Category: Insights

“Nostalgic” Long Run

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Places to Run, Practice Runs, Running2 Comments

23 December 2007 (AM) 

I woke up at 5:00 AM today and started to prepare for my “once-a-week” long slow distance (LSD) run. I started my run at exactly 5:30 AM from my sister’s house at Barangay Dibua South (#59-A), Laoag City. It was still dark but there were lots of tricycles plying the road already because of the early morning mass (Misa de Gallo).

The terrain in Laoag City is relatively flat and all the roads are paved up to the Barangays. From Dibua, I passed by the City Cemetery and jogged towards and along Rizal Street, the main road of Laoag City, and turning right after the PNB Building, and leading towards the City Hall and to the Padsan River/Laoag Bridge.

Running along Rizal Street and all the way to the Laoag/Padsan Bridge leading either to the Gabu Airport or to Fort Ilocandia Hotel or to Suba, Paoay brings back good memories from the time I started running and preparing for my first marathon. This is where I spent most of my running workouts during the early ’80s.

From the Bridge, I proceeded along the Gabu/Airport Road and later turning left at the road intersection going to Suba, Paoay or the Road that goes to the Fort Ilocandia Golf Course and to the Municipality of Paoay.

I reached the Clubhouse of the Fort Ilocandia Golf Course at 1:37:00 hours, which in my estimate covers a distance of 16.5 kilometers or 10 miles from my sister’s house in Dibua. (With the aid of my Nathan Water Belt, my run became very comfortable). From the Clubhouse, I made my turn around and proceeded back to Dibua. The run on my way back was slower which took me 1:43:00 hours!

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I ran a total distance of 33 kilometers or 20.625 miles which took me 3:20:00 hours to finish. This was my longest run so far in my preparation for the Pasig River Heritage Marathon on the 24th of February 2008. I am glad that I am still injury-free and don’t have any major problems with my legs and body.

I started to alternately jog, run and walk on the last mile. I felt that I was about to reach my “Wall” if I continued running at a faster pace on my last mile before reaching my sister’s house. It was almost 9:00 AM when I finished my long run and the heat of the sun was starting to burn my skin.

I consider this long run as something special as I was able to recall all those running workouts I’ve done from the Laoag Bridge to Suba, Paoay and back, almost everyday, morning and afternoon before I joined and finished my first Marathon Race. This route was my favorite practice area and it gave me the strength and fulfillment to be a passionate and a lover of running.

Trip To Laoag City & Blah Blah

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Places to Run1 Comment

On board a car, I left Manila at 4:30 AM for a road trip to Laoag City, my birthplace, to join my parents, brother, sisters, their respective families and my son for a Christmas celebration and reunion. It had been years since I had my last road trip to Laoag City at daytime. For the past years and months, I’ve been visiting my parents ( in their early 80s) by plane or by commercial bus trips during nighttime.

To my surprise, there had been so many changes on the things you see along the highway towards Northern Luzon. I told my driver and security detail who are both from the Ilocos provinces that there are so many buildings and structures newly-constructed along the road to include new municipal halls, new public markets, new big houses of OFWs, new Banks and commercial establishments to include popular fastfood outlets. My staff were laughing after hearing my comment.

But what is very disturbing is that the road to the North “never changed” since I was driving my 1970 VW “Beetle” during my Lieutenant days (late ’70s)! This is specially imminent from Urdaneta, Pangasinan, all the way to the Ilocos Provinces. It is still the same highway that former President Marcos built and improved—uneven asphalted highway brought about by uneven fillings on potholes and cracks; narrow shoulders on both sides of the road which are not yet paved; and the same vegetation on both sides of the road.

