not too high but is quite challenging. We went up it a couple of times and attempted to scale it from one side to the other. It proved to be more than we could handle for that day. We didn't even get half-way. All well there is always next week.

..PKPH Dry Run + Habagat 20th Anniversary = a gReaT daY..

May 4, 2008 was a day to remember. With the lots happening this summer, I really didn't expect this day to be what it was -- A GREAT DAY.. This weekend was, in my schedule (our group of friends' schedule), the day we were supposed to trek Mt. Maculot. But because of the PKPH scheduled dry run for their summer class starting on May 11, 2008, we decided to postponed the climb to a later date.

Parkour Philippines (PKPH) Dry Run

The Dry Run was supposed to start at 8am. Meaning we had to leave AIIAS at around 6am. Instead, Red, RJ, Ed & I left at around 0730, Sunday morning. Reaching Ateneo at around 0930, we were really late. We were still able to join Alvin, Tam, & Sandy for the rest of the morning trying out the plan for the summer class.

After that, we had a small jam. It's been a while since we jammed with Alvin & Tam and we had a great time.

After the jam, Alvin Teng offered us a ride to our next stop and lunch. He brought us to Shaw to pick up my Canon PS A620 which was under repair. And since they were on lunch break, boss Alvin took us to lunch. We had a great time together. Discussing plans and recalling experiences. He didn't just bring us to our next stop, though. He also took us to our next next stop. He took us an extra mile. Thanks boss.


Habagat 20th anniversary celebration at ROX

Boss Alvin took us to Recreational Outdoor eXchange (ROX) in Global City. This was the first time that we've ever visited this shop. We didn't know that Habagat, the Philippines' leader in outdoor equipment, was holding their 20th anniversary celebration. We were amazed to see a Venado pack - 17yrs old on display there. And it was still good for use. We got to meet the Habagat staff there. They invited us to a merienda and we got to chat with them about various topics such as the Carera Habagat and their packs themselves. It was quite an awesome experience. RJ was starstruck!!! But how I wish I had a functional camera then. But although I was able to get my cam that day, I forgot the batteries at home.



More pictures of the event could be viewed here: Habagat 20th anniversary celebration at ROX


Some points to share

Going to Manila on May 11, was not as we expected.

- The night before the set day, that was Saturday night, Shin kinda busted his shoulder again which put him out of the plan. It was very disappointing.

- Another thing is that RJ texted late that he didn't have money to spare. Ed & I discussed this case and decided to pitch in for RJ's fare.

- We were in a really tight budget when we went there, and not even planning to have lunch. But thanks to our friend Alvin Teng, it turned out fine.

- We weren't expecting to meet the Habagat staff in ROX that day. If we went any other day, we wouldn't have met them. It was really quite a coincidence.

Mt. Talamitam

There is just something about mountaineering -- I just can't get enough. On April 25-26, 2008, we decided to climb another mountain. Mount Talamitam is in Nasugbu, Batangas, near Mt. Batulao. At 630+ MASL, is doesn't seem that difficult. But right at the jump off, the was just going up.

Wrong again

Getting down from the bus, we found out we got down at the wrong place so we walked around half a kilometer before we got to a landmark. We were surprised to see an announcement though that Sir Nick wasn't incharge of the mountain anymore. We didn't know if we were still allowed to climb, but we just went on anyway.

NEW RULES
Mount Talamitam has been always under the care of Sir Nick but seems like it's different this time. The barangay people removed this previlege from him and took it to themselves. In the future, Talamitam will be a troublesome mountain to climb due to the new rules that are going to be implemented. A permit has to be secured from both the Municipality of Nasugbu and the Barangay. The municipal hall of Nasugbu is still a way off from the mountain. Another down side is that the registration fee is not so realistic. 25 pesos per person!! That's more expensive than the registration for Mt. Batulao and Batulao is far more worth it. This is INSANE!!

Still in Bad luck
I know I wrote the last two posts in the same night but I still didn't have my cam during this climb. I went to get it fixed. We climbed Talamitam without any camera but those on our cellphones. Hope you enjoy it though. We did try our best! :P

Pix by RJ Almocera & myself



Rat's Trap
We encountered a rat at the peak. It chewed on Ed's slippers. But worse.. IT CHEWED THROUGH MY TENT!! That's right, Ed's bread was stuck as the wall of the tent and the rat wanted the bread so he chewed through the tent.



Now I need to get a new tent!! A good thing AND a bad thing.. coz i don't want a rat chewing on my tent again!!

Mt. Marami

April 12-13, 2008, we joined a group of 23 people in climbing Mount Marami. The mountain is located in Maragondon, Cavite and rises to 405 MASL. Although, the mountain is not that high, getting there is pretty tough. It took us a 5hour hike under the hot sun to get there starting at around 3PM Saturday afternoon, we got to the campsite at 8PM, set up camped and went to bed.

The next day was a fun day at the summit. With all that rock formation, we had some fun bouldering, and jumping from one formation to the other. All more than with 100 meter drops.

My bad luck
It must have been a bad day for me. My camera stopped working at the beginning of the ride to Maragondon. My Canon PS A620, after a good 2 years of service, registered an E18 error. The lens refused to open.

All the pictures posted here are from Robert dela Cruz & Lloyd Gulfan. Thanks for the pics.

-- The Starting Line --

Just this month (a few weeks ago actually), I was introduced into running.

Jerry Karundeng is responsible for this. Somehow he got me interested in this sport. Since I've been doing some laps once in a while for endurance training for parkour, I decided to do it more seriously.. I've been caught in this running thing. I was aware of Jerry and Mac's runs for sometime now but it was only after I had a talk with Jerry that I was caught.

Thanks to Jerry, I may be running my first race on May 25 -- the Adidas-Air Immune Blast Race Series 10k. My plan was to join a 15k on June, but ya.. Jerry again.. :P hehe.. Yah, so you could call that peer pressure.. haha.. I've fallen prey to this cruel reality!!

Running is one of the elements I see necessary to improve. This is my goal -- To improve myself in this aspect. So far, the fastest mile I did was done in 7minutes & 44seconds.. This is done in one run, one lap. But I'm afraid I couldn't run that fast in a long run. So I seek to improve that too.. There is alot to train for.

Mr. Jerry Karundeng, thanks for introducing me to running.