New Balance Trail Adventure 15K @ Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna; 20 June 2010
NB Trail Run Pictures
Tag: Trail Running
“On Your Left”
5:30 AM June 20, 2010 @ Nuvali, Santa Rosa, Laguna
The first reason why I joined this trail run was to have a glimpse of the “new” running playground outside Metro Manila. I heard about this trail running course last February 2010 when TNF sponsored a trail run on Valentine’s Day. I opted to register the 15K distance which is the longest distance available. Second reason is that it is a part of my preparation for the incoming MILO Marathon Eliminations on July 4th.
I drove all the way to Nuvali with some of my elite athletes who volunteered to pace me for the race and make this run as their workout. We arrived at the area one hour earlier from the scheduled time posted for the runners to be picked-up at Solenad area to the Starting Area. The waiting time was an opportunity to meet other runners, chat with them and pose for some photo-ops. I was happy to see a lot of junior and senior officers of the Philippine Army who had been consistently joining road races as they joined the 15K race. At 5:00 AM, two buses filled with 15K runners were transported to Montecito area which is about 4K away from the Assembly Area and at the same time the Finish Line.
At exactly 5:32 AM, the race started and I was at the mid-pack with the intention of trying to follow the faster runners ahead of me as this was my first time to run in the said area. The trail does not compare with the trails of “Brown Mountain” (BM) with regards to elevation and steepness of the trail. In short, the race is simply a trail run with going down towards a river for a one kilometer of running along its waters and rocks and finally climbing out into a slippery trail towards a leveled area. And the rest was a combination of a dirt road, winding single track trail with cogon grasses on both sides, and some loose soil coming from the erosion brought about by the land developments in the area.
The first 500 meters of the race was some sort of a warm-up run for me trying to size up the trail as the dirt road led us to a slippery and single track trail. Before I reached the 1 kilometer mark, I started to pick-up my pace by overtaking one runner one at a time. I saw to it that I pass each runner on parts of the trail that are inclined and I started saying the words, “On Your Left” or “On Your Right” to give a warning to the runner ahead of me of my desire to overtake him/her on his/her left or right side. But I guess, most of the runners do not know what I was talking about or they do not know what was my message to them. However, there are also runners who would know what I meant that they immediately give way for me to overtake them.
While on the river, I ran with my shoes completely submerged in the water. Practically, I was running with the flow of the river where I was able to pass some runners who opted to tip-toe on rocks on the side or banks of the river. As I went up along a steep trail from the river, I know that my legs and feet have survived those slippery rocks and loose soil on the river and I could feel that there is not much of sand that enetred my wet shoes.
I used my Adidas Adizero Mana, which is road racing flat shoes, for this trail run! It is light even when it is wet and the mud that sticks on its soles could be easily removed when I run. Sometimes, my feet tend to slide on muddy parts of the trail but I am glad that the slight tractions on its soles do not accumulate so much mud in them. I could say that this particular Adidas shoes had passed the test for my trail runs even when I do my runs at BM.
After the Km 4 point, everything was a slight rolling terrain and I was able to gain my speed. But trying to overtake some runners in a single-track trail who do not know what I meant by “On Your Left/Right” made me break my tempo if they do not give way for me. But I became patient with such runners that I have to overtake them when there is an ample space where I could squeeze in my body. It was repeated again and again as I overtook more runners on the second half of the course.
I was wearing very light running shoes and apparel without any hydration belt. I was wearing an Adidas running shorts; The North Face trail shirt; Eddie Bauer gray trail socks; and ingested one Hammer Sports Gel at Km 8 point. There was no problem with the Water Aid Stations as there were enough for everybody and the route marshals were so many as they were located in key parts of the trail. Ribbons, markers, and pointers were placed along the trails, too! There is no reason for any runner to be lost along the trail route!
I finished the 15K trail run in 1:30:12 hours (unofficial) based from my GF 305. After passing through the finish line, I was greeted by Neville Manaois, the Race Director, and I congratulated him for a nice route and organized race. I did not stay long as I proceeded to the shower facility to clean up myself before changing to my dry clothes.
This is my last tune-up race before the MILO Marathon Eliminations on July 4th and from here my daily routine will be geared towards tapering and mentally preparing myself for the race.
See you on July 4th!
(Note: This is my 1,000th post in this blog! My humble contribution to the 200 million posts at WordPress.)
