Tag: Running

When I am Not Running…

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Running9 Comments

…I am cooking! Yes, I am cooking “gout-free” dishes at home. One of the co-nurses of my wife gave fresh ampalaya and tomatoes taken from their home garden and my wife’s relatives from San Francisco gave also leaves of kangkong when we visited them briefly before the San Francisco Marathon.

The following pictures show the Bald Runner cooking some Filipino dishes in California:

This is the hardest part in cooking, preparaing and cutting the ingredients needed for the dish!

It’s time to heat up the stainless wok that my daughter suggested me to use when cooking.

Guisadong Ampalaya ready to be served and…

Adobong Kangkong with Oyster’s Sauce!

It is becoming a “bad habit” and boring in eating foreign dishes here, sometimes in fastfood chains and chinese/american/italian restaurants, which serve food with high cholesterol content and too much in quantity per serving! I have to see to it that I eat a lot of vegetables and prepare them in my own way.

Runner and a Cook? Why not?…Nice combination! Bon Apetit!

Team Running USA & Philippine Sports

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Running5 Comments

This is one of the privately-managed distance running projects in the USA today. This sports project on the training of the elite runners of USA complements the vision and objectives of the Brooks-Hansons Distance Project and the Project Oregon of NIKE which I featured in this blog for the past weeks.

Team Running USA has Deana Kastor and Ryan Hall as their top athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, Deana Kastor was DNFd in the last Sunday’s 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon. Hopes for a good accomplishment of this sports project in the Olympic Men’s Marathon lies now on the legs and shoulders of Ryan Hall.

These three sports projects—Team Running USA (Mammoth Lakes, California), Brooks-Hansons Distance Project (Rochester Hills, Michigan), and the NIKE’s Project Oregon (Eugene, Oregon) where one had been created as early in 1999 and the latest one was created six years ago. The vision of these projects is to bring back the USA elite athletes into long distance running supremacy in the sports world. These projects were also geared on discovering why the Africans are the best in running long distance events and eventually aiming to beat them. Continue reading “Team Running USA & Philippine Sports” →

Results: 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon

On By kingofpotsIn Marathon Race, Marathon Race Results, Running6 Comments

I was not able to watch the start of the 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon yesterday as I was with my family outside the Los Angeles area. However, I was able to catch up with the last five (5) miles of the race on TV.

As usual, an unseeded and not-so popular woman marathon runner to win in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Constantina Tomescu-Dita from Romania, a 38-year old mother to a 13-year old son, won the 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon in 2:26:44 hours. Her latest achievements before the 2008 Olympic Games were the following: she won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Championship Women’s Marathon; Women’s Champion in the 2004 Chicago Marathon; and 3rd placer in the 2007 London Marathon (Women’s Category).

She is now considered as the oldest Marathon Champion in the history of the Olympic Games.

The following is the complete results of the 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon.

Fargo Street & Los Angeles Pinoy Ultra Runners

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running2 Comments

Ben Gaetos aka “benwah” made a comment on this blog giving me encouraging words and tips on my preparations for my first 50K ultra trail run next Saturday in the Malibu Creek State Park. Benwah is an accomplished ultramarathon runner together with Carmela Layson and E-Rod aka “Habang Tumatakbo”, successfully finishing almost all the popular ultra trail runs in California. Lately, Carmela Layson won in her age category as Female Champion in the Mt Disappointment 80K/80M Trail Run last 09 August 2008 at the Angeles National Forest/San Gabriel Mountains where Jorge Pacheco (Champion of 2008 Badwater) won as the Champion in the 80-Mile race.

These three Pinoy Ultramarathon runners living in the Los Angeles area will be running the famous Angeles Crest 100-Mile Endurance Trail Run which will be held on 13 September 2008. Continue reading “Fargo Street & Los Angeles Pinoy Ultra Runners” →

Marathon & Beyond

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running, UltramarathonLeave a comment

On my first week here in the United States (last July 12-19), I visited the new Barnes & Noble Store at the new Americana Mall in Glendale and bought the magazine-book, “Marathon & Beyond”. It is being published bimonthly and I was able to buy the July/August issue which costs me $ 6.95+tax.

It was my first time to see such running magazine in a book form. It was worth buying. The articles are very informative for beginners and advance runners as they are focused to marathon and ultramarathon races.

I realized later that the magazine has a website at www.marathonandbeyond.com. At the website, the article about Ryan Hall’s Training and transformation into a Marathoner and ultimately becoming the top athlete in the US Olympic Marathon Team in the 2008 Beijing is offered free and I am highly recommending for the runners to read. There are other articles in the Editor’s Choice portion where lots of information, tips and experiences from marathon & ultramarathon runners could be easily accessed as a source of inspiration and motivation to other runners. These articles were published in the past copies of the said magazine-book.

