1. The plan for the 5th Day was to finish the “adventure run” to Baguio City. It will take me 58 kilometers to run/walk for the this “leg”. I knew that Kennon Road covers a distance of 35 kilometers and the uphill road starts from Barangay Saitan, Rosario, La Union which is the road that intersects with the Main National Highway.
2. For me to finish this “leg”, I need to have a longer time to sleep the night before the 5th day, wake up earlier than the previous days, and start the run before sunrise. The 5th leg is planned to be a continous run/walk from Kilometer Post #192 to Kilometer Post #250. So, I woke up at 4:00 AM; did the “drill” as if I am going to join a road race; and packed my things.
3. It was still dark when I started my run at Km Post #192 in Binalonan, Pangasinan at 5:45 AM. The sidewalk is still the same—full of stones/gravel and sand which made my run slower and had to use my flashlight. I was wearing my TNF Trail Running Shorts; TNF Long-sleeved shirt; TNF Hand-held Hydration bottle; Under Armour Cap; ASICS Gel-Kanbara 4; PUMA Socks; Armando Caruso Buff as headband; Oakley sunglass; and two Bandanas tied around my neck. From where I started, I had to run/walk at least 23 kilometers to the Rivervue Restaurant where I plan to have a decent breakfast with steamed rice! The restaurant is 400 meters away from the intersection of Kennon Road and the National Highway.
4. At Km 21, Rey Jimenez of Dagupan City met me along the road and we started to run together. Rey finally believed about my description on the sidewalks of our National Highway as he had seen stones and gravel & sand. After running for two kilometers, we stopped for our breakfast and rest. I ate “tapsilog” with their native chocolate/cocoa hot drink. I really liked the hot native chocolate drink! We stayed at Rivervue Restaurant for about 45 minutes and I think we were the first customer for the day.
5. What is good about running on the road is that you are not affected with those traffic brought about by the repair of some bridges and parts of the road where only one lane is usable by the vehicles. We have to pass vehicles which were waiting for their turn to pass the only lane for both traffic. I am sure the people inside the vehicles were talking about us that we are “crazy” running along the Kennon Road towards Baguio City.
6. Cyclists from the South would pass me while I was running on my first 20 kilometer and I know that they are also on their way to Baguio City. We would meet a lot of cyclists also coming from Baguio and later see them going back again to the city. I always wave my hands to these cyclists and they respond also. These “cyclists” are the real ones—they are thin, flat-chested, and with very DARK skin! I just laugh to myself when I compare those regular cyclists I always see doing their “circuit” workouts at the BHS loop.
7. Running along the Kennon Road is very tricky and you need to be always on the safe side. Take advantage of the limited space at the sidewalk where you could run/walk. I don’t advise runners to use their Ipods/MP3 when running in Kennon Road or for that matter, when running along the National Highway. A runner should have a keen sense of hearing from the incoming vehicle on both lanes of the road. During this adventure run, I could guess what type of vehicle was approaching from behind based from the sound of their engines, mufflers, and tires!
8. Rey and I ran together on single file. On the first 10 kilometers, I was leading the pace but on the next 10 kilometers, Rey was already the one who was trying to pull me along the road as he would lead me for about 5-10 meters. We had occassional “pit stops” where we replenish our water for our hydration; drink sports drinks; and ate Fita/SkyFlakes with Cloud 9 Chocolate. Each Kilometer Post along the road was a sight of relief as the number of Kilometers to my destination slowly became lesser until it bacame single digit.
9. After passing the long bridge at the Toll Station, we stopped for our late lunch. Rey and I ate the available food in one of the eateries for “truckers”—home-cooked sinigang na baboy, “chicken joy” & dinuguan with steamed rice. After our lunch, Rey prepared to go back to where he parked his car in Barangay Saitan as he was scheduled for a social function in Dagupan City late in the afternoon. Rey took a ride in one of the jeepneys and I was left alone for my last 11 kilometers to Baguio City. Thanks, Rey for the company and the pull/push for the 26 kilometers that we’ve run together! (Do I have to tell you again that I sang some songs with a Karaoke machine in that truckers’ eatery? hahaha!)
