Category: Races

Run 55K Ultra And Win 10K Race (My Hair Grew at Mt Pinatubo and Became Champion at the UNICEF 10K Run) Part 2

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, Races, Running16 Comments

6:02 AM 23 November 2008 @ McKinley Hill/UNICEF 10K Run

After almost 8 hours of restful sleep, I woke up at 4:15 AM and did my pre-race rituals—shave my head and face to remove the hairs that grew during my run to Mt Pinatubo and the rest of the activities to include drinking coffee & Ensure and eating my oatmeal and boiled eggs. At 5:15 AM, I was already at the McKinley Hill Area waiting for Capt Espejo to hand me my racing bib. While doing my warm-up and stretching exercises, I could feel that my legs were still sore because of the ultra run to Mt Pinatubo. Well, as planned, I had to do this run without any race strategy at all. I just wanted to finish the race and make this race as my “active recovery” run.

While waiting for Capt Espejo, Amado The Race Walker, passed by my parked vehicle and I  called his attention. He was holding a bag with his two pairs of shoes to be donated to my project. He handed to me his shoes and introduced to me his daughter-in-law and two sons. In return, I handed him a “ONE” wristband. (Amado, Thanks for those 2 pairs of running shoes! They are almost new! The recipients will be happy to have them). However, after the race I did not have the chance to have a photo-ops with him. Anyway, I can always see him at the ULTRA Oval Track and have some pictures with him as documentation for the project.

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Two runners of Team Bald Runner (Sid & Coach Salazar)  were on my side prior to the start of the race.

What impressed me about Coach Rio’s races is his punctuality on the time the race starts. Ten minutes before 6:00 AM, I was already at the starting area looking for the members of the “Hardcore Group” but could hardly saw them around. Instead, I approached and talked to the runners of the Team Bald Runner and instructed them to make good and try to win the race. After a short program, at exactly 6:00AM, the race started and I tried to run faster and race with the faster runners for the 1st kilometer. I just wanted to “jolt” my running muscles after running an ultra run the day before. After leaving the McKinley Hill area, I was on my “comfort speed” and just enjoyed the race. Infront of the Philippine Army Golf Course at Bayani Road, Dindo aka RunMD overtook me and called my attention. I was surprised to see that he gained some weight after not seeing him in the past races. Infront of the AFPSLAI along Bayani Road, Mark Parco greeted me and passed me with  his fast running pace. I just maintained my 4:50-5:00 mins/km pace during the race.

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Coach Rio’s races always start on time!

After the Heritage Park and the uphill climb towards Gate 3 of Fort Bonifacio, I was still on my “comfort speed” and I was enjoying my run due to the fact that I did not feel any severe pains on my running legs. After passing the Gate 3, MarkFB ran beside me for about 50-100 meters but I told him to maintain his fast pace (It was a nice way to send him the message to just leave me and go for his PR best time for the race) So, he overtook me and left me with his blistering pace as we reached the uphill portion near the Phil Army Gym and towards Lawton Avenue. From there, I increased my pace for the last 1.5 kilometers to the finish line.

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I pressed the stop button of my GF 305 once I passed the Finish Line and I still looked fresh!

My GF 305 registered a finish time of 49:54 minutes with a distance of 10.02 kilometers. After I passed the finish line, MarkFB greeted me and that was the only time that I told him of running the 55K Pinatubo Run a day before the race and he was surprised. I am happy after the race with a sub-50-minute time for the 10K race but I knew I could finish with a faster time if I did not run the 55K ultra run. Later, Mark & Tiffin approached my Project Donate A Shoe booth and Mark told me about his observation that I was running less than my 100% race effort and just like what I told to MarkFB, I told him that I just finished the 55K Pinatubo Run yesterday. MarkP was surprised, too!

