I was able to run at the ULTRA Oval Track on 22-24 December and PSC announced that the Oval Track and the PSC Compound will be closed from 25 Dec-02 Jan 09. For the remaining days of the week, I was able to do “runabouts” along the streets of Metro Manila for three consecutive days (25-27 Dec) and ended the week with a 6-Km run on a treadmill last Sunday. In summary, I was able to run a total of 95 kilometers for the week.

Due to the resourcefulness of the elite members of Team Bald Runner, they were able to locate an alternate tartan oval track at the Rizal High School Compound in Pasig City where they had been doing their speed training since the day ULTRA Oval Track was closed.

I declared yesterday, Monday, as my rest day. This morning, I joined the elite members of Team Bald Runner at the Rizal High School Oval Track. Captain Espejo was there to supervise our practice run. I was able to run 12 kilometers (to include 4 laps of warm-up) with an average pace of 5:06 mins/km.

After three days of “runabout” along the streets of Metro Manila, Captain Espejo noticed that my strides became shorter as my body was leaning much forward and my footstrike was heavier as if I was making a brake on my feet while I was running along the track. I immediately corrected my defect after doing some drills and practice runs.

It was nice to be back again on the oval track where I could improve my pace/speed and prepare for better finish times in the incoming road races.