I arrived in Manila yesterday morning to meet my son who just arrived from Los Angeles, California. My son, John, will be staying in the country for three weeks for the Christmas Holidays and asked me for him to ride on a bus going to Laoag City. Well, he got his wish and boarded a bus going to the North last night! He will be my running partner in the next few days.

Officially, I am in Manila to attend the 72nd Anniversary of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to be held tomorrow, 21 December, with a Military Parade at the Camp Aguinaldo Grandstand which starts at 9:00 AM. No less than the President and Commander-In-Chief will be the Guest of Honor and Speaker.

Yesterday afternoon, at 5:00 PM, I had my easy run from my quarterts in Fort Bonifacio to the Libingan ng mga Bayani running along the outer/perimeter roads inside and leaving towards the gate, going down to C-5 Highway, up to the “Heritage Mile”, passing through the Libingan Road towards Lawton Avenue and all the way to Market! Market! and Serendra. I passed through the Bonifacio High Street Mall, right turn towards the MC Depot and then left to Jollibee. From that point, I sprinted towards McDonald’s and back towards Gate #1 of Fort Bonifacio. From the gate, I made my cool-down jog up to my quarters.

It was a nice 11.5-mile/18.4-kilometer run which I finished in 1:35:55 hours. I was running an average pace of 8:20-8:25 mins per mile or 5:13-5:20 mins per kilometer which was a faster pace from my previous runs in Jamindan this week. My easy run became a hard and fast workout!

I was trying to catch up with a lady runner which was 50 meters ahead of me at the Libingan Road going towards Lawton Avenue. I could only manage to get nearer to her at a distance of 10 meters ahead of me but I was not able to catch up with her. I lost her while we were approaching Market! Market! as the traffic was heavy and it was too dark already.

These are some pictures infront of The Infinity at The Fort on my way back to Fort Bonifacio.