1. Having been a runner since the 70s, I used to buy old issues of the Runners World Magazine & Runner’s Magazine to gain information about the scientific approaches to endurance running and to know the marathon/running personalities in famous road races in the world. Although there was a “running boom” in the 70s & 80s, running-related articles were published in newspapers and sports magazines.

2. There had been weekly Sports News broadsheets and Sports Magazines then, but most of the pages were filled with basketball-related results and their teams & respective athletes and Golf Tournaments. Running-related news would fill the Sports Pages in broadsheets due to the MILO Marathon; Manila International Marathon; PAL-Manila International Marathon; Pasig River Heritage Marathon; Magnolia Half-Marathon and the lesser-distance races sponsored by corporate brands. In short, running news were limited about the road race and the winners being published in Sports Pages of broadsheets.

3. Since the 70s, the United States had published additional running magazines aside from the Runner’s World Magazine like Runner’s Magazine, Running Times Magazine, Marathon & Beyond Magazine, Trail Runner Magazine, and Trailrunning Magazine. Other countries would also publish their version of the Runner’s World Magazine. But nobody from the local scene had ventured in the publication of a running magazine.

4.  Now, for the first time, a new full-sized Runner’s Magazine is published locally in the country. The Front Runner Magazine is the “brainchild” of Constante “Jonel” Mendoza, Jr, popularly known as “Bugobugo 85” among the runner-bloggers. For a cheap price of One Hundred Twenty Pesos (P 120.00), anybody can gain a lot of information about running and fitness in a single magazine with pictorials, “no-non-sensense” and “direct to the point” articles and list of road races. It features places in the country conducive to running, training tips, nutrition, supplements, medical tips to prevent injuries, and elite athletes & race organizers in running as well as celebrities and VIPs in our society who adhere to running as their favorite sports.

5. The magazine is being published every two months and it was first released to the public in Cebu City, in time for the Cebu City Marathon last January 10, 2010. I hope that the released copies in the Visaya will filter down to the Mindanao area. The magazine is already available in Fully Booked Stores and at the Second Wind Running Stores in Metro Manila. Hopefully, this maiden issue of the magazine will filter down to the different provinces in the country and it will serve as a “jumping board” for the public to adhere to running as the “cheapest & most accessible” sports where anybody could excel or maintain an active lifestyle.

6. I am highly recommending this first and “only one of its kind” running magazine locally published “for runners by runners”. The 80-page “maiden” issue of the Front Runner Magazine is predicted to be a prized “collectors’ item” for runners.

(Note: Picture courtesy of Bugobugo85’s Blog)