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? :)

Second Wind Run Clinic at Blue Wave Mall Marikina

Hector Yuzon, president and proprietor of Second Wind running store was invited to give a talk to employees of Blue Wave Mall Marikina. Read about it on the Second Wind Website.

Yihieee! Spotted at Second Wind

Ang cute naman ng heart!!! Hehe

I'm sure everyone knows the story by now... for those who have been living under a rock, check this out.

My Ironman 70.3 Swim Relay Experience

"This is alot harder than I thought!"

...was the 1st thought which popped into my head around 300 meters into my reconnaissance swim on Saturday morning.

Having done all of my training and multi-sport racing in a swimming pool, having to go 600 meters into one straight swoop was very, very new to me and it was a challenge that I have to admit I underestimated. Add to that the disorienting feeling of not being able to see the bottom of the low visibility lake, meant that I had to try doubly hard... just to stay on course!

By the end of the 1.2 recon swim of Lago del Rey, I was pretty confident I had a rudimentary swim-stroke-sight maneuver thing going down, but I was really far from confident for the race day. I know my team mates prepared hard for this. I didn't want to let them down...

Oh well, I had committed to this, so there was no turning back!

RACE DAY!

Having slept most of yesterday afternoon and evening, I was wide awake for at 4am for the 7:10 relay start, so I made the most of my time.

So I had a leisurely breakfast of everything in the buffet table, took a shower back at the room, changed into my Speedos, got body marked and tried to figure out a way to release the butterflies in my stomach.

R416!

Before I knew it, it was almost 7 am and we were being corralled into the pre starting nipa hut. There I didn't feel as nervous anymore as I was making jokes with Angel, July, and Berns, all fellow relay swimmers, all of whom were former or current varsity swimmers.

Hmmm, I hope people don't judge me by the talent around me!

The 1st part of the swim was everything I heard it would be. Despite the relatively smaller number of swimmers for the relay, there were definitely some unintentional hitting and kicking involved. I remembering having to make a full stop at least twice in the 1st 200 meters as I got cut my this guy twice, as he made his way diagonally across the swim course.

Right around the 1st turn around the field around me started to spread out and I got some free space. Around this time the 1st of my troubles began. One the way to the turn around, my stroke-sight technique worked well enough, helped by having people around me whom I could watch. On the way back, the sun's glare made sighting the far end difficult and this problem was compounded by my getting water into my goggles. Dang! I was gonna be one of those diagonal guys on the way back.

Eventually I made it back to the crossover point and I made the short run over to the cable park lake with no problems.

Once in the water though, I did I double take. Literally! having not swam the pool the day before, the moment I dove into the pool I saw nothing but green! I closed and opened my eyes quickly to be sure I wasn't seeing things. sure enough, algae or something made underwater visibility almost nothing! A person could be swimming beside you and you wouldn't know it until they hit you!

Amazingly, the 1st thought which came to my head was...

MUST NOT

SWALLOW

ANY OF THE

WATER!

After which I thought, shit this will be hard.

To make a long story short, I struggled with that loop, running into people, making the most of my breast stroke technique to find my way around.

But I eventually made it to the end! Boy! I tell you, for a 1.8 kilometer race, I was never so glad to finish! That was one of the the longest 48 minutes of my life!

I standing up dead tired, when the cheers of my friends and fellow competitors(who had finished way, way before I did) reminded me that I was still in a race, so I quickly broke out of my dazed stupor and ran into the relay tent, where my team mates Dandan and NVP were waiting. A quick hand off of the transponder a few seconds later and my part was done!

After catching my breath. I made my way back to the room. Took a crap. Had a long, long, hot shower to get ride of any lake residue and headed for the Mcdonalds van.

Around 2 hours later, I made my way back to the relay tent to assist Dandan and NVP in the hand off and then made my way to the finish to watch Terenzo Bozzone take 1st from Macca!

But the real highlight of the race for me was around an hour later, when Dandan surprised me by how early he made it to the finish. A 1:30 21k run quickly erased whatever swim deficit I left them with and gave up a top ten finish for the all male category, behind the super teams of Timex, Camsur Tri and D.O.T.

Not a bad way to cap off a great race!

P.S. Check out the running form of the runner of Relay Team winners Timex-Runrio. 1:27 half marathon time! He's probably not human.

He's not touching the ground in this pic.

Apparently, they also doesn't have to drink water in his planet! Hehe

An Open Letter to Fellow Important Running People

Hello Fellow Important Running People (Shoe Suppliers, Race Organizers, etc. You know who you are.)

As you can see, I have a blog...

... therefore, aside from now being filled by an overwhelming sense of pompous self-importance, I should get invited to the big events and get free stuff.

You guys know the drill, I have a blog, ergo I am now important, my opinions (which are voraciously read by at least 3 people, one of whom I think I am not related too, every single week!) matter. So therefore because of my blog power, you guys should give me thousands of pesos of free goodies.

I held up my end of the bargain, I'll wait for my free stuff now.

Sincerely,

Your brother-in-blogging.

One Tough Nite Race!

The results are out! Click here for yours.

When I signed up for the Kenny 15k, I knew it probably wouldn't be an easy race. With the piling up of work and MBA requirements, plus training for the Camsur Half-IM, which I agreed to swim for as part of a relay team, I really haven't had much time to run. Add to that my knee injury from TNF100, and I knew I was no where near top shape. As you know, running is like a savings account, the more training you put in, the more performance you can get out! If you put nothing in... don't expect spectacular returns.