Anyway, I awarded a Finisher’s T-shirt for the “1,000-Km Club” to Tiffin after some photo-ops with the personnel of Accenture who ran the race. Congratulations, Tiffin for finishing the distance and for being a member of the “Hardcore Group”. Keep on breaking your PR best time every road race and run faster. I hope you and Mark will join our  “speed” training soon.

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Tiffin, wife of Mark Parco, was happy to receive her “1,000-Km Club” Finisher’s T-Shirt. Cogratulations, Tiffin for a good job and keep on running some more miles/kms!

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It looks like I am the youngest among the winners of the different age group categories!

To my surprise, I was called to the podium to receive my prize as the Champion in my Age Category (50-59 years old). Thanks Coach Rio and UNICEF for the prize and for an outstanding road race. Runners of the Team Bald Runner won 2nd & 3rd Place in the Men’s Overall for the 10K Run.

I was indeed a very fulfilling and memorable weekend for me for having been able to run a distance of 65 kilometers (for Saturday & Sunday) without any injury. I just feel stronger and ready for the Milo Marathon Finals this coming Sunday. 

Things Your Dad/Mom Forgot To Tell You About Marathon Running

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Races, Runners' Training, Running3 Comments

…Assuming that your parents are seasoned marathon runners!

The following are the 13 rules of marathon running, principles which must be followed if you want to have a great race. These are things your Dad/Mom should have told you about, although if he/she had known you were going to become an avid marathon runner, he/she might have invested in counseling rather than inform you about training and sports-nutrition.

Rule #1—You should treat the marathon as a power race, not just a test of endurance.

Rule #2—If you are running about 35 to 40 miles per week (56 to 64 kms) and want to become a better marathoner, you should not simply add on more mileage.

Rule #3—You must optimize your lactate-threshold running speed (LTRS) before your marathon.

Rule #4—Plan your workouts so that you accomplish five key (5) tasks ( endurance, tempo runs, speed runs, recovery, & tapering) before race day.

Rule #5—Start the race slowly

Rule #6—Make your pre-marathon long runs “race-specific”.

Rule #7—Take in four (4) grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight per day during your marathon training.

Rule #8—If you are female, schedule your marathon for the follicular phase of your menstrual cycle (the time period between the onset of menstrual flow and ovulation).

Rule #9—In spite of what everyone says, do not smear vaseline on your foot before the race begins.

Rule #10—Have a BM (Bowel Movement) before the race.

Rule #11—Do not run a race while bearing a child.

Rule #12—Stay away from ill people during the week after your race.

Rule #13—Rest for seven (7) days–with no running at all–after your marathon.

Reference: IAAF New Studies in Athletics Quarterly Journal. April 2007. page 86

Pictures @ 2008 NB Power Race

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, Races, Running4 Comments

 

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Capt Espejo on his way back to the Finish Line in the 10K race.

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Wayne aka SFrunner trying to catch up with another senior/masters runner on his way back to the Finish Line in the 10K race

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 Maricel Maquilan of Team Bald Runner leading the way for the Overall Women’s NB 25K race before the turn-around point.

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 Wayne aka SFrunner at the Finish Area. He was able to set his Asian Record for the 10K Race. Congratulations, Wayne

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Philip aka The Foreign Runner passing through the Finish Line in the 25K Race. This guy is really fast!

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 Not bad for me..The digital clock at the Finish Line showed 2:09:08 when I went through it but my GF 305 registered 2:09:00 as I stopped it after passing the “carpet” for the RFID.

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Lester, Jeryy aka High Altitude and daughter of one of the runners with me immediately after the 25K race

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A pose with Wayne aka SFrunner. Wayne, I hope you arrived safely in San Francisco.

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Wayne, Jay aka Prometheus Cometh and BR after the race.

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With Annalene aka The Meek Runner. “The family that runs together, stays together”. Congrats to the Bautista Family.

