Category: Fitness

Bivalent Booster Covid-19 Vaccine (March 2, 2023)

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, Health, Insights, Lifestyle, TravelLeave a comment

I was not asked by ANA if I am vaccinated or have tested negative on the Covid-19 Test before the flight while I was processed at the Departure Counter. This scenario is totally different from the time I travelled to the US in July 2021. I had to present my vaccination card, should be negative on the Covid-19 Test at least 72 hours before departure, bought a Covid-19 Insurance Policy to cover my medication expenses while abroad, and to register Online with the Immigration Office of California/USA about my trip. All of these were all gone and I guess, everything is coming back to normal just like those days before the Pandemic.

On my trip last July 2021, the first thing that I did was to have my Covid-19 vaccine a day after my arrival in Los Angeles, California. Even if I was vaccinated with Sinovac months earlier in the Philippines, my daughter advised me to have my Covid-19 shots in the US. So, I had my complete dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles. My Vaccine Card was updated and the staff removed my Sinovac Vaccine as my first Covid-19 vaccine. Pfizer is considered as my first Covid-19 vaccine after all.

I had my booster shots with Pfizer in the Philippines last May 2022 but my 2nd booster shot did not materialize until the time I scheduled my latest trip to the US. I have it planned last November or December but I simply forgot all about it.

Now that I am here again in the US, my daughter brought me to the same Medical Center for my Bivalent Booster Covid-19 Vaccine.

Bivalent Booster Shots Boxes

I gave my Covid-19 Vaccine Card to the Medical Staff and she updated my record/file for a few minutes. She asked me to choose the Vaccine Brands available and I asked her the Moderna Bivalent Booster Vaccine which happens to be the latest Covid-19 Vaccine to be produced so far.

I can say the injection is more painful on the Moderna as compared to Pfizer. It has been a week after the vaccine but I can still feel a bit of pain from my left shoulder. Actually, the plaster or medical tape that covers the injection part is still on my shoulder. However, I did not feel any after effects of anything on my body from the Moderna vaccine.

The medical staff who attended me was kind enough to update and issue me an updated vaccine card with all the vaccines I got starting with the Pfizer I got last July 2021 up to the present. All in all, it took me less than 20 minutes stay in the said Vaccination Room as I was the only one being attended to during that time.

My first day in Los Angeles was very fruitful and rewarding.

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Michael Keon’s Revelation On Project Gintong Alay

On By kingofpotsIn Current Events, Endurance Race, Fitness, General Information, Insights, Lifestyle, Running, Running Diary, Sports Events, Sports Program, TravelLeave a comment

While browsing on the Facebook Page of Mayor Michael Keon after watching his Live Interview with Pinoy Athletics in the past few weeks, I found this particular post or story on the Mayor’s FB Page. This story answers the question why he resigned from the Project Gintong Alay.

My snappy salute to Mayor Michael Keon for his conviction for the good of the Philippine Sports during those days when the Project Gintong Alay was at its peak and success.

Please click on the link below.

m.facebook.com/story.php

A New Direction, New Stories

On By kingofpotsIn Fashion & Jewelry, Fitness, General Information, Insights, Lifestyle2 Comments

Starting today, February 11, 2021, this blog will be anything under the sun. Aside from running and my outdoor lifestyle and experiences, I will be making some stories of anything I can think of, whether it is about fashion, food, news and current events, my personal opinion on events, and maybe some repost of things that I want to share to my readers.

I think this will a way and good reason for me to write again in this blog. As I grow and become older, I have been not so consistent with my daily runs as my runs had been transformed to hiking/walking in my backyard and within my playground. After I have finished a 4-month “virtual race” last year, I had to rest and instead of going back to running, I have managed to do some hiking for the past months. Such hikes would last up to 2 hours as my longest duration and on regular basis, a short hike lasting for one hour. Sometimes, I would carry a backpack with weight in it for more effort and challenge.

Since September 2020, I became interested with Heritage Boots which by chance was able to discover them on Facebook. After one month of reading and researching about the history of Heritage Boots in the Internet, I became interested in them. Luckily, there is a popular brand which is the “Red Wing Shoe” that is locally available in my country. Through a Facebook Page, I finally decided to try the said brand and bought one pair of boots.

