I’ve chosen to see and run through the dirt trails near my sister’s place in Barangay Dibua South, Laoag City in the afternoon of last Wednesday (11 June). I used my ASICS Gel-1120 shoes with my Nathan Water Belt, a bottle of Propel strapped on my right palm, runner’s cap, and a Nike running kit. I was accompanied by Barry White and The Beatles.

The access point to the dirt/trail road is very near my place which was only twenty meters. The dirt/trail road is beside an irrigation canal without any flowing water and followed the trail going north. It was a slow run just to be able to see, explore the place, and make sure of my foot landings. There were parts of the trail which were covered with dry leaves that fell down from the trees that are on the sides of the trail. There were parts of the trail which are used by people going up the hill to get some firewoods and most of these trails lead to some houses and rice fields.

This is the dirt road at Barangay Dibua South which is beside an irrigation canal. This point is Km-2.

After reaching the cemented road going to Barangay Sangil, Bacarra as I jogged towards the north, I decided to go through a small cemented/paved road that goes towards the eastern direction. After twenty meters, the paved road became a sand & gravel trail, later a dirt trail, and I was surprised to see a newly-cemented road that goes to the hills. After passing through the peak of the highest hill in the area, I followed this paved road and on the lower elevation I could see on both sides of the road big concrete houses which is a sign that most of the people residing in this area are either OFWs or “Balikbayans” from the USA. At this point, it was already Km-9.

After running for almost 5 kms, I took this sand & gravel road going to the eastern direction.

After running for about 500 meters on this road with big concrete houses, I met 4 couples (at least 50 meters distance from each couple) doing brisk walking with fanny pack belts on their waists. I smiled and waved at them while I passed them. Most of the couples seen walking were fat!

This trail is going uphill to a semi-permanent house. At this point, I was already at Km-7.

It was getting dark already and opted to just follow the paved road and later surprised to see bright lights on the horizon. I could see the Provincial Sports Complex where workers are busy making repairs on the grounds/track. Hopefully, our running oval track here in Laoag City will be made of tartan.

From the Provincial Sports Complex, I have to go back to my sister’s place in Barangay Dibua to complete my run and it was another 4.5 kms distance. After running on the trails and hills in Laoag City, the cemented road and plain terrain towards the house gave relief to my tired legs.  

After almost 25 minutes from Barangay Sampaloc, I was able to reach the finish line, the house of my sister.

This run gave me the reason to see the trails in Laoag City for the first time! I was surprised to know that there are so many dirt/sand & gravel trails on the outskirts of the city which connect barangays located on the hills.

I was able to run a distance of 15.43 kms with a time of 1:50:41 hours. It was a nice run!