As of July 12, 2025, I have accepted 70+ Letters Of Intent from Runners who have the intention of joining the 2026 BDM 160K Ultramarathon Race. 50 Runners will attempting the coveted BDM Grand Slam Trophy which is an award to runners who have finished the BDM 102K and BDM 160K in succession. These runners had just finished their BDM 102K last May of this year. This BDM Grand Slam Trophy will be awarded a day after the runner finish the BDM 160 in an event which we call The BDM Grand Slam Trophy Awards Night which we usually conduct at the Philippine Army Officers Clubhouse.

As of today, only one runner had officially Registered to this event by paying the Registration Fee. Hopefully, all of the accepted runners will be able to pay their Registration Fee before the deadline of payment which will be on July 31, 2025. There will be No Extension Period for the payment of the Registration Fee.

Non-Payment of the Registration Fee within the period allotted will disqualify the applicant for the said race.

Yesterday, July 7, 2025. I have started sending Letters Of Acceptance for the 2026 BDM 160K for the first batch of 30 runners. The second batch will receive their Letter Of Acceptance within today or tomorrow.

Only 4 runners acknowledged that they have received their respective Letter Of Acceptance.
I have received some messages from my Messenger asking for the extension of the payment period for the Registration Fee. I think I will not favorably reply for this request in a positive way.

As I said, non-payment of the Registration Fee within the period July 7-31, 2025 will result in the removal of the runner from the List Of Accepted Runners and their slot will be replaced from an Applicant who is in the Waiting List. I am very firm to implement this instruction to everybody.

This is my post for the day. Hopefully, updates will be made in this blog on a daily basis.

Bald Runner is going to take charge in the conduct of the yearly Bataan Death March 102K & 160K Ultramarathon Races effective January 2026.

I have opened the submission of Letter Of Intent for the Bataan Death March 160K Ultramarathon Races last July 4, 2025. This race will be conducted on January 24-25, 2026.

The entry to this event starts with the submission of Letter Of Intent to my e-mail address stating the year and edition when the applicant finished the BDM 102K and finish time which is the qualifying race to join this event. I limited the applicants to only 50 runners.

After 24 hours since my announcement on Facebook, I have received 70+ Letters Of Intent! I am not surprised since most of the finishers in the latest edition of the BDM 102K would like to earn the most coveted BDM Grand Slam Trophy, for finishing the two BDM Races in succession.

I will start sending their Letters Of Acceptance by answering each e-mail sent to me by the applicants starting Monday, July 7, 2025. I don’t mind sending and answering each e-mail as I love doing this since the time I started this event 15 years ago! I can safely say that BDM 160K is the first 100-Mile Road Race in the Philippines with a cut-off time of 30 hours which I ultimately adjusted to 32 hours!

I will be busy again writing on this blog because of this event. I would like my runners and participants of my races and running events to start browsing this blog for stories in my past events. This will also the platform that I will use in order to update my runners together with my Facebook Pages.

Please share this post so that more people will know that I am back. Thank you!

This is an article copied from a clipping taken from an old newspaper or magazine article. This was originally posted by a friend on Facebook who happens to be a Retired General of the Philippine Army and a Graduate of the Philippine Military Academy.

WHAT ARE POLICEMEN MADE OF?

A policeman is a composition of what all men are, a mingling of saint and sinner, dust and deity….Less than one-half of one percent of policemen misfit the uniform.

He, of all men, is at once the most wanted and the most unwanted…He must be such a diplomat that he can settle differences between individuals so that each will think he won.

But, if a policeman is pleasnt, he’s a flirt: if he’s not, he’s a grouch….He must be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, tie splints, and above all, be sure the victim goes home without a limp—-or expect to be sued…He must know every gun, draw on the run, and hit where it doesn’t hurt.

He must be able to whip two men twice his size and half his age without damaging his uniform and without being “brutal”….If you hit him, he’s a coward; if he hits you, he’s a bully…He must know where all the sin is and not partake.

