Rubicon and the Route

Crossing the Rubicon

Several days ago I was teaching my students about the chapter on Roman history when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river. His actions basically declared war with his arch enemy Pompey and the Roman senate. “Alea iacta est” which means "The die is cast" was believed to be the very words Julius Ceasar echoed in the Rubicon. I told my students that this event is used so many times in literature and throughout history to state the idea of PNR or Point of No Return. As I uttered those words I realized it was already Wednesday and I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach and I wanted to say the words “Yikes” Malapit na yung run!!!!

Wednesday was the point of no return for me, this means I can’t get sick, injured and the likes. However people at home and in the office are sick or in the verge of getting sick. Lord!!! huwag ako magkasakit hehehehe. This is the difference between professional athletes and weekend warriors like me, professional athletes knows how to handle the rigors of training and racing. They are so accustomed to the stress that builds up before a major race. I could just imagine the pressure of the riders in Tour De France and Formula 1 drivers since there races are stretched out for over long periods of time. Ang galing nila!!!!

Training is not really about the race but its also preparing you for the stress full days before the race. I have raced before and got sick days before race day so why am I so jumpy all of a sudden. Maybe because a lot of close friends of mine invested a lot of their time and effort just to make this run work. Moreover I am not only a participant of the run but one of the organizers as well. I can just imagine the stress organizers of triahtlons, runs and adventure races go through. Galing nila!!! O well we can’t do anything about it and just let the days pass and hope for the best. So what to do now, well I told my runners just do the normal things you do during the week and treat this 100km run as a training run. Don’t do anything silly hehehehehe, like new exercise or training just do the same things or do your routine. This means that to work, hmmm kamusta na kaya bike support namin? Hehehehe. Tama nay an trabaho na !!!!

Here is the tentative route of the run. the team is still fixing it. We will be repeating some routes also.

Tambayan - Santolan cor Katips (via AS likod, Pres. House, CP Garcia, Katip)
Santolan - Libis/Jollibee (via White Plains, Green Meadows/Christ the King)
Libis - Fort Access Road (via C5)
Fort Bonifacio - EDSA cor Ayala
EDSA - Guadalupe
Guadalupe - EDSA cor Q. Ave
Q. Ave - UP Oblation
Acad Oval
Oblation - Circle/Commonwealth
Circle - EDSA/Q. Ave. (via Visayas/Mindanao/North. Ave/Agham)
Q. Ave - Quirino Grandstand
Milo Marathon

Napagod ako sa kakasulat hahahahaha.

Malapit na!!!

The team went for a 2-3 hour run today roughly around 22-23 kms around the busy streets of Ortigas and Libis and back to our home base at UP Diliman. After slurping a few gallons of Rush, Gatorade, water and sprite we started to do our stretch and talked about the long run ahead. I reassured them the logistics and the man power is already there and we are just waiting for Saturday to start running.

I slowly went through my checklist to check my runers and guest runners. "Lahat ba meron Insurance or health card" hehehehehe. Meron sir!!!! "Nag file na ba kayo ng leave after the run!?" Yes sir! "Bumili na ba kayo ng isang katutak na pain killers!!!?" Yes sir isang box!!!! hahahahaha. Mag baon kayo maraming pasensya at kuwento mahaba yung takbo next week!!!!

The most nerve wracking part for me on any race or big event is the final weeks since I have the tendency to think too much about it and i get stressed and I get sick. I do pray hindi ako ma-dengue, flu, colds, injury, etc. Hehehehehe. Past few runs were aborted due to sudden illness of mine. Hypochondriac ako!!!!

Everything is a go. We have already raised funds but we still need more. So people start donating please to kythe, its really a worthy cause. If this ultra marathon works I am planning another one several months from now, I'm not sure about the details and the route but ill post it here once I start craving again for long runs.

The run will be this Saturday!!!! I really don't know what to expect. I am anticipating rain so added challenge. It is interesting how the run works, because it will examine two interesting ways of training. hehehehe. To begin with we have a month to prepare for this because a certain Romi mistakenly thought the run was on August. I am not sure if there is a manual or training guide for ultra marathon in 1 month hehehehe.

So this ultra will test two types of training, two of the members due to schedule constrains decided that they will run three or four times a week, short runs around 2-3 hours or around 20 km. while other members decided on a training involving lesser days of training but 1 long run roughly around 6-7 hours. I wana see what training works well discounting other factors katuwaan lang. You cant beat my Kungfu hehehehehe.