Farther, Higher & Faster
2:30 PM June 9, 2010 4 Hours 22K (Adidas Adizero Mana)
This was our 4th time to explore the trail of “Brown Mountain” and I wanted to extend our exploration farther than the last turn-around point in our last trail run. We started early at 2:30 PM as we took advantage of the cloudy environment with the hope that it will not rain heavily while we were in the mountain. We went up slowly on those inclines as we tried to preserve our strength for the farther distance we wanted to reach. In my mind, I was thinking that we could reach a distance of 15 kilometers (one way) for this exploration workout.
At Km 6.2, Django was sleeping in his nipa hut while his wife was on the side of the trail smoking her tobacco. We greeted the lady as we passed by their hut. No sardines this time! Elmer went ahead of us as we reached the Km. 3 but he was too fast that we did not see him anymore. As we were about to reach Km 7, we were only three and there are times that I led the group (three runners). However, most of the time Charlie (in black Team BR shirt) was the one infront, me at the middle, and Jack guarding my back.
We finally reached our first turn-around point where we cleaned the stream/spring water last week. We briefly stopped to drink some water using our palm and crossed the spring. The picture above is about 500 meters after we passed the turn-around point and the trail started to be steeper until we could not see any trace of the trail. We crossed the same spring for two times before we could continue again running along the trail.
As we got farther and higher, the trail became narrower and later disappeared. We tried to trace the footprints of a horse and the newly cut bananas where we suspect Django could be the one who came earlier to harvest the flowers of the bananas. As we went up the mountain, the horse’s footprints and the cut banana trunks were nowhere in the area! We tried to look around for trace or signs of a trail but the vegetation was too thick. We immediately decided to turn-around as we were about 2 1/2 hours running, jogging and brisk walking in the mountain. My GF 305 registered a distance of 11.2 kilometers!
As we were tracing our way back to the place where we started, Jack complained that the soles of his running shoes got separated from the upper parts and he was practically running on his socks! Well, the running shoes is Mizuno but it is already old. Charlie’s shoes is Mizuno, too but it works well with him for the runs we had to the mountain.
When we reached the part of the spring that we cleaned, I told my companions that we’ll have a brief shower and washing of shoes and shorts. It could be that my legs were already tired and stiff on our way back that I experienced sliding on the soft trail with my butt pounding on the ground! I slipped for two times! My shorts were full of mud! These things happened when I was brisk walking on the downhill part of the trail. However, if I jog or run through such soft parts of the downhill trail, my foot/shoes would land on the ground without any sliding. With such observation, I maintained running or jogging throughout our trail run and I did not experience any sliding at all.
As we passed Django’s hut, Django was already infront of his hut and asked where we ended our exploration. I told him about our observation and the absence of trails where we ended. From his story, he was the one who harvested the banana blossoms earlier in the morning and he admitted that there is no more trail on top of the ridge where we turned-around. But admitted that the trail became thickly vegetated that it was hard to trace the existing trail.
With 5 kilometers to go, Elmer and Frank met us on top of a hill with bread and water. Elmer finished his run earlier and used his motorcycle to go back and meet us along the trail. It was a relief for Charlie and Jack to eat and drink as they were tired already. I was tired, too! but I still have water from the spring in my Nathan hydration belt. Jack has to ride the motorcycle because of his torn shoes and Frank joined us for the remaining parts of the run.
Charlie and I finished the trail run in 4 hours to include a brief shower for 10 minutes at the spring. My GF 305 registered a distance of 22.4 kilometers. We were able to run farther, longer, higher and we finished our workout faster! I was tired on this run but a massage was scheduled for the evening from an expert.
Due to my commitment and purpose to establish trails in the forested parts of BM and its neighboring mountains, I have ordered two (2) Jungle Bolos from the Philippine Army which we’ll use to cut those plants that have grown on those trails. I recalled when I was the Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army that we ordered thousands of Jungle Bolos from Malaysia as a basic jungle equipment for our Scout Rangers and Special Forces. I know that somehow some of the jungle bolos are still available for lease. Luckily, after some coordination, my order will be delivered next week.
Trail running with a mixture of exploration (trailblazing) is fun!
5 Hours
6:30 AM June 2, 2010 Wednesday 20.5K 4:30 hrs Elevation: 1,500 meters (Adidas Osweego)
This is the third time that we went up to BM for another trail run and for us to extend our exploration on how far the trails would lead us. However, the target was to reach a distance of 10 kilometers from our starting area and then back for a total distance of 20 kilometers. We started at 6:30 AM and all of us were prepared for food—steamed rice packed in banana leaves; hard-boiled eggs; more sardines & bread and lots of water. I brought my old Camelbak with a 2-liter bladder and the rest had their own light backpacks & hydration belts/bottle. We are all conservative runners as we didn’t bring any sports gel, sports drinks, or any sports bar for the said outing.