NB Powerrace = Perfect Weather + Lots of Water + Clean/Fresh Air

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, Races, Running17 Comments

Race Report: New Balance Powerrace 25K Race @ 5:49 AM 16 November 2008

Last year, I found out about this race when it was featured in one of the Lifestyle articles of Philippine Star after a month from the date it was conducted in Clark Air Base. I was impressed about his race when I found out that this race was able to use the RFID technology for each runner in the 25K race to determine their finish time. Since I was not able to run the first edition of this race, I promised myself to run this race for this year.

Three weeks ago, I had the members of the Team Bald Runner and myself registered for this race and trained for it and made some planning for the transport and distribution of the athletes to run for a particular pace. As I trained for this race in preparation for the Milo Marathon Finals, I was wondering why New Balance came up with a 25-Km race which is not within the conventional distances (5K, 10K, 10-Mile, 20K, & Half-Marathon) of road races. Maybe, some sports apparel could come up also with a 30-K or 32-K run in the future which I think would benefit those who are preparing their marathon race as their last “long steady distance” run.

The Team Bald Runner left for Clark Air Base after lunch on Saturday and stayed in one of the transient facilities inside Air Force City. Some of the members of the team joined the 5K race in the afternoon of Saturday and Gerald Sabal of my team won in the Men’s 5K run.

After a 7-8 hours of sleep on the night of Saturday, I woke up at 4:00 AM and did the “usual” preparations for the race. At 4:45 AM, I was already near the Assembly Area and did my warm-up and stretching. There was some slight shower of rain before the start of the race and I knew this was a good sign that the race will have a nice weather for all the runners. I was able to get my RFID “chip” from the Registration Area and met Wayne aka SFrunner; Philip aka Foreign Runner; Jay aka Prometheus Running; members of Happy Feet Runners and other “runner-bloggers” and “commentors” to this blog.

After some confusion as to where the runners would enter into the “corral”, we were finally led to the exact location where all the runners would position themselves but it took some time for everybody to enter the “corral”. More announcements were made and there were key personalities of New Balance who made their speech which most of the runners could not understand because of “technical” problems with the Public Address System. Anyway, the runners just heard a “popping sound” and blowing of a portable horn and the 25K race started at 5:49 AM which was 19 minutes delayed from the 5:30 AM scheduled start. I didn’t have any complaints about the late start as the surroundings was still dark and the sky was too cloudy where I suspected/anticipated that it might rain later during the race.

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BR, Philip, Jerry, Ivy, Mark, Charlie & Mark’s friend before the start of the race.

As soon as the race started, the elite runners were already ahead of the rest of the runners and I maintained a pace of 5:19 mins/km together with Coach Salazar and MarkFB. The 1st kilometer was all flat and the 2nd kilometer had more downhill and was able to pick up my pace to 4:50 mins/km. After one more uphill at the start of the 3rd km, everything was all slightly downhill. At this point, I was running fast together with a group of runners with an average pace of 4:40 mins/km, however, after the 11th km, it started to go slightly uphill towards the the turn-around point at 12.5-km point. After the turn-around point, I could see the other runners and bloggers who were about to reach the halfway point. I received more greetings and shouting of the words—“Bald, Bald Runner, Sir Jovie, BR” and lots of waving and “high-fives” from my friends and visitors and bloggers as I ran towards the second-half of the race. 

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The “Hardcore” Group with BR on the 1st half of the race.

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Lester (in blue), BR, MarkFB, ang Coach Salazar approaching the turn-around point.

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The other members of the “Hardcore” Group…Jonel aka Bugobugo85; Jay aka Prometheus Cometh; & Rollie (?)

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Lester, Coach Salazar, and BR on our way back to the Finish Line

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Coach Salazar & BR went ahead of the group towards the Finish Line.

On the last 8 kms, I started to speed up as I was about to go uphill and I was able to leave the other runners who were with me for the first half of the race. Upon reaching the last 3 kms, I started to count my strides loudly from 1-20 and repeat the process up to the finish line. I ran the last two kilometers as if I was doing my 2K speed run at the oval track and even increased my pace on the last kilometer before the finish line with an average pace of 4:40 mins/km.