With my subscription with You Tube and being able to revive my Channel, I found out that there is a lot of videos about the Red Wing Shoe Heritage Boots. Maybe, this could be one of the reasons why I finally decided to buy my first pair of such brand. On October 9, 2020, I bought my first pair of the said brand with their Iron Ranger Model 8111. I have posted two videos of this particular Heritage Boots Model in my You Tube Channel since then. I will post a link of these videos in the next days to come.

Having bought an Iron Ranger 8111 Amber Harness (colored brown) in an Authorized Store of the said brand in Metro Manila had given me the comfort and peace of mind of getting the right size for my feet. Sizing of new users of the Red Wing Shoe is always the most discussed topic in the Internet. Whether in FB Pages, Groups and Internet Forum, this “sizing” topic (how to get the right size) would always flood the comments section in the You Tube Channel and other Discussion Groups. Because I was able to try different sizes in the said store, I was able to zero-in my right size. Just like in any other International Shoe Brands, I shoe size is 8D! Most of my Signature Brand Shoes are size 8D except for my Corcoran Jump (Combat) Boots which is 9D, the Combat Boots that I used on the last 10 years of my active military service. I think I will have a separate story about my Corcoran Jump Boots which is also considered as one of the Heritage Boots that is Made In The USA.

Since my purchase with my first Red Wing Iron Ranger 8111 Amber Harness, my interest now is being directed to Heritage Wear or Vintage Wear and their respective stories that go with them.

As I don’t want to create another blog site for this topic (Heritage & Vintage Wear) and for my personal opinion and other things that I could think of, I decided to use this website just to continue with my subscription with WordPress. So, practically I am back to blogging again.

Ten-Minute Video: Team PAU @ 2020 IAU 6-Hour Global Virtual Solidarity Run

On By kingofpotsIn Current Events, Fitness, General Information, Health, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Pictures, Running, Sports Events, Timed Events, Ultra Marathon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) invited the Philippine Association of Ultrarunners (PAU), the National Ultramarathon Federation of the Philippines, to join the 2020 6-Hour Global Virtual Solidarity Run which was held last August 29-30, 2020. This event was attended by more than 40 member countries with a total of 426 athlete-runners throughout the world.

Team PAU was composed of 9 Male and 9 Female runners coming from the different regions of the country. Due to the Covid-19 Lockdown restrictions, all the runners were advised to do their running in their place of residence, whether on the outdoors or indoors (on treadmill machine). Team PAU represented the country in this event.

Here is the Video of Team PAU during the event:

Team PAU Video @ 2020 IAU 6-Hour Global Solidarity Run

Thank you for watching. Cheers!

(Note: Please subscribe to my You Tube Channel for more running adventures and stories in the Philippines. Thank you!)

13 Years With WordPress

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, Health, Hiking, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Running2 Comments

Seven months before I retired in the military service, I started to write my stories on running on WordPress. Since then, it has been 13 years that I have posting my running experiences and adventures to my readers. Those past years were great where I was able to inform, share, and inspire others to start running as part of a healthy lifestyle. I hope this blog had contributed to what I have intended to do since then.

At the present, writing my stories in this blog is my way to motivate myself to go out in the outdoors to maintain my physical fitness through running and hiking and to maintain a healthy mental fitness/attitude by writing my personal stories and other information/stories that I would share to everybody. As I grow older, writing is becoming my daily habit to exercise my brain and thinking ability. And since last week, I have extended or expanded my stories to any information that are happening around me and to the environment.

Thank you, WordPress for this opportunity to share my stories as told by an old and ordinary average runner. Thank you also to my subscribers throughout the world, a gratitude coming from a blogger in the Philippines!

Cheers for more stories in the future! Thank you for reading this blog. Stay safe always!

