2009: The Start of My Fitness Journey

Year 2009 indeed was a very memorable and active year for me both in my professional and personal life. I am happy about the outcome as this year has given me a sense of accomplishment in both worlds. This year, I can say that I managed to balance work and play. I was able to focus in achieving some of my key goals and objectives. As a result, I got two promotions at work and I was able to finish a full marathon this year, and I lost 11 lbs.

In 2008, I was not able to focus on my fitness activity, I was on and off in the gym and don’t have a clear focus and discipline to pursue it. This year, I was able to focus on two activities – biking and running. I started to ride again in February and used that as my main fitness activity. In March, I joined the Condura Run, which was my first official race doing a 10k run. From then on I enjoyed running and included that in my fitness regimen. I run at least 4 times a week, and rode every Saturday. My total mileage for running was 646.21 km and 1035.30 km for biking. Too many injuries for me this year and both knees had it. I have learned from my mistakes, and hopefully, I stay injury free next year.

A lot of “My First” this year, that was joining the following distances in running: 10k, 21k, 42k, and joining one MTB race. Together with my friends, we created the Gone Running Club, we thought of putting up one so that we can all motivate each other to continue what we started. We ended the year with a total mileage of 10,178.73 km.

I am grateful with all the friends I met in running, I was surprised to learn that it was a big community already here in the Philippines. Thanks to Takbo.ph people who were very supportive to all of us who were new to running. I learned a lot from their experiences which they have written in their blogs and that also encouraged me to create my own blog site. I was able to make friends with some of their members, and hopefully I meet more of them in the future runs. Thanks again.

For next year, I have set my goals already here they are:

1. To achieve a sub 50 for a 10k run.
2. To achieve a sub 2 hrs for a 21k run.
3. To achieve a sub 4:30 hours for a 42k run.
4. To do my first duathlon.
5. To lose 16 lbs.
6. and to stay injury-free.

Most of this are aggressive goals for me, I just hope I can keep up with it.

This year was a start of my fitness journey and both running and biking has become a way of life. I hope to continue this and that I may be able to share my experiences to everyone and encourage others to start living a healthy life. Happy New Year to all and God Bless you!

Keep on Running

Last week was a no run week for me as I opted to give my left leg more rest. Problem was, last week was filled with Christmas parties and I had more calories stored that were unused and I ended up gaining 4 lbs (that was fast!). This week, I started to run again, I ran a slow 5k last Monday at 7:01 min/km pace finishing at 35 min. Still have some pain on my inner left knee and a muscle tear on my hamstring. I got this injury after my marathon in BKK last November. Wednesday, I ran 6k with an improved pace of 6:22 min/km, I felt good in this run, there was slight pain but manageable. I was surprised that I was able to maintain a good pace. In the past, I have been running at 7:00 to 7:30. I got motivated, but mindful not to rush as I am just recuperating and don’t want the injury to come back.

Today (Thursday), I went for an afternoon run after visiting my sister’s house. My brother in law prepared an Ethiopian coffee and had one prior to my run. I went to UPLB campus and as I parked, I saw Dante, a batch mate since grade school who is a triathlete and a member of the UP Trantados. He joined me in my run and as we took off, we saw his friend (Anthony – “Tonio”) who was training for the Condura Run in February, he will be running a 42km. Our pace was between 6:00 – 6:40 and it was a conversation pace for them while for me, I focused on my breathing in order to last the planned 8k route at a maintained pace. At the 7th km, Dante and Tonio started to pick up the pace and saw Dante sprinting his last 300m while Tonio maintained his pace as he planned to run 24km. As for me, I ended up completing a 9km run at an average pace of 6:33 finishing in 59 min. No major pains, and I was happy with the result.

It’s Christmas Season and a lot of parties, a lot of calories to burn. Let us keep on running and stay fit! Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Gone Running in Makiling

Two weeks ago, I invited the GRC group to join the Makiling Nature Run in UP Los Banos in Dec 13, 2009. We have decided to join this event since some of us missed the Makiling Challenge ’09 in September. The race started a bit late, If I recall it right the 16k runners started 15 minutes late from the planned start time at 6:00 am, followed by the 10k runners and 5 k runners with an interval of 15 minutes. The course was challenging since the route will go up to Jamboree Road, Pook ni Maria Makiling, and National Art Center. On the way back, though you expect all downhill, there was a last uphill climb going to forestry with turnaround after the Infirmary hospital going down to women’s dormitory.

I was not supposed to run since I declined 3 days before the event due to my muscle tear in my left calf. I intended to just provide morale support to the group. However, when I got to the site Sunday morning, I felt the urge to join and do a 10km. I was just so stubborn to ignore the pain and didn’t mind what will happen at the end of the race. After the 1st km, I was seriously thinking of stopping and getting out of the race due to the pain on my left calf and shin and that it might aggravate it further. I took a walk break to shake it off on the first uphill climb at Kanluran Road, after a while the pain has become bearable so I decided to continue.

The event was not as big in terms of participants as compared to the races at the Fort, but I must say that the organizers has done a good job in carrying out their task during the event.

Some of the good points were:

1. Sufficient water aid stations,.
2. Marshalls were assigned on designated area to guide runners on the right direction.
3. Marshalls on bike were there to monitor runners and provide support as needed.
4. The route was good since runners get to run at Mt Makiling. 16k runners were able to go to National Arts Center.
5. Distribution of singlets were orderly, sorted per sizes.

Negative points

1. Late start
2. No km markers
3. The distance was short of 1km for 10k, and around 1.5km for the 16k runners.
4. Race bib was made of oslo paper/thick bond paper. It easily tear off as it gets wet. At the finish line, the runners need to shout their number as the time recorder manually record the result.

The event was good, I think attendance reached around 1,000 runners or less. The weather was good and everybody seem to enjoy their run. I hope more races are held in UPLB and try different routes.

Some Photos during the event.

Waiting for gun start: Ronald (16k), Greg (10k), Jun (10k), Raymond (10k), Jay (16k)



About to start


Jun (finishing 10th) and Greg (finishing 5th)

Raymond Canta

Knight Runner

Jay Chavez

Ronald Valdez

What an inspiration! Nothing is impossible with strong will and determination. This man finished his 10k run. At the last 25m stretch, he hopped until he reaches the finish line.