My GF 305 registered a time of 2:09:00 with a distance of 25.14 kms. My average pace was 5:07 mims/km. The course was really, really tough and challenging but it was balanced with a cloudy sky with colder temperature; lots of (bottled) water in all the water stations which were positioned every 2.5 kms; and most of all, with the clean/unpolluted and fresh air of Clark Air Base.

Congratulations to New Balance for a nice and memorable race. It was indeed a “power race” with the ideal conditions for a great road race. I can not wait for next year’s edition of this challenging race.

More pictures to follow on my next posts.

Pictures @ VSO Run

On By kingofpotsIn Jogging, Pictures, Races, Running5 Comments

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High Altitude, Aldz, & friend with the Bald Runner before the start of the race.

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 The 15K race started ahead of the 10K & 5K races at 5:49 AM

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 Captain Espejo, Coach of Team Bald Runner, won 1st Place in the 5K’s Age Category of 40-49 yrs old. 

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 Maricel Maquillan of Team Bald Runner won 1st Place in the Women’s Overall Category in the 15K Race

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 Ailene Tolentino of Team Bald Runner won 2nd Place in the Women’s Overall Category in the 15K Race

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The Bald Runner got his PR Best Time for the 15K Race. 

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I was still smiling after the 15K race not knowing that I broke my time for the 15K distance

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Captain Espejo, Jinoe, Wayne aka SF Runner & Dindo. Jinoe & Wayne donated their running shoes to Project Donate A Shoe. Jinoe also donated a bagful of “metal buttons” for donors to the project. Thanks, Wayne & Jinoe for your generosity & support.

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The runner on the left, Danilo Bawic of Global Runners, who won 6th Place Overall in the 15K race, was the lucky recipient of Wayne’s shoe donation. Wayne aka SF Runner is seen giving a brand-new ASICS shoes to Mr Bawic.

“I Broke My 15K PR Best @ VSO Run”

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Races, Running17 Comments

Race Report: VSO “Bahaginan” 15K Run @ The Fort

Due to technical problem of not being able to access my blogsite for the past days, I really did not know exactly my past finish times for the past 2 renditions of the Mizuno-Rush Infinity 15 Runs for this year before I left my place for this 15K road race. My race strategy was to run an even-pace of 4:45 mins/km up to 4:55 mins/km. Actually, my target was to run an even-pace of below 5:00 mins/km for the whole distance.

Knowing that the race starts at 5:30 AM, I was already at The Fort at 4:50 AM and started to do my stretching and warm-up run. I was already sweating when I entered the starting area at least 15 minutes before the race started. I saw the usual faces and “new” runners who introduced themselves. I was able to have a brief chat with some of The Happy Feet Runners, High Altitude, Aldz, JayR, Roselle, Joms, Foreign Runner, RunUnlimited, and members of the Team Bald Runner.

Finally, the race started after the Emcee announced that the race starts after 10 seconds and the countdown followed. My GF 305 registered 5:49 AM as the start time which was good enough because it was still dark at 5:30 AM. I started my run by pressing the start button of my GF 305 and controlled my emotion of not being carried away with the pace of the elite runners at the front and the “younger runner-bloggers”. From Km 1 up to Km 8, I was able to maintain an average pace of 4:36 mins/km up to 4:51 mins/km. From Km 9 up to the Finish, I registered an average pace of 5:01 up to 5:25 mins/km, except for Km 13 where I finished in 4:58 mins. As usual, the uphill terrain at the Bayani Road and McKinley Hill slowed my pace but I felt I did not push my pace “too hard” along these parts of the route.

After I reached the Finish Line, my GF 305 registered a time of 1:14:43 with a distance of 15.11 kilometers. My average pace for the race was 4:56 mins/km with an average HR of 157 bpm and maximum HR of 163 bpm.