10. The last 10 kilometers took me two hours to run & walk. The “zigzag road” has steep uphill climb and I have to walk and then run again along the flat area. The technique was to brisk walk on the steep climb and then run on the flat part of the zigzag road. The technique had been repeated all the way to Baguio City. On my last 5 kilometer, I was received and met by Carlos, photograper of The FrontRunner Magazine and later was greeted by the family & relatives of Jonel aka Bugobugo/The FrontRunner Magazine. Thanks, Jonel for arranging a simple but meaningful reception as I reached my destination for this “adventure run”. I was informed that you arranged for a welcome party consisting of a band and group of runners from Baguio City to join me on my run/walk from the Rotary’s Lion Head to Baguio City. Though they were not able to wait for me, thanks again for the effort & gesture.
11. Reaching the Baguio General Hospital (BGH) was a realization that I’ve finally reached Baguio City. I am glad that the “Slide” area before reaching the BGH have been fixed as this was the “headache” of motorists and truckers going to Baguio City. You always find a vehicle or truck stucked at the middle of the road on this area almost everyday and such occurence always result to a traffic on both lanes of the road. However, I was not spared on this occurence during my run as one of the jeepneys got stucked at the bottom of the steep uphill climb!
12. I finally reached the Rizal Park infront of the City Hall of Baguio at 6:15 PM as I walked entirely along Burnham Park with heavy traffic of vehicles and people coming out and going to the Park and to those who are audience to a political rally at the Burnham Athletic Ground. Practically, I was on the road for 12 1/2 hours for my last day. I ran the 58-kilometer distance for the day with a running/walking time of 9:15 hours. Finally, I reached my destination. I did it. I was able to prove to myself how far I can push my body’s capability beyond its limits where I could run an ultramarathon distance almost everyday for 5 days. I was able to prove it also that I can inform my readers on a “near real-time” with pictorials through the Internet with what is going on with me in my “adventure run”.
13. This post will not be the end of my “adventure run’s” journal/diary. There are so many untold stories to tell which I experienced along the way and I will try my best to recall them and bring them to you on this blog. I did a lot of things along the way and I hope that such experiences will guide future runners/pedestrians who will embark on such challenge. The challenge is, “if I can do it (at the age of almost 58 years old), you can do it, too”!
14. My sincerest thanks to those who supported this “adventure run”. Your prayers, best wishes and words of encouragement pushed me to my limits. Lastly, my thanks to the Lord Almighty for giving me the strength and “vision” to inspire others. What is next? Keep on reading this blog for more interesting stories and surprises.
Bald Runner 
You deserved all those good foods after a grueling adventure run. You still looked amazingly fresh. You might get used to this and think of another round tomorrow, hehe. Congratulations Sir, Mabuhay!!
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ben, you are right! the adventure run is very addictive. i am thinking of running again all the way to bauang, la union via naguilian road for a dip at the sea! hahaha!
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Congrats po sir, ang galing…. dami kong natutunan, from first to last phase of your adventure run, ang sarap gayahin….sana… pagbati po uli at saludo po sir……….
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i still have lots of stories to tell where you can gain more information and help on doing such adventure runs. keep on reading and thanks for the comment.
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Congratulations on completing your adventure run! I’ve been following your daily posts and it’s been very inspiring and informative. You have definitely proven that a runner doesn’t have to disappear off the face of the earth while doing a cross-country run. 🙂
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in the age of internet & “real-time” information, everything is possible. i am not good in marketing & “high-tech” stuffs but with proper planning, i can bring my “adventure run” right in your home or computer on “real-time”. thanks for reading my posts.
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Congratulations BR, for a job well done! I salute you for finishing your adventure run within the time frame you set and reaching your destination safely and in good health. Congratulations also to your support crew, especially your photographer for the classics and priceless pictures.
“Plan, Practice, Finish, and Learn In Every Road Race” say it all
of your adventure.
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arthur, you are welcome! i did some planning for this run months ago where i have to recon the towns in bulacan & up to mabalacat, pampanga to include the places i intend to have my rest overnight. the rest of the towns & provinces are well-known to me as i travel by car when i was still in the service. thanks for the comment.