My Camelbak was too heavy plus my Canon Digital Camera was strapped on its cross-belt. It was hard running uphill with filled-up Camelbak at first but I became accustomed to it as we went nearer to the mountain. Our pace was slow but we gained our loss of speed on the downhill. Finally, we approached the nipa hut of the family whom we were planning to use as “guide”. It was timely that the man in his 60s on a horseback was about to leave towards the forested area of the mountain.
I’ll call the guy as “Django” and he led us along the trail riding his horse. Our runs became jogs and brisk walks as the trail became more technical due to the presence of rocks, fallen trees & branches, and steep inclinations. We crossed and passed by springs along the route and Django told us that the water is clean and potable. Django would be talking while he was leading us. He was proud pointing to fruit-bearing trees, pineapple plants, bananas and others along the way and he gave the approval for us to eat or pick any fruits of these trees whenever we come here for our trail runs.
As we passed along a wider spring, Django told me to look for an old marking with the letters “JT” on one of the rocks beside the flowing water. We stopped for awhile and tried to look for the said marking but we were unable to see them. Django would tell me later that the markings were there for many years and the story that there is a “hidden treasure” in those rocks and the story would be carried down from the elders who lived there to the younger ones. Django would tell me also that he had been hunting for buried treasure throughout his life but when I asked him if he found one, he said that he have not found one!
We reached the temporary hut of Django and he asked to stay thereat. We had been running & brisk walking for about 1 1/2 hours already and I took the lead to a trail which I believed to be a part of the established one. The trail led us to a higher elevation and it was very steep as we were stepping on loose soil and plants. As we reached the summit, I was surprised to see the end of the trail with trees cut and signs of the presence of “illegal logging” activity in the area. Since we were too tired to reach the peak, we decided to eat our food—steamed rice & hard-boiled eggs. The sardines were not eaten because nobody brought any spoon as our can opener! The sardines were given again to “Django” on our way back.
After our brief snacks & photo-ops, we returned to the established trail and started to jog & run. After 10 minutes, we reached another spring and I told the elites that I will be taking a shower! All of us started to remove our running shoes and shirts and enjoyed the cool water of the spring! The following pictures would describe how we enjoyed our brief rest at the said spring.
We cleaned and made the pool at the spring deeper by re-arranging the rocks so that we can use the pool in our next visits. After our rest & shower, it started to rain hard. We resumed our run as we turned around back to where we started while it was raining. The rains made the trail more slippery and my body started to feel cold. We had to run and jog to make our body warm & perspire until we reached the nipa hut of Django.
Django was already inside his hut and he was inviting us for a coffee break. But we declined as we were trying to reach the starting area as soon as possible. Instead, Django gave us a lot of banana flowers as part of his harvest. Each of the elites carried one and it served as our fresh vetable meal for dinner!
Elmer, one of the elite runners, would run ahead of us and stop whenever there is a duhat tree. He would pick its fruits and shared them to us. The fresh duhat fruits served as our food for the last 6K of our run. Finally, we reached our destination at 11:30 AM. We spent five (5) hours for our running adventure and we were able to run 20 kilometers. After shower and changing to dry clothes, we had our lunch and relaxed the whole afternoon. But the elites would again go out for their recovery run later in the afternoon.
What a day to spend when this day was considered a day when I have to avoid something out of my normal daily activities. But this is another story. Spending more time to run on this day in the mountain trails had finally erased my fears. June 2 is no longer a curse!
Lessons Learned During This Run and/or Observations:
1. Our mountains have a lot to offer—trails, spring water, lots of edible plants & fruit trees, and “hidden treasures (?)”.
2. There are still people who are involved in illegal logging in the heart of forested areas. Even if it was raining, we have observed that there are people who are cutting trees for charcoal purposes.
3. People in the mountain are friendly and generous, too! Django’s story about the legend of the “hidden treasure” was confirmed by other sources.
4. Running as a group enhances teamwork and better training.
5. Bringing solid foods in this kind of adventure run is better than ingesting sports gels & bars.
6. Running downhill when the steep trail is muddy and wet is dangerous!
Sardines
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.
Shoulders Relaxed
5:00 PM Thursday May 27, 2010 @ “Brown” Mountain 15K 1:58:07 hrs (Adidas Osweego)
This was the first time that my elite athletes brought me to the periphery of BM. The elites usually do their runs to this mountain for their one hour to 1 1/2-hour workouts. We started our run at 5:00 PM. After a slow run for about 500 meters, we had our first uphill climb for about 200 meters of gravel road that ended to a left turn of about 10 meters of flat before another uphill climb of 100 meters. This pattern was repeated for about three times and I started to perspire. We started to experience a level road trail when we reached the 3K point. It was a hard slow uphill run but I kept on remembering to take short strides; lifting my knees higher; swing my arms more; and above all, keep my shoulders relaxed. For every 3-4 minutes during the run, I had to be reminded and always aware with my running form with my shoulders relaxed.