The policeman must be a minister, a social worker, a diplomat, a tough guy, and a gentleman…And of course, he’ll have to be a genius—-for he’ll to feed and clothe a family on a policeman’s salary.

Today, June 4, 2025, is the 15th Founding Anniversary of the Philippine Association of Ultrarunners (PAU). It became as the National Federation Of Sports on Ultramarathon Races of the Philippines under the approval and endorsement of the Philippine Athletics Track & Field Association (PATAFA). It also became officially considered as the Philippine Member & Representative to the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) on the same year when it was created. PAU had been the 6th member in ASIA together with Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

PAU’s vision was to make Ultramarathon as a sports for everybody. Its purpose was to create ultramarathon events that promote the celebration of some historic events in the country; promote Sports Tourism to the different regions of the country; discover and develop elite ultrarunners; and participate in international ultrarunning events.

For the past 15 years, PAU has been successful in its vision and purpose. Almost all the regions in the country has its own ultramarathon events. Race Organizers had multiplied and the same with the Race Directors. PAU Events had been copied but these events were only conducted once.

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, our PAU events had stopped with almost 2 years. However, PAU Events had restarted 3 years ago and it is the intention of the Association to bring back those events from the past years.

With the incoming Ultrarunning Events in Thailand and Japan this year and next year, respectively, the Association will be bringing athletes to these events to represent the Philippines. PAU is coming back!

You can visit the Facebook Page of the Association here.

As a member of the International Association Of Ultrarunners, I did a 10K “run & hike” in my backyard loop in connection with the “IAU Global Solidarity Weekend”. This event was initially conceived in 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown and since then this event was conducted every year. The Philippine Association of Ultrarunners (PAU) which I am the President for the past 14 years, had been joining this event representing my country, Philippines. There was a time that only selected runners within each team-country would join this yearly event. For the past events, Philippines had been represented by the PAU runners with a team of 10 male and 10 female runners. And as the President, I would join the group of countries’ Presidents for this event.

However, for this year, the IAU had created a Facebook Page where anybody among the runner-members would post their running experience as part of this year’s “IAU Global Solidarity Weekend Run”. I have the impression that this event is open to the public and anybody would just run and post his or her running results during the duration of the event. Actually, this is a very good format and it would be a good way for every runner to be motivated to run without any limit of distance and time.

And so, for today, I did a 10-kilometer distance by “running and hiking” for more than two hours inside my backyard where I have been running and hiking within a loop that has a distance of 800-900 meters per loop. It was hot and humid and I am glad that my backyard loop is almost covered with fruit trees. I did still sweat and got tired after this activity. But it was worth it for the day.

What is unique in my “running and hiking” was that I was wearing my heaviest denim jeans and Chelsea Work Boots. I did it purposely because I was trying to fade my denim jeans and then “breaking-in” my Red Wing Chelsea Work Boots which I started using in my backyard works for the past 2 months. The same with my jeans, I have been using it for the past 82 days out of the 366 days (one year) to wear it. At the end of the year, pictures of this denim jeans will be submitted to the company brand who made it and there will be a selection committee who will select the Best Fades for such Denim Jeans. By the way, this competition is open to only people who ordered the jeans from the company. However, I am not vying for any position in this competition as I would like to experience what it is like to fade the “heaviest denim jeans in the world”. The denim fabric weighs 33 ounces per square yard and if you put it in context, the ordinary Levi’s Denim Jeans has a weight of 10-12 ounces per square yard depending if it is an ordinary woven denim or selvedge denim. Oh well, I will explain in my incoming posts on the difference between an ordinary denim jeans and a selvedge denim jeans.

So, I will make another “run and hike” tomorrow and and hope to post my activity on the Facebook Page on Monday.

Thanks for reading and thank you for your support.

