"on a shoestring"

“It’s elevating and humbling at the same time. Running along a beach at sunrise with no other footprints in the sand, you realize the vastness of creation, your own insignificant space in the plan, how tiny you really are, your own creatureliness and how much you owe to the supreme body, the God that brought all this beauty and harmony into being.” -Sister Marion Irvine, 2:51 PR and 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier

Whenever I find myself in a new place especially a new beach, I will make sure that I find time to run (even if I didn’t bring my running shoes). And run, I did! This time in the historic Lingayen beach, Pangasinan.

After about a kilometer of walking from the President’s Hotel in Lingayen Pangasinan towards the beach, I did some stretching and warm up. I was amped to run so I did some 2K warm-up.

Warm up (used my 10-sec timer)

Read more…

I did this rave run at Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental after a month-long hiatus last November 14. Yep, sorry for posting this tooo late.

Dumaguete City is known as “The City of Gentle People,” this chill city is also the home of Silliman University. 

I had a very scenic run at Dumaguete City’s Boulevard all the way to Hayahay. I felt like it was my first time running. I was trying to catch my breath, trying to feel the rhythm, the coordination of my strides.

When I felt some perspiration on my forehead, I tried to run faster. In my mind, I can still do a sub-5minutes per kilometer but my body doesn’t want to cooperate. I was having a hard time breathing. I can feel my belly, that I gain 4pounds. But I continued… until I reached Hayahay, the place where we partied 2 nights ago. It was a nice place, the music was great because it reggae. How I miss Dumaguete City- that laid-back town full of foreigners.

What’s good on my route is the century-old Acacia trees that line up the boulevard, the relaxed locals having some leisurely walk/jog, the white lamp posts and the nice red-tiled avenue beside the sea. It was a beautiful landscape!

RUNNING STATISTICS:

Date of Run: November 14, 2011 (Monday)

Route: Back and forth at Rizal Blvd then out to Hayahay and back, Dumaguete City

Distance covered: 6 Kilometers

Pros: Running along the Dumaguete Bay was refreshing. The Rizal boulevard is one of the best boulevards in the country.

Cons: The smoke pollution on my way to Hayahay. There are lotsa car and tricycle on the highway.

Time: 36minutes (6:00/km)

Temperature: 29°C

Running Apparel: Diadora singlet, Reebok running shorts, Puma socks, and Brooks T7 Racer.

can i call this the laid-back run? or maybe chill run?

If you want to read more of my out-of-town runs, you can check out my RUNNING PLACES Page.

It was a fine Sunday morning when I, X, Christian and Carly met at UPLB gate for a trail run using the punishing route of Mt. Makiling, popularly known as MakTrav (or Makiling Traverse) by mountaineers.

Carly on the rope segment before approaching Peak 2. Everyone who conquered Mt.Makiling is familiar with this particular spot.

We started the run half an hour past 7:00am, run-walk strategy to conserve energy. We found ourselves refilling our hydration bags just before Agila base, preparing for the uber muddy trails from Camp 20-30. I think muddy is an understatement as we saw the mountaineers coming down from Peak 2 all-sullied-feet/shoe.

Carly, Christian and me at Peak 2 enjoying the chilly air for a while before continuing the trek to Peak 3.

No one from us (except for X) knows that this is how the gentle Maria Makiling greet her visitors. Making them muddy and dirty from the mud (no one is exempted), wounded from the thorns (especially Christian), and bloody from the limatics (we saw one). Our quads are still sore at the time of this writing.

This time with X, the master trail runner with his special skills of power walk. Running the difficult terrain seemed like a ‘walk in the park’ for this forester.

But the view from Peak 2 and 3 are breath-taking. The chilly air and the moving fog are a welcome treat after a tiring, punishing hike (we tried to run but we just can’t).

Remembering our trail food, we brought: 1 Cream-O pack, 1 Siopao, 4 slices of Gardenia Raisin Wheat Bread, 1 Nature Valley Peanut bar and 2 Rebisco Strawberry Sandwich.

This is also the first time I tried the Orange flavor of Hammer gel, I love it and is now my fave.

From the famous Peak 2 (where most mountaineers have reached), we dared went to Peak 3. I was surprised with a different viewers angle of the Taal Lake and Volcano, a 360-view, it was more than rewarding, we stayed for some more minutes until we are ready once again to retrace our route.

The view from Peak 3, Sto.Tomas, Batangas side, from here you Taal Volcano, Mt. Maculot and Mt. Batulao can be seen.

Carly suggested we call this run X-Trail in honor on Xerxis, known as X, because he is “the” master of the MakTrav trails.

Most of the terrain from Peak 2 to Peak 3 is unrunnable, there are spots where you have to crawl. Now I know the meaning of what dean Karnazes said, "crawl if you must, just never give up."

We started running as soon as we went down the 90° rope segment near Peak 2. Attack the downhill was the motto until we reach the “lugawan” near Mudspring. We are dead tired and hungry as we sat down at the eatery.

We survived the arduous X-Trail Run version 1.0 after 7 hours and 18 minutes, after running some 25kilometers of mud, thorns, sharp rocks, moss and every obstacle in between you can ever think of.

Version 2 is on the drawing board already, we hope to bring other to experience this too! Anyone interested?

The sun already peeked when I woke up, I immediately went towards my sun deck, took a deep breath while enjoying the scenic Tagaytay morning, a bit chilly, scenic and perfect for a RUN.

The famous Taal Lake, view from my room’s window.

After lacing up and a quick muscle stretch I found myself running on Aguinaldo Highway, staring from my hotel, Summit Ridge Hotel, this is the same road where PAU 50K Tagaytay-Nasugbu was done where I was green-eyed from Km.0-50.