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We did a double take there when you started climbing in Rosales Pangasinan ha ha. BR could not wait for Rosario La Union he’s doing a shortcut via the Agno.
Congratulations kailian!
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cecil, thanks for telling me my typo error..hehehe..i’ve corrected it already.
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congratulations sir jovie!
nice observation on those REAL cyclists coming up and going down kennon. they are a FAR cry from the circuit cyclists of bhs. our kennon guys are bereft of equipment,apparel and wang wang escorts but there they are doing the real thing day in and day out and not shouting “bike,bike” whenever a runner is in their path unlike their bhs counterparts.incidentally, whenever the bhs bikers do, i shout back, “tao, tao” which is actually much MORE precious than their brand-name bicycles. i wonder whether they can go out of their comfort zone and bike even half up kennon.
anyway, they need bikes to go up kennon,while we only need our feet.
mabuhay ka.
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jonel, you are right..one time, i also shouted at them while i was running on the edge of the road of bhs. as if they own the road there by shouting at us/runners. the cyclists/bikers along kennon are friendly as they converse with us. some of them come all the way from tarlac and pangasinan just to have their workouts at kennon. we’ll see if i can bring my team br to do running workouts along kennon road in the future. thanks!
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Congrats Sir Jovie ang galing! More adventure runs in the future..
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chito, thanks! for sure, there will be more as long as i can run.
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Congratulations Sir Jovie.
I have been reading your post regularly and it is really inspiring.
I won’t be surprised if in the future you will set-up an adventure run from Pagudpod to maybe Sorsogon or farther down south.
Your strength and endurance is very inspiring….it helps newbies like us to keep on trying longer distance run.
Our prayers goes with you for your safe and injury-free running adventures.
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thanks, running around Luzon first would be nice!
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Sir Jovie. Congratulations on finishing your Adventure run. For 5 days I was following your post and getting inspiration from it. I’m also glad that you reach your destination safe and free from any injuries.
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monp, i still have more stories to post on this 5-day adventure run.
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congratulations sir jovie! mabuhay ka!!! very inspiring. thank you for sharing your adventure run to us.
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thanks, jet! i hope you can make an adventure run in your lifetime, too!
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Congratulations on finishing a difficult task. I hope you didn’t sing My Way at the Karaoke.
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hahaha! “my way” is not included in my list of favorite songs!
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Awesome! Wow, galeng!
I predict a lot of runners will follow you next time to Baguio…. And I think, maybe, I’m going to be one of them…
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natz, you have to try it, too! it’s an experience you can be proud of as a runner!
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Congratulations BR! have been following your blog. Very inspiring feat! Sets another challenge (something to dream of) for us, wannabes.
Your daily account of your running gears, the roads (even the political ads) and even the food are very detailed. I’m looking forward to the other posts. (Probably a food review of pinoy delicacies in the north – ala anthony bourdain =)
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tin, thanks for reading my daily posts. the main reason why i did this was to prove that i can run and at the same time share my journal to my readers immediately as i end my daily workout.
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Congrats, BR! Iba ka talaga:-) Godbless & Happy Running!
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caloy, thanks!
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Congratulations, Sir Jovie! It has been a great ride. Thanks for taking us with you. See you at the races!
Julius (lifeisahighway91.blogspot.com)
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julius, thanks..more stories to come about this adventure run.
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God-willing, I hope that someday I would be able to reach your age and do the things that you are able to do at your age — reach out to people in need with the shoe program, help aspiring runners and go run with all my heart on an adventure run for several days and not thinking about deadlines and reports to finish at the office.
God bless you sir. See you in three weeks time for the 2nd BDM 102k!!!
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fi, you can do it, too! and thanks for those kind words. good luck on your bdm 102.
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I’ve been following your posts everyday too sir Jovie. Before I go to sleep, I always check if there are new updates with your adventure run. And congratulations for conquering your first adventure run! It’s like drugs, once you get hooked, you can’t get enough of it. I’ll be looking forward to more adventure run posts from you. God speed!