Slow traffic on daytime is also a “pain in the ass” for travelers. This is brought about by the presence of big trucks and cargo haulers (railway train could have decongested our roads from these cargo trucks); presence of slow-moving tricycles near and on urban centers; passenger bus and jeeps stopping along the road when getting or dropping off passengers; and the presence of people and animals crossing the highway 

This 12-hour trip also gave me the opportunity to play and listen to my “old” CD music collections (on the car’s CD player)–Michael Bolton; 1st Bee Gees Album; Dave Brubeck Quartet; Johnny Mathis; Keiko Matsui; Acoustic Alchemy; Ray Conniff and his Orchestra & Chorus; Diane Schuur; Dianne Reeves; Eric Clapton; Bob Marley; Peter White; Sting; and James Brown.

I could still remember in the ’80s (President Marcos time) when a group of national runners/athletes would run the distance from Laoag City to Manila in an individual relay with the last runner reaching Manila on the day of our National Independence. After the 1986 People’s Power, a group of Ilocanos who were supporters of former President Marcos and local politicians who were removed from their offices by the former President Cory Aquino walked from Laoag City to Manila to air their grievances and protest to the President. Another “National Candidate” in the past elections would run/jog along this highway to campaign from one town to another.

This highway/route is very the same route that our forefathers used before, during the Spanish times and up to the present.

The distance from Manila to Laoag City is 488 kilometers or 305 miles. Running at an average of 20 miles a day, I could reach Manila in 15 days!

I reached Laoag City at 4:00 PM and there was no enough time and strength for me to have my long run. I opted to talk to my parents and prepared my running gears for tomorrow’s long run.

Christmas Gift Wish List

On By kingofpotsIn InsightsLeave a comment

The following are the choices as Christmas 2007 Gift to Myself :

1) Sony Bravia LCD Flat TV (HD 1080)–R-Series (50”) or X-Series (40″) or V-Series (46″) with “Blu-Ray” DVD Player

2) IWC “Portuguese” White Dial Watch or Rolex Watch with Computerized Logo White Dial & Two-Tone Bracelet

3) Ipod Classic w/ Bose Earphones (QuietComfort 3)

4) Brand-new Car—Toyota Innova (V or J Model)

5) Apple iPhone or Apple iPod Touch

This is just a “wish list”!!!

To all the runners and visitors to this blog, let me greet you….

                         

                   MERRY CHRISTMAS

                                 AND

 A PROSPEROUS & PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!!!

Pain Remedy

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Runners Injury, RunningLeave a comment

To those who have pains in their legs and joints caused by running, I suggest what my security detail had done to my sore left ankle one week ago.

All you need to do is to apply and massage “Vick’s Vapor Rub” to the area where the pain is and wrap it with an elastic bandage. (Note: Don’t make the bandage too tight!)

This should be done before going to bed at night or when you are not doing anything at home.

Try it and it works with me!

Happy running!

Thanks & Congratulations!

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Running1 Comment

As the Project Director of the DND-AFP “Gintong Pangarap” for Marathon and Chairman of the DND-AFP “Gintong Pangarap” Running Club, Inc., I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to those who participated in the 6th DND-AFP “Gintong Pangarap” Marathon Team Relay on the 16th of December 2007 at the Bonifacio Naval Station, Fort Bonifacio, Metro Manila.

To those teams and their members who won in their respective categories, congratulations and we hope you were able to achieve your desired goals and objectives in this team relay race. Despite the preparations we made, it is still unfortunate that we made some “lapses” on administrative requirements. We are very sorry…

To those team members who won and were not able to receive their medals during the awarding ceremony,  you will receive your medals and will be delivered in your respective address within this week.

We hope to see you again on the 7th DND-AFP “Gintong Pangarap” Half-Marathon Race on 17 February 2008.

Thanks and Congratulations! Keep on running! 

Lake Perris Skydiving Center

On By kingofpotsIn Alternate Sports, InsightsLeave a comment

In the 1980’s, the nearest skydiving center from Downtown Los Angeles was called the “Lake Perris Skydiving Center” and it would become a part of my twice-a-month routine to visit this place and “jump” for the “rush of adrenaline”.