2020 Virgin Money London Marathon Race Highlights

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, General Information, Health, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Marathon Race, Marathon Race Results, Pictures, Race Results, Running, Sports Events1 Comment

Months before the conduct of the 2020 London Marathon Race, it was announced that the scheduled April event will be held despite the Covid-19 pandemic situation and it will be held on October 4, Sunday, with the participation of selected world elite athletes coming from selected countries. Most significant in the announcement was the participation of the two of the fastest marathon finishers in the world: Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya who is the reigning world record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:01:39 hours in the 2018 Berlin Marathon and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia who is the world record holder and Olympian record holder in the 10,000-meter event with a time of 26:17:53 minutes and second fastest time in the marathon with a time of 2:01:41 hours which he set in the 2019 Berlin Marathon, two-second slower than Kipchoge’s time.

Aside from the World’s Men’s Elite runners, the World’s Women’s Elite runners were invited to join the race. This is to include the Elite Marathon Runners from Great Britain. The rest of those who are supposed to participate and had been picked in the lottery to join the 2020 London Marathon had been asked to join in a virtual run and be able to complete the run within a period of 24 hours. Unfortunately, I registered for the third time in this marathon event and as usual, I was not been able to be picked up in the lottery.

In the months, weeks, and days before the London Marathon, there were so many information on the social media and printed media about this “duel” of the two fastest marathon runners in the world; Kipchoge and Bekele. With its hype, I tried to research on the Internet on the past competitions where these two great long distance runners had joined and competed with each other. Bekele was already a World and Olympic “Star” in the 2000s while Kipchoge was trailing behind him in the Oval Track Competition Races. However, during the 2010 and later years, both runners had shifted to road running on marathon races. Kipchoge started to shine and perform consistently in Marathon Races in Europe. However, Bekele had also his winning races on the road until he was sidelined with some injuries. Bekele is 38 years old while Kipchoge is 35 years old. But, these two runners had been always pushing the bar for the world record in marathon up to this time. The sub-2:02-hour time in the Marathon Race are being held by these two greatest runners in the world.

Kipchoge & Bekele Poster (From Google/Facebook)

In my past blog, I posted and predicted that Eliud Kipchoge will win over Kenenisa Bekele in the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon. However, I was still confident to predict that the winning time will be within the 2:02-2:03-hour range knowing how the place looks like when I had the chance to visit London in 2018. The London Marathon was held along the streets surrounding the St James Park near Buckingham Palace which is a loop-course covering a distance of 1.33 miles for each loop. Runners have to complete 19+ loops to finish the Marathon distance of 26.2 miles while is completely flat.

Two days before the race, Bekele announced to the media that he was withdrawing from the race because of an injury on his left calf muscle which he got two weeks before on a sprinting session. With this news, I was confident that Kipchoge would win the said race.

I watched the LIVE coverage of the London Marathon in the evening of Sunday, October 4, 2020 (Manila Time) after I found out that Brigid Kosgei of Kenya won the Women’s Championship with a time of 2:18:58 hours. She is the current Marathon World Record Holder with a time of 2:14:04 hours which she achieved in the 2019 Chicago Marathon Race. Worthy to note in the women’s race is the “sprint run” of  Sara Hall on the last 50 meters to pass Ruth Chepngetich to the finish line winning the race as the First Runner-Up in 2:22:01 hours. This is Sara Hall’s Personal Best in the Marathon.

Kitata & Kosgei: Overall Champion & Women’s Champion (Picture From Google)

On the last loop of the Marathon, Eliud Kipchoge could not react on the blistering pace of the faster runners and he did not win as I had predicted. Tola Shura Kitata of Ethiopia won as the Overall Champion of the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon with a time of 2:05:41 hours. He was the First Runner-Up in the 2018 London Marathon where Eliud Kipchoge won as the Champion. Eliud Kipchoge finished the race in 8th place with a time of 2:06:49 hours and he said in his post-race interview that his ears got blocked during the last loops that he could not concentrate and focus with his run. However, he was gentleman enough to accept the result of his performance. Kipchoge and Bekele will be back!

Thank you for reading. Have a good day and week ahead of us.

Covid-19 Situation In The Philippines (October 2, 2020)

On By kingofpotsIn Covid-19 Pandemic, Current Events, Fitness, Health, Insights, Lifestyle, Pictures, RunningLeave a comment

As of October 2, 2020, after 201 days since Lockdown was declared in Metro Manila and to the rest of the country, a total of 316,678 confirmed cases were reported. For this day, there were 2,611 new confirmed cases. There were 56 deaths today and 416 recoveries. The country has now a total of 5,616 deaths and total recoveries of 254,617.

