Trip To The United States 2023


My last trip to the United States was in July 2021 and stayed there for almost two months. The Covid-19 Pandemic was still on its highest peak in terms of casualties but it was a fulfilling trip.

My last trip abroad before the Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown was my participation in the Kota Kinabalu 105K Ultramarathon Race and our plane back to the Philippines was the last plane out of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and one of the few flights that I arrived when the Lockdown was implemented last March 2020.

My trip in the US in July 2021 has a lot of travel requirements but after almost two years, traveling abroad is back to normal. Of course, I am fully vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccines and boosted with Pfizer in the US and in the Philippines and had never been infected with the said disease.

Took the ANA via Japan

With my trip in 2021, I took the Philippine Air Lines as my carrier as it was not allowed yet for transit passengers in other countries, thus, every passenger going abroad should take a direct flight and there was no other choice than to take the PAL flight. The fare was very expensive and there was no other way or choice. And on my arrival back to the Philippines, I have to take a 10-day Quarantine stay in an Authorized Hotel which added more expenses in my trip.

At present, the fare is a bit lower in ANA and the travel requirements like Covid-19 test before Departure; Covid-19 Travel Insurance; Vaccine Card; and restriction on Transit Flights are all gone! There is a semblance that the pre-Covid-19 days are back and the economy is slowly peaking up.

ANA, a Japanese carrier, was recommended to me from a friend who had his experience flying in it few months ago. The story is very inspiring and I grabbed the opportunity to experience flying with the said carrier. I am glad I did it. My experience with my flight with ANA to Los Angeles, California was great! The inflight movies are A-okey and I was able to watch 2 movies for the whole flight. The meals and snacks are very nice and filling to my stomach. Their wine and fruit juices were soothing. And I did not know that there was a Free WiFi onboard! Hahaha! My best experience is having a Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream served after a Meal!

What I hate most in my International Flights is to see the Inflight Toilets to be scattered with used tissue papers or toilet papers on the floor. Whether it is a Korea Air or PAL flight, there are always passengers who just throw their used toilet papers on the floor or stuck on the lid/cover of the trash bin near the faucet/sink area. I really don’t understand why passengers could not dispose their trash or waste into the bins properly. However, in all the ANA toilets that I have used during the duration of my flight to Japan and then to the USA, the toilets are very, very clean! This is my first time to see a clean toilet every time I use them during a flight. Great! What a big change from the other international flights that I have experienced.

When I asked for a cup of hot coffee at the back of the plane while I was stretching from the stewardess, she immediately offered me one by grabbing the coffee pot from the array and rows of cabinets and put some in a paper cup and asked if I need sugar and cream with it. I said, I want my coffee black and she was smiling as she handed me the hot coffee! Wow! In most of my past flights, if I ask for coffee when I am standing near their serving starvation, stewardess would simply instruct me to get my coffee and cup from the rack and serve by myself. ANA and the Japanese stewardess are simply amazing and very helpful.

After passing through the Immigration (another post will be written about this), I was surprised again that two of their Flight Stewardess are in the Baggage Pick-up Carousel attending to all the passengers getting their Baggage, making sure 100% that are are getting your right baggage! Wow!

By the way, in the Check-In Counter at the Manila International Airport, the processing was very quick and fast! And the counter staff did not even ask for my carry-on luggage to be weighted on the weighing scale! I asked and requested for an aisle seat and I was given which was almost very near to the Business Class area. Sweet!

And here is the thing that some Filipino passengers with connecting flights to the US would complain about. ANA would strictly enforce and advise that passengers going or disembarking in Tokyo, Japan would leave the plane first before everybody else. I really don’t complain about this. If this is their policy, so be it. They give first priority to passengers going to Japan!

As for the boarding process and protocol on ANA flight, I have observed that boarding passengers are grouped from Group 1 to Group 5 and ones designation is printed and shown on the Passenger’s Boarding Pass. I am from Group 5 and our group was seated at the back most portion of the Boarding Area. I think Group 1 are for the First Class Passengers and Group 2 are for the Business Class Passengers. I came to realize why I was at Group 5 when I was seated already in my assigned seat. I think Group 3 passengers are for those who are seated at the Window Seats; Group 4 are for those who are seated at the Middle Seats; and Group 5 are for those seated at the Aisle Seats. Group 3,4,5 are in the Economy Class! See? It makes sense! The Japanese people are really organized and disciplined people. Their is no stress and chaos in boarding and settling yourself inside the plane. This is my first time to experience such kind of boarding in a plane since the time I started traveling by air.

Traveling In Style

I always travel in style and properly well dressed. As a Senior Citizen, I don’t want to be “profiled” as a “working class”. I want the other passengers to know that I am a constant traveler and from the TSA and Immigration personnel that I am a professional and decent traveler.

Traveling with an ANA Flight for the first time was a very memorable experience. I highly recommend this Japanese Carrier to everybody. You will not regret it! Thanks for reading! Bye for now!

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


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!)