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you are right. this kind of adventure run is addictive and to tell you the truth, i am looking intently on the map of luzon for another adventure run in the future!
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congrats sir jovie!!!! for finishing a extra ordinary and inspiring run….. thank u for sharing us your adventure run… hoping that someday i can do the same, but before that i have to finish first our 2nd BDM ultramarathon… God bless sir … See u in our 2nd BDM!!!…
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thanks! good luck on your bdm 102. after running your 1st ultra, life will never be the same again.
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Lakay Jovie,
First, thanks for letting me join you in the last leg…it was a BLAAAST! I used to ride my MTB back in the mid 90’s along this route, and I thought I still had a perfect layout of the route on my mind…then we both found out the freaking Camp 7 toll both was not just around the bend, but around 4 kms away pa pala…. I was looking at our pictures, and it was I who looked like I had been running for 5 days, while you looked fresh as a daisy (well, a 50-yr old daisy..). Sika nga talaga ti katankenan (you are the hardest…uh… most hardcore!).
We were toying with the idea of doing this segment again right? But this time, invite more runners! I think it would be an enjoyable 1 day runwalk, with pit/pee stops at Colorado falls, and maybe at that swimming pool we were both drooling at but could’t make a stop for.
Congrats manen, lakay Jovie!
Lesson learned: before tackling the climbs in Camp 7, every runner ought to do a videoke number at that truck stop….I think that gave you an energy boost not even gu/powerbar could match!
Taray Nga Taray!
Runninglakay
(yes, I finally got a wordpress account so I could post here…:-)
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hahaha! now, you know already that singing during my “pit stops” is the one that re-energizes me to push my limits. thanks for being there to push & pull me during my last leg of my run. those swimming pools along the road were very tempting. hahaha!
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Congrats, BR! Remarkable feat, Sir, remarkable.
I’ve been following your account, and honestly there was a time there that I thought the last leg might be too difficult. It turned out you have managed your energy just enough for that last climb. You don’t look tired at all.
Your account of the adventure run is definitely worth to point out! The kind of road with notable landmarks, the time & distance of each run, hydration, nutrition with pictures of the foods, and even the expenses. This is really worth emulating for us, wannabees. Thanks for the account, Sir.
On to the next adventure run!… More power. GOD BLESS.
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thanks! it takes a lot of planning and logistics to come up with such an adventure run. but if you are focused to accomplish something, you can do anything that you want. see you soon!
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Congratulations! Rest well now.
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thanks, atty jon! is it true that you are targetting for a manila-baguio run in 3 days? good luck & hope to see you soon!
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Congrats General BR! I tried running along Kennon Road to the Lion’s Head (out & back) from the city center last Sunday…it was quite overwhelming even if its just around 13 kms…I hope the dogs on one those hairpin curves near the viewing point did not bother you at all. They were pretty scary & out running them was not possible for me. 🙂
Looking forward to meet you again in future races so I can donate another pair of running shoes.
More Power!
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i was at the right side of the road when i passed by the view deck and i really try to avoid dogs. these dogs know a person who is also eating dogs! thanks for the shoes & see you soon!
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Congrats, General! Your feat is a proof that age does not matter. Retired soldiers do not grow old, they just run ultra-marathons. I don’t think any cadet at PMA can do what you have accomplished.
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thanks, father! can i have your mailing address? i intend to send you a copy of the movie “running the sahara”. good luck on your future “adventure run”.
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This is my mailing address:
Fr. Amado Picardal
Redemptorist Compound
J.P. Laurel Avenue
Bajada, Davao City 8000
Thanks in advance. I plan to do the Trans-Mindanao Trek this Holy Week.
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Congrats Sir!..you are an inspiration to all, to excel and be positive. More power to you and your Family. Godbless! ^_^
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Congrats on another amazing feat Sir Jovie, you continue to inspire us all !
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That was amazing….. I’m planning an adventure run when I go back in the Philippines for now since I’m
close to Colorado I’ll try to run up by pikes peak in Colorado springs…keep on running brother…
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I learned a lot by reading your blog … Thanks
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