As more Covid-19 test centers and testing capability in key cities and local government units, there had been an increase in confirmed cases of positive to the Covid-19 virus. However, there is no additional data as to the number of asymptomatic cases as compared to the more serious cases which are being admitted in Covid-19 health facilities and quarantine areas with serious symptoms with the virus. Most of these asymptomatic cases prefer to be quarantined in their respective homes/residences. It is my personal belief that these new confirmed cases have their Covid-19 tests being reported or registered without knowing if they are asymptomatic with the Covid-19 virus or not. However, the data/tabulation below would show the number of Total Active Cases which is 56, 445. Just the same with the confirmed cases, it is hard to find out which of these cases are manifesting serious symptoms of the virus (and should be under the care of the hospitals and other health facilities focused on the treatment of such patients) and to those who are asymptomatic with the symptoms of the virus who are most likely on their own personal quarantine method or confined in their respective homes.

The tabulation below would show the total of 2,611 new covid-19 cases from the different places in Luzon and Visayas: NCR/Metro Manila; Cavite; Iloilo; Bulacan; and Rizal Provinces. Just the same with my personal observation, these new Covid-19 cases are combination of those asymptomatic and those with serious symptoms with the said virus.

In the context of World Statistics on the number of Covid-19 cases, the Philippines is now ranked #20 and ranked #1 among the Southeast Asian countries. The increase in the number of confirmed cases in the country could be attributed to the increase and aggressive conduct of “free” Covid-19 tests being conducted by key cities and local government units. From the slow progress and testing rate in the first 3 months of the Lockdown period from March 17, the country was able to speed-up its testing capabilities to the point that we are one of the top countries who have conducted testing to the populations. As of October 2, we have tested 3,800,150 persons, higher than Pakistan and Indonesia which have more than twice our population of 109 million+ persons.

As per percentage of deaths, the Philippines is scoring very low as compared with other countries. We have 51 deaths in every One Million in our population. Our total number of deaths of the latest report is 5,616.

After 201 days or almost 7 months of Lockdown or movement restrictions, I think we have to live with the Covid-19 virus within the country. We have learned a lot already about the virus and we should practice preventive methods and protocol like: wearing face masks; wearing of face shield; washing of hands with soap and/or alcohol; strictly observe social distancing (at least one meter apart from other people in public areas); no talking in enclosed areas; and proper ventilation in enclosed areas. Additionally, we have to boost our body immune system by exercising outdoors or indoors (running, biking, stretching, swimming, and other calisthenics exercises); exposing the body to natural sunlight, at least, one hour a day; eat healthy foods; hydrate or drink more water and fruit juices, and sleep at least 8 hours a day.

Always stay safe and healthy! Thank you for reading this blog!

(Note: Tabulations From Philippine Star & Department of Health)

 

Sports Events This Weekend (October 3-4, 2020)

On By kingofpotsIn 2020 NBA Finals, Fitness, General Information, Health, Insights, Lifestyle, Races, Running, Sports Events, Sports ProgramLeave a comment

There are two important sports events that will be happening this weekend. It will be the second game of the NBA Finals for LA Lakers against Miami Heat on Saturday morning (Manila Time), October 3, 2020 and the London Marathon Race in the afternoon of Sunday (Manila Time), October 4, 2020 where the Top 2 Fastest and Greatest Marathon Runners, Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele will be competing with each other with the rest of the Elite Runners entire the World. On the Women’s Category competition, it will be a fight between Brigid Kosgei and Vivian Cheruiyot.

On the NBA Finals, LA Lakers won in the first game with a score of 116-98 where the game was played in Los Angeles, California. I would predict that LA Lakers will win again in the Second Game. 

On the Virgin Money London Marathon Race, I would predict Eliud Kipchoge to win the race with a time of less than 2:03 hours with the route of 19.6 laps along the streets around the St James Park in London, England. On the Women’s Category, I will predict Brigid Kosgei to win.