Not to say that I haven't been able to run at all. Thanks to my friends at the Second Wind shop, I've literally been dragged to a few group runs, speed work, and LSDs. So that plus my 1:45 earlier this year at the Condura Half, I thought a realistic goal would be a 1:20 to 1:25 15k. Early on, I made a conscious decision to push myself a bit during this race. I wanted to see "where" I was in terms of race pace and also I had to finish in front of a certain couple doing the 5k (More on this later).

Since this was the first "serious" night race I ever entered (Izusu's costume run last year not withstanding), I had some time before the race to think about the pros and cons of having a race so late in the day.

PROS:

I had ample time to prepare my gear and put on my CW-X properly. Anyone who owns one of those will tell you that those compression tights need extra care and patience to put on. Also I could Double and Triple check everything; shoes, socks, patella strap, headlight, etc. As opposed to blindly stumbling around at 4 or 5 am, rushing to get all your things and speeding over to the race venue because you grabbed an extra 15 minutes of sleep after your alarm went off at an ungodly hour. So definite PLUS POINTS for that.

CONS:

Parking was a definite hassle, as you didn't just "compete" with fellow runners for spaces, but also with the "party people" out for a night out. But it wasn't really that bad, so NO MINUS POINTS for that.

What was really a problem for me was that racing after a full day of work really left my drained even before the start of the race. This particular day, I had spend a good 6 to 7 hours with my MBA groupmates tackling our Capital Budgeting paper and I can tell you, even taking into account the triathlons and ultramarathons I have done, nothing drains me quite like Finance. I know some people love these numbers, net present values and internal rates of return, but I am not one of them. Definitely MINUS POINTS for a night race then! Hehe

All in all though, I think I was interesting concept to race at night and I was pretty excited about the race as I waited in the starting "corral" with Marga. I remember discussing with her my plan to go slow during the 1st couple of Kms, because I am like a very,very old diesel engine. My legs in particular take very, very long to warm up, but they're usually good for a long while once they get up to temp. If I start too fast before I get a chance to warm up, I usually flame out spectacularly.

Guess what happened when the gun went off?

Yup, I got caught up in the crowded and started way to fast! I should have known better that to start behind Jonel and his HC friends. At this point, I remember thinking that if I was just behind these guys, I was running too fast. But you know, sometimes, you tell yourself that you're feeling good, maybe you can sustain it...

Well, apparently I couldn't. After the 3 or 4km mark, I knew I was in trouble. It started with a slight pain on my shins. Then I really began to feel overheated in the high humidity. It didn't help that I was wearing my I am Ninoy jersey, which though nice, is really quite thick and heavy.

I literally stopped at the second water station to take some fluids and GU. At this point, I was thinking that I screwed up majorly and I could forget my 1:20. All I wanted to do now was finish before a certain 5K couple (Again, more on this later).

The GU helped for a while, but once we hit the dark road (thank god for my headlight) leading to Heritage, I was in trouble again. I slowed to almost a walk in some portions and people overtook me by bunches.

Inside Heritage wasn't any better, as I was consistently slower than everyone around me. I remember thinking at one point during a short ascent that I walked up; "This is it, I'm cooked. Lets just see how far we can go before I explode."

So I took off my heavy Ninoy jersey, luckily I was wearing my Nike Pro underneath to prevent chafing from the material of the jersey (I always wear a Nike Pro with untested jerseys after my painful chafing incident during my 1st 25k 2 years ago. No I will not elaborate :D) and I slow jogged to the next water station.

There I poured 2 glasses of water over my head, rehydrated and took my last GU. I probably also spent a minute or 2 trying to psyche myself up for for the remainder of the race.

Funny thing happened then though. After I started running again. I felt really good, I got my proverbial second wind.I think I made really good time until the turn around point of the 10k runners, when the course got really packed with people. At this point, I ran on the sidewalk just so I could maintain my pace, looking carefully at where I was stepping, as you know are sidewalks are notoriously... well, notorious!

I was feeling good about my run already and I thought maybe I can still make 1:20 or at least 1:25. Of course, I still stopped at every water station to rehydrate and rest a couple of second, but it was still looking good by my watch.

Then... Mckinley Hill happened. Going downhill, I made up alot of time, though at the expense of my knee, the unstrapped one. I began to feel a little pain on it but I choose to ignore it for the time being. I was thinking that "I was so close!", "Dear God, let the pain come in tom! I'll pay for it then, I promise, just let me finish this one well!".

I guess God really listens to our prayers because while the pain never went away, It never got any worse either. And I managed to run (occasionally walk) up Mckinley Hill and even had had a little bit enough in the tank for sprint to the finish!

1:26. Shit! I little bit off. But I'll take it!

Now for the highlight of the evening.

As my friends and I anxiously waited, we scaned the coming finishers for one particular couple. As we waited and no sign of the running couple appeared. We began to get worried. Doomsday scenarios began playing in our heads, though no one would say it out then.

Then suddenly, Marga screamed... "There they are!

There they were... holding hands. Crossing the finish line together. Slightly weighed down by the enormous rock on Tania's hand.

Congratulations, Hector and Tania! Bring on the Bachelor Party!

Second Wind Group Run in La Mesa

We, the regular running group of Second Wind, ran 16kms of wet at muddy trail in the unbelievably scenic La Mesa Watershed. Every time I am there, I'm continually amazed at how a pristine and beautiful nature park can exist within the polluted boundaries of Metro Manila. And its even left than half an hour from the shop!

Though this is the 1st, it definitely won't be the last trail run, as we are already making plans for future runs in places like Batangas, Tagaytay, and of course we'll be back in La Mesa!

If you're interested in running with us, just contact Hector at the shop, We normally run around UP in Wednesday and/or Thursday evenings.

With Mikey this Time