Officially Official! Condura Run 2010 will have a FULL marathon!

I got this text yesterday from my good friend and accomplished marathoner Pat Concepcion, I will post it below verbatim so nothing gets lost in translation!

We are pleased to announce that the Condura Run 2010 will be on Feb. 7, 2010. It will feature a full 42km marathon. The route is being finalized but will go from the Fort up Kalayaan Buendia up the Skyway all the way to Bicutan and u turn back to the Fort. The route shall also take marathoners to the on and off ramps of NAIA 3. Condura is making the announcement this early so that runners can begin training as the event is 5 months away.

More details to follow!

I am excited for this as not only did I get to run on the Skyway, I had a good finishing time of 1:47 in Condura half marathon this year. Next year's edition is a can't miss for me. As my 1st official marathon in over a year, getting to run on the Skyway and pass NAIA 3 would be a treat!

Though, I'm sure the uphill areas, i.e. going up the ramps, will be brutal!

See you guys in Condura next year!

P.S. I wonder what shoes I should get for this... paging Hector!

Chafing Solution

I still vividly remember my very 1st 25km race or rather vividly remember its after math. I think I chafed in every conceivable part of my body. The last few kilometers was unbelievably painful, not only did I chafe in the "groin-al" area, I was also holding my wet singlet away from my incredibly painful nipples.

After that run, I immediately swore off wearing untested race singlets as well as ran, well hobbled over to the nearest Mercury Drug to buy not 1, but 2 tubs of petroleum jelly. It was the only non-pleasure lubricant I could think off at the time. No way, I wanted to chafe like that ever again!

Nowadays though I use this...

So much easier to apply and lasts forever! I should know, not a single chafe during last weekends long, wet run!

Best of all, thanks to my good pal Hector at Second Wind Running Store, I don't have to go to Amazon.com to get it. Its now available, albeit in limited stocks, at the shop for P480!

Preview: Very Wet Morning Run!

Ran around Metro Manila in the rain for a good cause! Watch out for more pictures and a full report later this week!

Proper Pedal stroke

Following an early morning run-swim workout with the members of Second Wind runners and some members of Tri-Polar, my good friend and future triathlete decided to take the next big step of cycling by buying pedals and cleats for his road bike.

Of course, everyone who buys a new bike part knows, when you get it, you gotta try it, right awya! Rain or no rain! So we went to UP to test his new pedals and shoes and that is where I found out how hard it is to be chasing after a 20 year old track star on a bike.

Suffice to say, in contest of fitness versus experience, fitness won... yet again.

Which got me thinking, if I can "out-strong", I've got to "out-efficient" him. (Yeah those aren't real words, but give me a break, I just spend the past hour chasing after a 20 year for 30 kms.)

Which got me googling this...

The perfect pedal stroke!

I found this interesting article on bicycling.com.

Since, I'm way to nice to purposely sabotage his training (though I am still leaving that option open ;D) I decided that every stroke from now on must be perfect, no wasted energy!

Cool!!! Leadville 100!

In the words of Mikey: Asteeeeeeggggg!!!

Check it out here.

Dean's Cup Triathlon

Before last weekend, I had done exactly 1 Triathlon before. Last September during the UPLB leg of the Speedo NAGT.

Since then, I've always wanted to do another one, but ultra marathons and injures got in the way of that.

However, some time ago after watching one to many IronMan Kona videos, my friend Hector and I decided that this is the year we would rekindle our love affair with triathlon by doing the White Rock Triathlon this year.

Which is why I found myself in the start line of the Dean's Cup, a 750m swim-20km bike-5km run, sprint distance triathlon.

My swim started off pretty well, Hector, Neville, and I started in the 4th wave, which luckily had the least amount of participants. By sheer luck, I also found myself near the front of the pack when the race was started, from there I just took off and manage to stay ahead of the pack, thereby avoiding the dreaded "washing machine".

Washing Machine!

3 loops and 16 minutes later, I got into my pink floral tsinelas and made the long run to the transition area.

Check out the slippers!

A quick change of footwear and a shot of GU and I was on the bike and of to start 8 (Yes, 8!) loops of the UP academic oval.

Being a mountain biker by blood, I knew that the bike portion would be the hardest for me, even though I've been road biking for a few months now, the skinny tires and tiny cogs still make life difficult for me. Though I am slowly gaining confidence in it and my legs seem to be starting to adapt to the different gearing.

but for now, my strategy was to survive the bike portion in 1 piece and try not to lose to much time.

Just for fun... I dropped my water bottle trying to put it back in the cage on my 4th lap, which meant I had no hydration. I never even considered going back for it... mustn't lose time, remember. Besides It was an old bottle and the bite was getting fiddly.

To top it all off, an over-aggressive shift lead to my chain slipping off the crank on my penultimate lap. In the minute or so that it took me to uncleat, step off, place the chain back on, get back on the bike, try to re-cleat, comically slip of the pedals, re-engage and go, Hector managed to over take me.

If I wasn't racing him then... I was now!

We managed to catch up with one another in transition. Hector was on his way out, as I made my way in.

"This is it! You and Me!" I said to him as he left.

In hindsight I shouldn't have said it. Probably gave him fuel to run faster.

Unfortunately, that was the closest I got to him for the rest of the run, the late morning hear making it a bit though for me to run and I was constantly pouring water on myself at every aid station.

Hydrate! It can get pretty hot out there in the Big Island of UP! Hehe (Sorry, Inside Joke)

26 long minutes later I found myself near the finish line, which unfortunately Hector managed to cross 2 minutes ahead of me.

Of course, being the sport that he is, he stayed in the sidelines to cheer me on and as a fellow sporting gesture, I gave him the universal sign for a job well done and I passed him...

Its nice to see competitors respect one another. It's what the spirit of Triathlon is all about.

The very serious Team Second Wind

P.S. Thanks to Tania, Migs, and Eng. Carlos for the pictures. The great thing about having alot of friends, is that you have alot of pictures! Especially if they all have fancy dSLRs and one of them is a professional photographer!

P.S.S. The best thing about the triathlon came after the event. When we had gone home already. We didn't stay around for the brunch and awarding anymore as Neville has some pressing concerns.

We didn't expect to take home anything anyway, as we were sure the level of competition was much higher than we anticipated.

Imagine then, our surprise when our friend T.J. informed us that we had won 8th and 10th place overall and that he would be dropping the medals of at the shop!

Wow! My 1st medal! I haven't had one of this since grade school! Now I'm even more excited to join the next tri!

See the full results here.

Nike Philippine "Flag" Advertisement

I was every surprised seeing this billboard of Nike on C5. It is seemingly depicting the Philippine flag, but the red portion is on top.

As everyone knows, the Flag Code aka Republic Act 8491, Section 10, clearly states:

The flag, if flown from a flagpole, shall have its blue field on top in time of peace and the red field on top in time of war; if in a hanging position, the blue field shall be to the right (left of the observer) in time of peace, and the red field to the right (left of the observer) in time of war.

I know basketball is a very serious sport here and we follow the participation of our National Team abroad with fervent enthusiasm. But to say that we are at war over this is taking it a little to far, don't you think? :)