I really wanted to become a member of the Special Forces and become an “Airborne” trooper of the Philippine Army during my younger years as an officer. But circumstances then did not give me the opportunity to be one.

So, while having my leave after my schooling in Fort Benning, I visited this place which is 80-90 miles east of Los Angeles early Monday morning. At the end of the day, I had my “first jump” from a small airplane after paying $ 100.00.

Once I registered on the first hour of the morning (8:30 AM), I paid my fee and I was led to an audio-visual room where I was personally lectured by my designated “jump master”, who is a retired member of the US Special Forces, in his mid-forties. After 2 1/2 hours of lecture and video presentation, there was a break.

During this break, my “jump master” and I had a conversation and asked me some questions. The “jump master” ask me why I am interested to learn how to skydive. I told him that I am a visiting student in Los Angeles from the Philippines and I wanted to experience the feeling of jumping from the plane with a parachute.  I told him also that there are no skydiving facilities in my country and such activity is only limited to the military. At this point, he bragged to me that an Israeli Commando Team had trained in the skydiving center for one month and the National Skydiving Team of Indonesia whose members are from their Kopassus (Special Forces) had also skydiving activities for almost two months at Lake Perris.

In the afternoon, I was made to do some drills: jumping from an elevated platform (4-5 feet) to simulate landing on the ground; landing on the ground with feet together; doing the body roll on the right/left side of the body once the feet touches the ground; emergency drills just in case of problems with the parachute; drills in case of landing on water, electric lines, etc. and drills to manuever the parachute.

After the drill, my “jump master” started to suspect that I am from the military because I could easily do the drills without so much corrections from him. He knows that I had advance knowledge about jumping from the airplane.

When the winds settled before 5:00 PM, I was already on the plane for my first parachute jump. The plane used was a T-10 trainer plane which is a four-seater plane. The two seats at the back were removed and the jump master and I were seated on the floor during our flight. After testing the direction of the wind from an elevation of 1,500 feet and marking my drop zone/landing area, I was made to jump from the airplane! The feeling of slowly going down to the ground with a parachute and manuevering it towards the landing zone was an awesome experience.

My first parachuting experience was a solo jump. There were no tandem jumps then during the early ’80s.

I got my First Jump Certificate before I left the place and I had to go back for some more jumps in the coming weeks. I had almost 15 jumps from this skydiving center and had experience joining other skydivers during weekends.

At the age of 49, I joined a Special Forces “Airborne” Course of the Philippine Army and finished it and earned my “Airborne” Badge! I did my five jumps in one day! Few months after, I had the chance to join the US Special Forces for a joint parachute jump at Clark Air Base which earned me also the US Special Forces “Airborne” Badge!

“Naive” Runner!

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Races, RunningLeave a comment

I requested for an extension of leave after my schooling in Fort Benning for me to be the “baby sitter” for my kids and “driver” to my wife from May 1984 up to three months and got the chance to watch the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

During weekends and on my wife’s “days off”, I would join local road races from 5K-10K in cities near Los Angeles. Sometimes, I would travel 80-90 miles east of Los Angeles to the Lake Perris Skydiving Center for Skydiving every other weekend.

In the local road races, I’ve been winning trophies and medals in my age category (30-35 years old) which I show and brag to my wife and to my kids once I get home.

One time after attending one of the races, I got hold of a flyer of a 10K run whose route/course was a few blocks away from the house. I was enthusiastic to register immediately knowing that the course was almost the same route where I had my regular running practices and I was very familiar with the terrain.

On race day, I usually stay at the back of the pack and didn’t mind looking or staring at other runners. So, when the race started, I slowly squeeze my way into the middle of the pack and started looking at runners while passing at them. I observed that the men were good-looking and had nice bodies and most of them are in pairs. While the ladies were running like men and have nice bodies.

Little did I knew that I joined the Gay Pride 10K Race for the City of Los Angeles!!! My wife and my young kids were laughing at me after I told them that I joined and finished the said race. I felt embarassed and just told them that all I wanted was to run, don’t miss the chance to run a road race within the neighborhood and maintain my physically fitness.

