4:00 PM Friday May 28, 2010 @ “Brown Mountain” 16.5K 2:17:31 hrs (Adidas Adizero Mana)

This was our second time to run towards the “Brown Mountain” and we started earlier at 4:00 PM. Having seen a nipa hut with a family staying at the Km-7 point of the trail, I directed my elite athletes to carry with them at least three (3) cans of sardines. In the Army, we call them as “M-203” as the size fits well like the ammunition of a M-203 Grenade Launcher. Sometimes, these sardines are called by their names as “Ligo” or “555”.

For the people living in the mountains, sardines are the most sought after food for them. It is a luxury food that you can exchange one can of sardine for a live native chicken raised by the mountain people! For the Army soldier, sardines is the most important ingredient for his ready-to-eat meal. He can make a gourmet or concoction of food taken from edible plants in the forest garnished with sardines.

The 3 cans of sardines were intended to be given to the only family that resides along the mountain trail as a “gift” as we intend to request from them to guide us along the trails of the mountain in our future adventure runs. As soon as we reached their hut, we gave them the sardines and asked them for some information about the mountains and the trails. The family appreciated our gesture and they started giving us important information about the mountain/s, the location of springs, and how long and far the trails are in the mountains.

From the nipa hut, we ran another 1.5 kilometers until we reached the first spring. I took some pictures and we tasted the water and it did not affect our stomach. This was our turn-around point and resumed our run back where we started.

Due to our early start, we arrived at the starting area with the sun about to set in the horizon. We finished the run in 2:17+ hours. My legs were stiff and hard but I was happy that we had gone farther from the point we reached the previous day.

Two consecutive days of mountain trail runs for the week were done and I plan to do more next week. My dead-tired legs and body were relieved with a 2-hour massage in the evening.