This is my starting line

I did an out-and-back route. As I don’t have a Garmin, I just relied on the kilometer markers, Summit Ridge Hotel is exactly at Km.58 and so it is very easy to measure my run.

These are some icons I saw while running:

Five kilometers on slightly rolling hills and back, my turn-around was kilometer marker 63, where I have a nice view of the Tagaytay hills below.

Going back after 5 kilometers, was a RUN AGAINST THE WIND. The gushing wind is blowing against me, making it harder to run. I love this as this helps in training and it feels like I was running on air- another rave run. I was glad I ran as oppose to getting extra sleep. The run lasted an hour and 9 minutes (1:06).

I used my VFF Sprint here as I was traveling. What I love about my VFF is that it is an all-around footwear, I can use it while walking, running, malling, practically anywhere I go- off-road, beach, pave roads.

On my way back to the hotel, I just placed my camera on the road railing, 10-sec timer.

Ending the run at Robinsons Promenade just beside the hotel. Now I’m ready for a breakfast buffet at Classic Cuisine (C2)… (till the next rave run)

 Run ended here, Robinsons Promenade just beside the Summit Ridge Hotel

Running Stats:

Date of Run: March 16, 2011 (Wednesday)

Route: Summit Ridge Hotel Tagaytay, 5kms to Nasugbu via Aguinaldo  Road (out and back)

Distance covered: 9.8 Kilometers

Pros: The weather was chilly, fresh air, scenic lake view, slight rolling hills perfect for leg strengthening, winds going back was a challenge too.

Cons: The vehicles are king of the road, take a good eye while crossing as they don’t use brakes.

Time: 1:06 (6:44/km)

Temperature: 16°C or 61°F

Running Apparel: Vivo Barefoot singlet, Craft running shorts, no socks.

Shoes: VFF Sprint (Red) 

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Special thanks to Summit Ridge Hotel Tagatay for a very nice stay, the SeriAsia Signature massage the night before the run was a welcome treat for a runner like me. Love my room, 803, the view of Taal Lake was just refreshing.

For inquiries or reservations, call (632) 240-6888; 0922-852-6800 or visit their website www.summitridgehotel.com

*I will be sharing more of my experience with Robinsons Malls (Veranda & Promenade) on my travel blog: JOURNEYINGJAMES next week, so keep an eye.

Running in Batanes: Basco Town Proper to Valugan Boulder Beach (Part 1 of 2)
Running in Batanes: Quickie Runs at Sabtang Island (Part 2 of 2)

I was pinching myself just to make sure it was not a dream. It all started with a desire to run around the Philippines (one of the reason why I call this blog JourneyingJames) and I can’t believe it, I was running on the northernmost part of the country- Batanes, specifically in Batan Island (2nd largest island among the 10 islands of Batanes Province).

The Route: Town Proper to Valugan out and back

I can’t wait to run on this island and I will not forgive myself if I will be a slacker. So I woke up before dawn and readied myself for an easy run to Valugan (Valugan means East in Ivatan language).

At the first 2 kilometers, the run was kinda normal (about 6:45/K) except for the constant pinching to check if this is for real. On the 3rd kilometer, the sound of the crashing waves became my iPod (as I don’t bring iPod while running), then the view of the majestic Mt.Iraya surprised me! It was stunning that I have to stop for a while and breath as much air as possible, it surely took my breath away. “Words are not enough to describe the experience” is such a cliché but that was the feeling.

Valugan Boulder Beach, you can see a portion of Mt. Iraya covered with clouds (Photo credit: Wanderlass)

After some more meters pave roads are no where to be found and the Boulder Beach is posing me a challenge. You know me, I love trail running, so I ran (and jumped, and scrambled ) on the boulders (the photo below shows the terrain) for about 1.5K. Then back to the pave road towards the town proper.

The boulders on the beach lining were actually andesite rocks spewed by Mt.Iraya when it last erupted, 1454. These rocks were smoothed overtime by the undulating tides of the Pacific Ocean (Photo from Izah of Tripadora).

At the last kilometer, I saw an Ivatan kid, Robert (Grade 6 student), he was running after me. I thought it will only last for about 50meters because I was getting faster, but he kept pace and we ran together (and have some chit-chat) until I reach the airport (finish line). He was walking to and from school everyday, but he ran with me that particular day. I said thank you and my heart was smiling for an unexpected thrilling run.

The Ivatans are genuinely nice, all of them smiling as I pass them on my route and their “good morning” greetings are straight from the heart. I was touched. THIS IS RAVE RUN!!!

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Running Stats:

Date of Run: February 12, 2011 (Saturday)

Route: Basco town proper to Valugan Boulder beach, Batanes (out and back)

Distance covered: 7 Kilometers

Pro’s: The weather was fine, fresh air, Ivatans were smiling when I pass them, the sound of the crashing waves amped me, the majestic Mt.Iraya was breath-taking, the boulder was challenging and develops sense of balance.

Time: 47:38 (6:48/km)

Temperature: 18°C or 64°F

Running Apparel: Nature Valley tech shirt, Craft running shorts, cycling shorts and Nike cap.

Shoes: VFF Sprint (Red)

*So sorry I have no picture of myself while running.

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***This happened during the Batanes Bloggers’ Winter Tour last February 11-14, 2011. The trip was made possible by SEAIR. My heartfelt thanks goes to Tita Lydia of Batanes Seaside Lodge & Restaurant and Dir. Bless and the rest of DOT Region 2 staff. Dios Mamajes!

I was able to join this tour because my entry, “Batanes, Ichaddaw ku imu” (Batanes, I love you) won the SEAir Bloggers’ Contest.