Let us Lend a Helping Hand

By this time a lot of us have been shocked by the fury that typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) has brought the to country. The casualties has risen to 100 and damage to infrastructure and crops estimated at P109M (inq7 report). In times like this it is best to lend a helping hand to those victims that were greatly affected by this tragedy. In our own small way, we can all contribute and donate be it in cash or in kind. Below are some venue where you can extend your donations.

E-Donations
SMS: text RED to 2899 (Globe) and 4483 (Smart)G-Cash: text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882TXTPOWER.org: Paypal, Smart Money (5577-5144-1866-7103), G-Cash (0917-9751092)

Red Cross Load Donations – send donation via mobile phone load. The Red Cross Rescue and Relief Operations. To donate, text RED and send to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart). You can donate 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 300 pesos.

Ateneo de Manila University – cooked or ready-to-eat food, clothes, medicine, blankets, water. Donations may be dropped off at the MVP, University Dorm, or Cervini lobbies. Also needed: volunteers for relief operations today, Sept. 27. Bring boots, shovels, large vehicles or small watercraft. For donations/inquiries, please contact (0908) 887-7166.

My First 21km Run

I finally completed my first 21k run in the Ayala Eco Dash event (held in Sept 13). It was the farthest that I have ran so far since I officially run in March. I have been slowed down by series of injuries and sickness which held me to keep up with my training plan. I was actually looking at the NB Power Race as my first 21k, but since I have a long run scheduled on this date so I decided to do it then.

A week of raining has been a major factor in slowing most of the runners to complete their weekly runs I myself was limited to 6k a week before the Ayala Eco Dash event. Was thinking of doing a 10k instead but I was already registered. I had a scheduled early morning runs during the week and every time I wake up at 3am, the rain was pouring hard and obviously I have skipped all those running days. Saturday night, it was still raining and said to myself, if it still rains when I wake up, I will not go to the event and instead run in near my area if the rain would stop. At 3am, went outside the house and seems like it’s going to rain, texted Jay and said that we’ll just check at the Fort if its raining. I figured, we will all run rain or shine.

On the way to the fort, it was raining hard at SLEX but as per Jay who was at the venue earlier said that there was no rain. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant because I will be running 21k and felt that I was not that prepared since I missed some mileage during the week. I was a bit late and the scheduled gun start was at 5am, however, it was moved to 5:30am, seems like I was really destined to finish my 21k. As soon as I arrived at the Fort and saw runners getting ready, my determination came back and was psyched to do my 21k. But since it was an LSD run for me, I will have to “jog” slow at 7:30min/km. Since I had my hesitation in the beginning, I found myself not prepared for the race. I was late, I was not able to do proper stretching, my race bib was not yet attached. There were 2 race bibs, one for the front and the other at the back, and since I was rushing, I did not put the bib at the back. I can feel the stress since it was not a good way to start a run. But this has become a lesson learned for me. Hopefully in the next races I will be more prepared.

At the starting line, I was with Jay, Val, and Kuya Erning and moments later Junrox (tigerboy) came in and joined us. Told Junrox that this was my first 21k and will be running slow, he gave some motivational words as he is an experienced runner already. I saw Bald Runner at the starting line and introduced myself and the rest of the guys. Nice meeting you Mr. Jovie. Jay and Val said that they will pace with me and will run along until the finish line, had a sigh of relief as for sure I will struggle if I will be running alone. So off we all went as soon as the gun start was fired. We had an easy cruise and was enjoying the comfortable pace. As we were going up the kalayaan bridge, I suddenly realized that everyone who joined the race were all run addicts. Imagine everyone waking up early on a cool Sunday morning and expecting a heavy rain anytime of the race. While a lot of people were asleep, here we are all awake and ready to conquer a beautiful rainy morning. Then suddenly rain poured down upon us and had me figured that I can finish this race since it will be a good weather and no sun will show up before I reach the finish line.

