mark, hey, you need at least 3 years of running experience and at least 3 marathons before going to the ultra. this is the way of the future in running as more americans and europeans are involved in ultras. they are leaving the 42K marathons to the africans! talking about the typhoon, i was at the Luneta grandstand at 4:30AM and ready for the race. it was postponed but the organizers gave us free breakfast!

Bad weather, hope you guys didnt attempt to venture out today. Been up since 4am with the winds howling. Our practice got cancelled as well. Even the breakwater area cant stop the waves.

From my memory, he was running very strong when he came by the water table.

lovekoto, you are right! msgt leonardo illut died already and i stand corrected. i just corrected my post after reading your comment. i am presently making a research on our national sports program and i saw the names of those national athletes who participated in the past olympic games and i thought msgt illut might be the same as leonardo. it is very unfortunate that our past elite athletes in athletics/running just faded away…just like us in the military. anyway, thanks for the correction & comment. thanks for being a regular visitor of this blog.

Im a regular visitor of your blog, and I find your space interesting. Specially for runners like our age bracket nearing 50 and beyond..
I would like to comment and also correct me if Im wrong on this.

“MSgt Leonardo Illut (the runner & pacer behind me) was our country’s Marathon athlete/runner in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.”

The runner who is pacing you maybe is MSgt Ireneo Illut. Because Leonardo Illut is already dead. He was shot dead in a cockpit in Malabon.
Ive’ known him because we used to run together before, also with Jun Tabunda, Gerry Bulasoc ( also a military killed in action ), Ricardo Carillo (the winner of the first Manila Int’l Marathon), Barredo ( the first ultramarathoner in those days), Manuel Oyao ( Milo Marathon consistent champion), Jimmy de la Torre ( also deceased -shot in a movie house in Iloilo City), many other runners from the 80′s. Im not running at their level but I have given the opportunity to run and brushed shoulders with these Pilipino great runners.

Thanks.. more power..

runmd, of course, you can run! since you are not aimimg to be the 1st place in your age category or beat cris sabal or vertek buenavista, you can run and treat this half-marathon as your training run where you can test yourself again. you did well last sunday and treat the past days (w/out any runs) as your rest and recovery days. you will be surprised that after days of rest, your body will be ready again and craving for more kilometers to run. i can predict that you will have a better time on sunday. good luck & see you in Luneta Park.

i just want to get your opinion. i asked joe the same question.