For the next several days we will be having a carbo loading party and also taper runs. The team is really excited and plus our support crew. We have invited several cyclist who will accompany us through the run. we will be running while they eat and drink and party at every control points hehehehe.

The North Face shoes are really holding up. The fit is muy muy bien!!! I don't have any complaints whatsoever. For some people it might take some getting used to and some people might see it as too heavy. Your feet will be well protected and cushioned. The team really loved the lacing system its really cool!!!!

Finally, when i was running today i listed four things i hate when I am running.

1. Your running fast and some car slows down beside you and ask for direction. "Sir nasan ba yun?"
2. You are running hard in the early morning and you run by a house cooking breakfast(the smell of tuyo, fried rice, bacon, coffee, etc, hehehehehe) makes you real hungry.
3. Sudden urge to go to the bathroom.
4. Looking at your watch and realize wala pang 1 hour run mo!!! hehehehe.

Malapit na, this weekend more plannings, meetings and eatings, bukas ulit short run lang with the whole team para masanay lang sa pact run!!!

Let the Games Begin

Since the campaign is out might as well reveal our plans. We are still debating kung saan kami tatakbo at dadaan but its for sure it will be around Metro Manila. The target date will be on July 21-22. We will be running in the evening on July 21 for 60kms then proceed to Quirino Grand Stand to finish the last 40kms by joining the milo marathon. Yikes!!!! This is gona be a very interesting run, after all. The goal is to run 60km and the rest of the 40km hmmmmm bahala na hehehehehe. This is for a good cause anyway so we will complete it. The team is predominantly composed of UP Mountaineers.

The people joining the ultra marathon team are the following, Danny Dematera, Kiko Santos, Beth Siojo, Rachito Abellanosa, Olive Cortez, and Neville Manaois. We will also have guest runners who will be having their own fund raising for their own charities or cause. These people have been training with us but is not yet ready to do a 100km(parang kami handa hehehehehe). Our support crew will be our friends and co-members from the UP mountaineers providng us with bike escorts and for the most part motivation to run. Best of all they can pull us to the finish line just in case we collapse and di na kayang umabot sa finish line hehehehehe.

Pictures in this blog highlights what we look like after 50km, in UP Diliman, we still have 50km to go. And all of you guys need to do is to donate to help cancer patients. Please visit http://www.kythe.org/

Next update ill post some of the team members profile. Spread the word and start helping out.

Last Long Run

Last weekend July 7, the team finished its last long run, since taper na dapat kami, some might argue that we can push it up to next week but it was the only weekend the group can run and due to work hirap na magahanap ng common schedules. It was an interesting run, daming kuwento and we talked about the problems in store for us for the next couple of weeks. We ran for almost seven hours waking up and started running around 3-4 AM, hehehehehe.

We were also able to test our new gear, specififcally our The North Face Running shoe, designed by ultra marathon man himself Dean Karnazes. I'm quite happy with the shoes with the boa lacing system, a mechanism at the back which you turn pulling the cables to secure your foot. cushioning was also good. Fresh from out of the box, used it and ran for 6 hours, no problems. I am quite impressed, for my other teammates they were skepticall at first but they got the hang of it as the hours went by.

The campaign for the 100km run is out, and people have started showing interest and also started to donate. So please start supporting this project it is really a good cause. We can really do a lot of good with this run.

We will be running throughout the week and a short run over the weekend. Hmmm, short run malamang mga 30-40km hahahahahaha, short run ba yun??? Ill probaly invite the promoter of this run Mr. Romi Garduce hehehehe. Ano romi takbo tayo!!!

Final na talaga sponsors are here, donors are here and most of all the runners are here no time to back out. Hmmm i should have stick to badminton hehehehehe.

Run For Your Life!! Teaser

Quoting from one advertisement "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" People start donating or join the run and race funds hehehehe. Support our cause. This activity is really sudden however, we will be having more activities after this, this is just to jump start these kinds of project. The team will be planning more runs, like run in Mt. Pinatubo, Banaue to sagda hehehehe, bagiuo???(kaya kaya hehehehe). Start running. Pahamak talaga itong kaibigan ko. I'm getting tired sick just thinking about the run. i hope I dont get sick or I am so dead. hehehehehe