2020 Virgin Money London Marathon Race Highlights


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)


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)

 

Hiking With A Weighted Backpack


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!

 

Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) Challenge In 30 Days


When I was the Assistant Chief of Staff for Training and Education (G-8) for the whole Philippine Army in 1999 to 2000, I came up with a Command Directive that had been approved by the Commanding General of the Philippine Army for the strict implementation of the Army Physical Fitness Test where every personnel of the Command, to include all the Generals, to undergo the said test on a regular basis, for promotion, and other administrative movement to include application for schooling in the local and international training schools. Since its implementation, I was a witness of deaths of those who passed and failed in the said test, separation from the service, and non-promotion of officers and men of the Philippine Army. Because of this test, the Officers and Men of the Philippine Army were able to embrace the importance of a healthy body and mind. There had been studies made by the local medical practitioners on the validity of the Army Physical Fitness Test just to prove that the US Army Standards are not fitted to our local soldiers but after some adjustments of the standards, I personally still believe that the US Standards fit well to any person on earth. For one to be able to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test Standards, one has to prepare and train for it.

To prove my point, I asked a soldier in his mid-40s who failed in his first APFT to report to me every day for daily workout of the 3 exercises involved in the test. I asked the soldier to start doing at least 20 reps of push-ups, 20 reps of sit-ups, and run, jog and walk the 2-mile run. On a daily basis, the soldier was asked to increase the reps by one repetition every day and ask the soldier to run, at least, one hour everyday at an easy effort. After a month, I conducted a PFT on the said soldier. He was surprised that he finally got a score of 90%. He passed the 70% minimum score by getting a 90% score  after preparing for the test in one month. If that soldier who failed can improve within a month, it is possible that anybody who failed in the test could pass it with the proper training and preparation.

I know that the said Command Directive that I authored is still in place and being implemented right now by the Philippine Army. This is now one of the policies of the Philippine Army that is already institutionalized.

Now, after finishing an international and local Virtual Races during the period of 4 months of Lockdown due to Covid-19, I have been thinking of a running challenge or doing any physical challenge that will motivate me to do some exercises and running on a daily basis. I immediately thought of the APFT but to add challenge into it, I would do it on a daily basis, instead of the Quarterly Period (once in 3 months) which is the regular schedule for the conduct of the APFT in the Philippine Army.

So, on July 25, 2020, Saturday, I started my daily Army Physical Fitness Test Challenge In 30 Days. I have to make a video each of my daily APFT and have it uploaded in my You Tube Channel. Actually, I did the Video posted for my Day #1 on You Tube for a “teaser” on my APFT Challenge. On my first day, I did 21 reps of push-ups which is a passing score for my age; 29 reps on sit-ups (passed); and 28:13 minutes on the 2-mile run (failed!) in my Backyard Loop which is a single-track trail with lots of turns and uneven ground. The passing time/score for the 2-mile run for my age is 20 minutes.

The full instructions of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) and Standards/Minimum Score could be seen here.

I hope to update my You Tube Channel with a Video on this Challenge every 6 days.

Thank you for watching this “teaser” video on the said Challenge.

Gilbert Gray: Finisher Of The 2020 “Last Annual Vol State” 500K Race (LAVS)


Gilbert Gray finishes the 2020 Last Annual Vol State 500K Race (LAVS 500) last week in 7 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds which started on July 9, 2020 in Dorena Landing, Missouri, USA and with the Finish Line located in Castle Rock, Georgia. He finished this race without any support crew and  he registered for this race as Uncrewed or popularly known as “Screwed” runner. This is his second time to finish this race as a “screwed” runner where he improved his finish time by one day, from 204: 48+hours (or 8 days & 12 hours) in the 2015 Vol State Edition. In this year’s edition, out of the 66 runners who started the race, 49 runners finished the race and 17 runners declared as DNF.

The Last Annual Vol State 500K Road Run (LAVS 500K) is one of the road ultra races which is organized and directed by Lazarus Lake of Barkley Marathons, held during the summer months of July every year. One month before this race, another Ultra Race called The Last Annual Heart Of The South 500K Road Race (HOTS 500), was also held which is also organized and directed by Lazarus Lake. These road races usually traverse the State of Tennessee, USA from the western boundary with Missouri, USA or Arkansas, USA to the Northwest part of Georgia, USA. These two ultra races were held despite the Covid-19 situation in the USA. These two races had an identical number of starters which was 66 runners.

The LAVS 500K and HOTS 500K has a cut-off time of 10 days to finish where every runner has to inform the Race Director/Organizer on his/her location every 12 hours through SMS. Each runner does not carry any “tracker” along the way and there are support crew of the other runners who would update the location of the runners by posting pictures and videos on the Facebook Group Page of the event, this is to include the so-called “angels” along the route of the race. These “angels” are the ones that give voluntary aid or help to the runners in terms of allowing them to rest and eat in their front yard or in government/state facilities like Fire Stations and Parks.