For the past years, I have been buying my flight tickets 2-3 months before my scheduled flight and most of the time they are more expensive. Lately, I have found out that buying your flight tickets as early as 5-6 months makes a lot of difference. So, since then, I made sure to plan and study my calendar one year ahead and consider the period to purchase my flight ticket which is 5-6 months before. The main consideration or reason why buying your flight ticket very early is because it would be very cheap.

At the advent of Online transactions, most of the travellers choose to schedule and purchase their flight tickets through online on the flight carrier’s website or to flight ticketing platforms. However, since I don’t have a Credit Card (although Debit Cards are also allowed but the limit of online purchase is only P 30,000.00 which is below the flight ticket’s price), it is impossible for me use these online websites and travel platforms. With this situation, I have to resort to asking my Travel Agency to do the purchasing for me which was the way I have been doing through the years. The Travel Agency will advise you about the terms “Peak and Low Seasons” of travellers. Peak Season means more expensive flight tickets and Low Season means cheaper flight tickets where your savings would be added for your accommodation and food expenses.

In my personal opinion, choosing a Travel Agency is the best option for the first time travelers. I am so glad that I have been using a Travel Agency since in the 1980s and the staff would always give me the best option (cheapest deal!) Of course, the Travel Agency would always advise and answer your questions if you have doubts about purchasing your round trip ticket. The travel agent will inform you about the “High and Low” peak seasons of travellers. And by the way, I always pay in cash.

As part of your planning, make sure to find out if you need a VISA to visit a country. This is the document that will be attached to your Passport which allows you to visit the country you are going or visit. The Travel Agency will advise you if you need to apply for a Visa depending on the country you are visiting. In all the Southeast Asian countries to include Hongkong and Macau, citizens of the Philippines do not need any Visa to visit these countries.

As an advise, you can start experiencing in traveling abroad by choosing places that are very near the Philippines. In my opinion, Hongkong is the best destination to experience your first travel abroad. The reasons will be explained in my next blog post!

Thanks for reading and for your support.

I will be starting a series of posts in this blog about traveling abroad and will try to help my readers, make this blog as a guide and maybe, inspire others to do the same as what I have experienced. Before my retirement from the active military service, I have started this blog about running and my running adventures before and after I retired. I have traveled more countries abroad in other countries because of running and I really enjoyed the experience.

However, after the Covid-19 pandemic I have reduced my running training and I could only afford and do at least one marathon race a year. Due to old age, I can still train for 9-10 months for my marathon race and have the remaining months as my recovery period.

Starting this year, at the age of 72 years old, I have promised myself to travel at least two countries for this year. I have just concluded my first trip for this year after an 8-day stay in Osaka, Japan. I will write the details of my trip and stay in this second largest city in Japan in the coming days.

For a person to travel abroad on a pleasure or holiday trip, one must have a Passport. Passport is the most important document that one would carry in order to travel abroad. Other things like Round Trip Ticket and Accommodation places will follow later. Overall, planning is the most important thing to do before going to a trip abroad. The first first of the plan is to have a passport.

As far as I know, one should be able to get a passport, if living in the Philippines, the most easy way. Simply search on Google on how to apply for a new passport in the Philippines and this one would appear. https://psahelpline.ph/blogs/passport-application-and-renewal-the-ultimate-guide?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCAVSzG6aOzt0JQDayfC0de8aImMGeDIP0SMI_Yu9tBxFHvAjJsbJpZBoC6XIQAvD_BwE

Follow the procedure above and everything will be alright. Give at least, one month (which is too long already for your planning stage to consume as your first step in being able to travel abroad).

If you have already a valid passport, then you can now travel abroad.

But first, consider what is the purpose of your trip. For pleasure, holiday, group tour, shopping, to experience other culture, meet friends you met on Social Media, and simply just relax and get away from the daily grind in your house or in your locality, have some pictures to post on Social Media and others.

In my next post, I will discuss some recommendations on the reasons why you should travel abroad. For me, I just want to wander around and “feed” good things to my eyes.