Happy Reading & Happy Running!

“Think Time, Not Distance”

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running, Trail Running, UltramarathonLeave a comment

6:47 PM 11 August 2008 (Silverlake & Echo Parks)

The advise of elite runners in ultramarathon trail running is to think of the time of one’s duration to finish the distance but not the distance of the course. Since the terrain of the trail will be more challenging and the elevations will be higher, the pace from my ordinary road runs will be greatly reduced.

The duration of one’s time in trail running will include lots of brisk walking in steep uphill routes; slower pace on narrow trails good for one person; uneven road due to the presence of protruding roots and rocks along the way, the intense heat of the sun, and the time at stop-overs in food/drink & medical stations for replenishments. Continue reading ““Think Time, Not Distance”” →

Visit At Phidippides Running Center

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, RunningLeave a comment

I asked my daughter, Jovelle to bring me to the Phidippides Running Center in Encino, California without any plans of buying any running apparel or accessories. This store was where I bought my ASICS Gel-Cumulus 8 and my lumbar Nathan Water Belt last December 2006. This is the only running store in the Los Angeles area where you can buy everything or anything about running to include accessories.

There are ASICS running apparels but the store don’t have my size. I tried their Brooks running apparel but their sizes are big. There were at least five customers who were inside the store and constantly being attended by their staff. A lady staff approached me and offered to help me but I told her that I am still thinking what to buy in the said store. My daughter is a known customer in the said store and she had some conversation with one of the lady staff. A tall Singaporean guy was there also looking at the running apparels and I heard him telling to the sales staff that he is training for the Singapore Marathon this December. Continue reading “Visit At Phidippides Running Center” →

Conversation With My Son

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running10 Comments

After John Paul picked me up at the Malibu Creek State Park last Saturday noon, I started telling him about my early prediction for the 2008 Philippine Olympic Team of not being able to win or bring home our first Gold Olympic Medal. This was the details of the conversation:

John Paul: Dad, why does the Philippines give so much attention/importance and reward for the Filipino athletes to win and bring home a Gold Medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games?

Bald Runner: We don’t have any gold medal yet and it is for the country’s national pride. Continue reading “Conversation With My Son” →

Day #3: P90X (Shoulders & Arms; Ab Ripper X)

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

I prepared two 10-lb dumbbells, a chair and a mat for this session of exercises which is concentrated on the shoulders, arms and the abdominal muscles.

My workout started with the usual light cardio warm-up exercises and stretching exercises like marching in place, running in place, jumping jacks and arm raises. It was followed by stretching on the neck, shoulders, arms, and chest muscles.

I used a lighter weight to cope up with the tempo of the demonstrators but I had to do more repetitions in the process. The whole Shoulder & Arms workout consists of twelve (12) exercises but they are divided into four (4) segments with 3 exercises. Each segment is repeated twice. Basically, the exercises were concentrated on the lifting of the dumbbells above the head; from the sides of the body to the shoulders; dumbbell arms’ flexion/curls and extension exercises for the biceps and the triceps of the arms; and dumbbell flys (seated and standing). Continue reading “Day #3: P90X (Shoulders & Arms; Ab Ripper X)” →

“You Made It…Good Job”

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running2 Comments

7:48 PM 09 August 2008 at Malibu Creek State Park (Bulldog Trail)

After we arrived in Los Angeles from San Francisco, I told my son that I will be running again the Bulldog Trail at Malibu Creek State Park next Saturday (09 August 2008) and will try to simulate the racing condition by starting earlier in the morning. I requested him to bring me to the said park and just drop me there to be fetched at lunch time.

Almost one week after finishing the San Francisco Marathon, I was back at the Bulldog Trail. After preparing for my things (water, electrolytes, GUs, and protein bars) and eating a light breakfast, we left the house at 7:00 AM and due to the traffic at Highway 10 West and at the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), we reached the park at 7:45 AM. I started my run immediately after getting out of the car.

I could see that there were hikers and runners about to start and preparing their gears at the vast parking area. The temperature was already at high 60s and the sky was clear without any clouds and I could feel that the temperature is about to get higher.

As I started my run, I planned to start slowly as I was using a 2.1-liter CamelBak Hydration (additional 5-6 pounds of weight) and thought of  running the 25K loop twice if I still have time before my son’s schedule to pick me up at the entrance of the park. Continue reading ““You Made It…Good Job”” →