Bottomline? I was too naive to ignore what the race was all about. The gays I’ve seen in this race were decent-looking guys and very athletic that you could hardly notice that they are such. They are strong and fast runners, too! Well, I did not bring home any trophy or medal on this race.

The gays and the lesbians beat me this time!!!

Griffith Park, Los Angeles

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Places to Run, RunningLeave a comment

I had fond memories with this Recreational Park just outside the city limits of Downtown Los Angeles. This is the place where I bring my family/kids to play, walk, run, bike and picnic when my kids were still in the elementary grades and secondary school. This is still the place where we have our practice runs during my visits with my family.

I have trekked and jogged to almost all the streets, roads and trails of this popular and the biggest municipal park in the United States which is located in a an urban area, almost at the center of Los Angeles City District.

I usually park my cark near the Merry-Go-Round area or at the Maintenance Area of the Golf Course (Harding/Wilson) and start my practice runs from there. I pass through the LA Zoo-Gene Autrey National Center-Southern Railroad Station up to the mountains and following the road that goes to the Loz Feliz Boulevard entrance of the park.

More challenging dirt trails branch out  from the road/street that leads to the Griffith Observatory. These trails lead to the peak of the mountain where the Hollywood sign is located. This is where you could see the vast area that occupies the Los Angeles City District and its neigboring cities.

 Lots of running activities/road races and biking are done in this park, too! One of the most popular road race events done inside the park is the St. John’s Health Center Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon which is usually done a month (4th Sunday of April) after the Los Angeles Marathon.

Whenever you are in Los Angeles area, it is a must to visit this recreational park as it offers a lot of attractions and memorable places to see.

Two Days Rest

On By kingofpotsIn Books, Insights, Runners' Training, RunningLeave a comment

For this week, I have two days rest from my running training last Monday & Tuesday.

I met my staff and officers after the Monday Flag Raising Ceremony in the camp. We discussed about the progress of our mission and projects in our area of responsibility. Our daily combat and non-combat operations did not affect the “disturbance” in Makati City last 29 November 2007.

On that day, my “boys” were able to recover two (2) high-powered firearms (M16 rifles) and ammunition from two members of the CPP/NPA operating in Negros Island who eventually surrendered and fed up being “Red Fighters” of the insurgent movement. These insurgents told to the authorities that they don’t have food to eat in the mountains and the populace are no longer supporting them.

It was raining continuously here in the mountains of Jamindan last Monday & Tuesday. I am glad the one hectare that I have newly planted with Jatropha Curcas had been nourished with the rains. We planted 2,500 Jatropha plants as a pilot project in our search for alternative source of oil. Another one hectare is being prepared for our demonstration/pilot project for sweet sorghum production.

I had more time to read, alternately, the two books I bought from National Book Store, Iloilo City—“Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day” by Joel Osteen and “The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials; Book I” by Philip Pullman. Both books are nice to read, but Joel Osteen’s book inspires me a lot and brings out the best in me every day.

31st Wedding Anniversary

On By kingofpotsIn InsightsLeave a comment

05 December 2007

Today is our 31st Wedding Anniversary with my “one and only” wife, Estrella. I will be calling her this afternoon at 4:00 PM (12 Midnight, Local Time: Los Angeles) to remind her that she has a husband and father to our kids serving its native country and be able say the magic words “I Love You”.

After the long-distance call, I will start my long run inside the camp, whether it will rain or shine. I really need to run after resting for two days.

I’ve instructed my cook to serve “Sotanghon Pancit Guisado” and “Pork Adobo” for dinner tonight with my security and personal staff. Two bottles of Gatorade, a glass of Green Tea and a slice of Red Ribbon Chocolate Cake will complete my day.

I’ll pray for more wedding anniversaries to come..I will not compromise or put in danger my “share” with my wife’s bountiful retirement benefits and wealth! (Just joking!) Ha! ha! ha!