For this race, I was able to set my PR Best time for the 15K run by shaving off 2:10 minutes from my previous time of 1:16:53 during the 1st Mizuno-Rush Infinity 15K Run.

After the race, I immediately changed my drenched running kit and had some photo-ops with the other “runner-bloggers”. As I stayed at the BR’s Project Donate A Shoe booth, I was able to meet Wayne aka SFRunner who just arrived from San Francisco yesterday morning for a 10-day vacation in the country. He donated a brand-new ASICS Gel-Landreth Running Shoes which was in turn given by Wayne to a recipient who was wearing a 2-year old ASICS shoes. Thanks, Wayne for the generosity and for spending your “running” vacation here.

Congratulations to Coach Rio, staff, and volunteers for a wonderful and enjoyable 15K race. Good job!

(Note: Pictures could not be uploaded due to technical problems from WordPress. Pictures will be posted later)

Attention: To All Race Sponsors

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Races, Running6 Comments

One of the runners of Team Bald Runner brought this situation to my attention.

Maricel Maquilan, the winner in the Women’s Overall Category in last Friday’s “1st Shake, Rattle & Run” (Halloween 5K Race) was awarded Gift Certificates worth P2,000 from a foot sandal company called “RIDER”. The gift certificates were given to her during the awarding ceremony at 9:00 PM of 31 October 2008, the day of the event. Continue reading “Attention: To All Race Sponsors” →

Cash Prizes For Marathon Races

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Marathon Race, Races, Running9 Comments

I really don’t post results of International Marathons in this blog except for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games’ Marathon Results which serve as my personal references. As I read the latest news about the results of the 2008 ING New York City Marathon this morning in the race’s website, I found out that the “old & usual” winners won in the said race who did not even perform well in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and other past Olympic Games, as well. Continue reading “Cash Prizes For Marathon Races” →

1st “Shake, Rattle & Run” (Halloween 5K Run)

On By kingofpotsIn Jogging, Pictures, Races, Running3 Comments

7:00 PM 31 October 2008 @ Bonifacio High Street (BHS) Loop, The Fort

Whoever thought of this run, he/she should be congratulated for thinking and implementing this run for the first time in the country. The race was a 5K run which takes every runner to go around the BHS loop for four times. As I arrived at the vicinity of R.O.X. Store one hour before the start of the race, I already concluded that the race was a success. Lots of runners, with their relatives and friends, in their different costumes and outfits appropriate for a Halloween Party were everywhere at the BHS area waiting for the race to start.

Even if there were no cash prizes at stake for the said run, “Team Bald Runner” fielded some of its runners for the fun and be part of the inaugural Halloween run. The car maker Isuzu was the main sponsor for this event and they did a good job in organizing this event. Although there were some slight “hitches” and “minor” problems, the race was something to look forward to join every 31st of October. Continue reading “1st “Shake, Rattle & Run” (Halloween 5K Run)” →

Readings On Ultramarathon Races (100K)

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Races, Running, Ultramarathon3 Comments

To those who are  interested to join the 1st Bataan Death March 102K Ultramarathon Race, this article shows the history of 100K races.

Why 100 ?

The Universal Ultra

Although any race beyond the standard marathon of 42.195 km is reckoned to be an ultra, across the world there is one particular distance that has become universally popular – the 100km. 100km races have been held as far north as Baffin Island in the North West Territories of the Canadian Arctic and as far south as Puerto Varas in Chile; as far west as Honolulu in Hawaii, and as far east as Rotorua in New Zealand. The races are held on tracks, trails, road loops and from point to point; through cities, towns, villages, forests, across deserts and over mountains. Some cater for a mere handful of enthusiasts while others feature a cast of thousands. Each year there are probably considerably more than two hundred such races around the world.  Continue reading “Readings On Ultramarathon Races (100K)” →