Good luck to LA Lakers and Eliud Kipchoge.

200 Days Since Covid-19 Lockdown

On By kingofpotsIn Covid-19 Pandemic, Fitness, Food, General Information, Health, Insights, JoggingLeave a comment

On this day, October 1, 2020 marks the 200th day since Metro Manila and the whole of the Philippines where put into Lockdown due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. On March 17, 2020, I just arrived at the Manila International Airport from my last International Trail Running Event participation in Sabah, Malaysia. From the airport, I went directly to my training playground in Bataan, which is 110 kilometers northwest from Manila, and stayed there for almost four months until Lockdown restrictions were relaxed and eased up.

Since then, I have been going to Manila on a monthly basis to attend to my financial arrangements and updates. It was just last month, September, that I experienced eating in a restaurant, buying a shoes (Onitsuka Tiger) inside a Mall, and check on my house and staff on a regular basis. So far, so good. On these activities outside of my residence, I would be using a face mask and a full-face shield and made sure that I observe social distancing of at least, one-two meters apart from other people in public areas. Whenever I am driving my car in my monthly trips, I would be always with my face mask. I think this is now the “new normal” while the Covid-19 virus is still present in the environment.

For the past 200 days, I have been busy with running in my Backyard Loop and within my Playground which consists of hills and mountains all around the place where I am now staying. I have also renewed my subscription with the You Tube Channel where I would be posting some videos about running and things that I have been doing in my Playground. However, for the past two weeks, I have reduced the number of hours that I would engage myself in running. I am now strictly following a “One-Hour” daily running routine. Since I finished the 1,000K Virtual Run Across Tennessee and the IAU 6-Hour Virtual Solidarity Run during the period of the 200-day Lockdown, it is time for my body to reduce my daily running duration after one week of rest and recovery period. At my age of 68 years old, I have to slowdown and balance my running with my rest and recovery. At this moment, I was able to bring back my body weight to 133 pounds from 123 pounds at the peak when I was doing my Virtual Runs.

I always make sure to wear a face mask during my runs outside my backyard and maintain one-two meters of social distancing in populated areas. Above all, I always maintain and boost my immune system by doing my daily exercises through running and stretching; eating healthy foods, and making sure to sleep at least, 8 hours every night. Living simply and healthy during this time.

More posts on this blog coming soon! Thank you for reading.

 

Hiking With A Weighted Backpack

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, Health, Hiking, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Lockdown Challenge, Pictures, Places to Run, Practice Runs, Running, Running Diary, Trail Running1 Comment

One of the training tips that my Coach had given me when I complained about my knee pains as a result of my long runs in the mountains is for me to try hiking into the mountains instead of doing my easy long runs there. However, he told me that I should carry a weighted backpack with me starting with 10-15 pounds for my first try or experience in hiking to the mountains. This workout of hiking with a weighted backpack should be done once a week.

This advice or tip was given to me way back last December 2019. It was good that I bought a North Face backpack which is made with thick material and does not have so many pockets or dividers inside it. I would use 2-liter bottles filled with water as the weight I would carry inside my backpack. Since then, I have been hiking with a weighted backpack once a week in going to the mountains for a hike of 3-4 hours and steadily progressed on making my backpack weight up to 25 pounds. Despite the fact that I would be enticed to run the downhills, I forced myself to be patient and slow on the downhills. On those hikes with weighted backpack for the past weeks and months, it gave me more strength on my legs and thus, I was able to finish my ultra trail races (local and international) since then up to the time Covid-19 Lockdown was imposed.

During the Lockdown period (past 4 months), I have been doing my daily runs in my Backyard Loop and I would be doing my hiking with a weighted backpack once a week. After I rested for one week of no running, I resumed my hiking with a weighted backpack yesterday with a reduced weight of 20 pounds. However, I did it in my Backyard Loop. After one mile, I started to perspire and after one hour, I was able to hike a distance of 3 miles.

Hiking With A Weighted Backpack

It was good to be back hiking with my weighted backpack again and I am eager to go back to the mountain trails in the coming days and weeks.

Thank you for reading!