Gilbert Gray, a Retired Airman in the US Air Force, lives in Maryland, USA and he is married to a Filipina Lady with two daughters. He now works with a US Airline Company. At 58 years old, he had finished a number of Ultra Races to include being the Overall Champion in one of the Ultra Races in Europe. He is a two-time BDM GrandSlam Awardee; Finisher of the Prestigious Western States 100-Mile Endurance Race; and a yearly Finisher of the JFK 50-Mile Race. You can see the Ultra Races that he finished here.

Although he comes regularly to the Philippines with his wife for a visit, the last time that we saw each other was in the 2014 edition of the Bryce 100-Mile Endurance Race in Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA, together with Paul Encarnacion, a Filipino Ultrarunner who also lives in Maryland, USA and multi-awarded 100-mile finisher. During his training for the 2013 edition of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Race (WS100), he visited California to recon the route of the WS100 and then a day later, he joined me and other Pinoy Runners in the LA area in the 2013 edition of the Bandit 50K Ultra Trail Run where we finished at the same time.

Finishing The Bandit 50K Ultra Trail Run

Gilbert Gray With Badwater Ben Gaetos

Gilbert will always be a good friend of the local ultrarunners in the Philippines, most specially with the PAU runners. He is very kind, very helpful, and very simple and silent about his ultrarunning accomplishments. I just hope I would be able to meet him again in the future.

In our local races, PAU had also conducted its first 500K+ road race last June 2019 with the First Edition of the Manila To Pagudpud 580K Ultramarathon Race which had a cut-off time of 135 hours or 5 days and 15 hours. This race is officially considered as the longest road race in the country now. The result of this event could be seen here.

For additional reading about the the LAVS 500, you can read it here.

Pyramid Running Workout


I am not sure if I had been given by my CTS Coach to do a Pyramid Running Workout for the past 3 years. I was surprised to see in my weekly schedule that I was scheduled for this running workout last Wednesday. However, I missed doing the said workout on the scheduled date because my body was not feeling well to do an interval running workout as I have been experiencing some pain on my right knee for the past days. Instead, I just did an easy run for about two hours in my Backyard Loop on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Thursday, I decided to do the Pyramid Running Workout. The workout goes this way: warm-up for 20 minutes and then run with a Rating of Perceived Effort (RPE) of 8-9 for 2 minutes and then slow down for the next two minutes. After the recovery run of 2 minutes, start again for an RPE of 8-9 for 3 minutes and then slow down for 2 minutes. This is repeated until your fast run will be done to four and then five minutes with each rest interval of 2 minutes. From 5 minutes, go down to 4 minutes, rest in between for two minutes, until you do your last run in 2 minutes. So, in summary, I ran 2-3-4-5-4-3-2 minutes with a two-minute recovery run in between those fast repetitions. After which, I made a cool-down run for another one hour with 20-minute strides of 6 repetitions on the last 20 minutes of my run. In the said workout, I was able to cover a distance of 7.15 miles in 1:57 hours. I did this workout in my Backyard Loop which consists of a single-track trail.

Ten years ago, I was doing this workout in an oval track and I became a faster road runner in the process.

I did not have any problems with my knees during the run and I had a wonderful feeling after the said workout.

Taking Pictures of Flowers After Running

 

July 15, 2020: First Day Of The Great Maharlika Highway Virtual Run 3,517K


Two weeks ago, I have created a Facebook Group where interested persons or runners can join a virtual run/race which covers the distance of the Philippines’ Maharlika Highway’s 3,517 kilometers from Laoag City (Ilocos Norte, northern province of Luzon) down to the southern Mindanao City of Zamboanga. However, runners have the option to run in the reverse direction, from the Southern tip of the Highway up to the Northern City of Laoag. There is no required limit of distance or mileage that each runner can cover in a single day but I put up a Challenge that any runner can finish it in one year or in 365 days. As such, a runner should be able to run at least, 10 kilometers or 6.2 miles per day. For the slower or recreational runners, they have the option to finish the distance in 2 years or 730 days, with an average daily mileage of 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles a day.

Maharlika Highway 3,517K Poster On Facebook

To make the event more interesting, this event is FREE and anybody in the Social Media can join the said event by simply joining the Facebook Group Page that I have created. At this time, there are now 144 active members. Additionally, I have created an Event’s Club on Strava where anybody can post their Strava Data on the said Club and for their runs to be posted and each runner is ranked among the members of the Club. There are now more than 160 Strava Members who are part of this event.

I have only one objective in creating this virtual event—I just want people to be motivated to run each day during this present time as we deal with the Covid-19 situation that is happening worldwide.

Stay safe and stay healthy!

2018 Salomon Cappadocia Ultra Trail Race Photo Video


Hereunder is the Photo Video of my trip to Turkey to join/participate in the 2018 Salomon Cappadocia Ultra Trail Race which was held in October 2018. This training running event is part of the Ultra Trail World Tour Event. I have published a Race Report of this event in this blog.

Thank you for watching.