While we were all joking around during our run and was talking about a lot of stuff, I was surprised that we just completed the 10k mark. It was an easy run and I immediately psyched myself and think about the next 11k. As soon as I reached the 17th km, I immediately told Jay and Val that it was the farthest that I ran and doing the math I only have 4km remaining. But the last 4km was the most difficult part for me. I began to feel the pounding of my feet in the pavement and felt a heating sensation on my left knee.. I had to stop and stretch as I fear that I will again suffer from ITBS (I just recovered from an ITBS on my right knee). Continued running but I started to feel the numbness on my arms. My legs were tired and as I saw runners who began to walk, I was thinking of doing the same. But good thing that Jay and Val was pushing me to keep on going and advised me to just slow down if I feel tired. But there were moments that I had to walk and they will also walk.

On the 18th km, Jay mentioned that we can still finish in 2:30 if we maintain the 6:30/km pace, I had a few kicks left in some point but just ended up slowing down as I really felt tired. Had it been that we planned earlier about the time we could have finished it in 2:30. We ended up finishing 2:34, not bad I guess, what was important for me was to finish a 21k run. I was happy with the result of this race obviously as I was able to complete this task and it was another milestone for me. Hope to get a repeat on the NB power race as this race means a lot to me.

A Sunday with No Run

It was a good week for me as I was able to do my training plan for 2 consecutive weeks now free from any injury. Today was supposed to be my 21k run but unfortunately bad weather stepped in and it was raining hard. I woke up ahead of the alarm because of the strong rain. The group (Gone Running Club) were all scheduled to go to UP Los Banos to do our runs, but we decided to cancel and do it tomorrow. I went back to bed, slept and found myself waking up at 8am! Cool weather had me sleeping like a baby.

Prior to today, I was carbo loading and was preparing my self for a long run. Had to mentally condition myself as well since the farthest that I ran was only 16km. But I am focused in my training plan since I only have 12 weeks left for my first Marathon. I skipped a lot of training weeks due to my past injuries and I hope I am able to get ready before the race day.

As of this writing it is still raining here. I went to my hometown in Los Banos, Laguna and had lunch with my parents. Feasted with "Lapu-Lapu" and "Laing" and had my favorite coffee crumble ice cream for dessert. I now smell my sister cooking spaghetti.. Too tempting, I should really run tomorrow otherwise I will just gain more weight with all the carbs that i I have been taking. Since this morning, my body was too eager to do some exercise to burn up some fat.. I might be hitting the gym tonight instead. Meanwhile, will enjoy time with family. Cool weather..

Do you own your dream?

I happen to attend a leadership seminar a month ago called Maximum Impact Simulcast held at Rockwell Cinema in July 31, 2009. It was composed of distinguished speakers such as John Maxwell, Tony Blair, Al Weiss, Jack Nicklaus and among others. Everyone had a good sharing about leadership and one topic that was interesting was from John Maxwell where he asked the question "Do you own your dream?" The first response that comes to mind would be "YES", who else will own your dream but you. However, having a dream is something that is also binded by reality. Sometimes the gap between expectation and reality results to disappointment. In order to achieve your dream, you should be able to depend on factors that are within your control. Say you want to join your first 10k, a marathon, or a triathlon, the basic thing that you will do is to follow religiously your training plan and will do anything to stick to that plan because you know that it is instrumental in realizing it. If you dream of being promoted at work, will you be intimidated by people that are aspiring the same position as you do? or will you create an opportunity for you to come closer in attaining your goal? Nothing should stop you from achieving your dream especially when you have control over the things that will help you make it happen. You have to believe it and you have to own it.

Sometimes it all goes back to our attitude, if we believe in ourselves and our capabilities, we should be able to challenge all hindrances that will come our way. If we dream, we should not wait for it to be handed over to us, we have to work on it and own it, because the journey towards achieving it would be very challenging and it is never free. As what John Maxwell said, "the more valid reasons to achieve your dream, the more odds there is in achieving it." So, own your dream and make it happen, it is in your hands.