The gravel road slowly turned to a trail road with dust and I was comfortable with my Adidas Osweego which is lighter than the ASICS training shoes that I’ve been using in my road runs. We ran more uphill climbs along one-track trail with tall cogon grasses on both sides. There are also wild plants that keep on brushing on our legs as we trekked uphill. On this portion of the trail, the seven runners in us were lined up on a single file as we went upward towards the mountain.
As we went deeper to the vegetated part on the side of the mountain, a herd of cattles would immediately approach us and the elites would think that they were going to attack us. We had to run faster and tried to evade the cattles. I was laughing when I saw one of my elites removed his shirt and was seen running naked as his shirt was colored red. As we ran, I realized that I was also wearing a red Mizuno running shirt! Later, I told them that these cattles would approach us thinking that we were there to feed them and I laughed with my theory!
After running for 7K, we saw a hut at the side of the mountain and a family of Aeta resides in it. We stopped for awhile and talked to the family. After a few seconds, we resumed our run towards another uphill trail until we reached a place where my GF 305 registered a distance of 7.5K. It was already getting dark and we decided to turn-around to our starting line.
On our way back for another 7.5K to the starting line, it was a race to beat the coming of darkness on those single-track trails. Actually, it was already dark when we still had 3K more to go and we had to slow down because the trail was uneven. Once again, on the downhill run, I alternately took longer strides and shorter strides depending on the steepness of the trail but I always maintain my shoulders relaxed. It was almost 7:00 in the evening when we reached our starting area.
On our way up to the mountain, I averaged a pace of 7:40 mins/km while our fastest average pace in going down was 6:08 mins/km. These numbers would indicate a very slow pace but I am sure this visit to the BM will make me a faster and stronger runner in my incoming road and trail races.
Always remember to run with your shoulders relaxed. Let them drop and swing your arms naturally!
New Playground
I personally named this place as the “Brown Mountain” (BM) for purposes of describing my running workouts. This is my “new” playground for my hill workouts and mountain trail runs.
From this point, my GF 305 registered a distance of 6.5K from the place where I started with the rest of my elite runners. I was already gasping for air to breath and about to surrender when I reached this point on my first time to run this trail. But the elite runners kept on pushing me as they paced me throughout the run. This particular place has an elevation of 700+ meters!
After turning at 8.5K mark, I had another almost 6.5K downhill trail towards the Starting area. You might have observed that I am using a racing flat shoes (Adidas Adizero Mana) on this trail run. Well, I am trying to experiment if my old legs’ feet cartilages, muscles, and knees could withstand the impact on the soft & hard trails of this mountain! So far, for two running workouts up to BM, my legs and knees are fine.
These elite runners had been doing their workouts here for the past weeks and months in preparation for the 34th MILO Marathon Manila Elimination and this coming September’s CAMSUR Marathon.
This is where we usually turn-around and the farthest our feet could reach (so far!) along an endless trail from the “Brown Mountain” to the other adjacent mountains. There are signs that this spring is being visited by wild pig/boar and deer. I’ve observed that the trail at the side of the BM (Brown Mountain) is covered with dried leaves that give additional cushion to the impact of my feet to the ground. Some parts of the trail are one-track carved on the side of the forested areas by water rushing from the top of the mountain due to rains.
We found some time to drink the water on this spring, wash and pour the cold water on our faces, nape, head, legs and arms. The water was so refreshing! The Aeta family that lives nearby the place said that there are more of these kind of springs along the endless trail and their water are potable. What can I say, this could be a nice playground for mountain trail runners and “serious” runners!
It’s A Hill, Not A Mountain
Yes, it’s not a mountain yet, but I need to traverse these hills before reaching the base of the nearby mountains!
Finally, I was able to run on top of a hill that faces another group of mountains. It is a group of hills that is only a kilometer away from where I am. The trail that leads to the hill is a rough road with stones and gravel and it suddenly ended in a stream where a clear-crystal water flows. I did not want to cross the stream by having my running shoes dived into the water. I slowly inched my way by jumping on big boulders and rocks on the side of the stream until I reached a single-foot track that leads to the top of the hill.
I was surprised that my ASICS Gel-Kayano 14’s sole tracks could hold my feet from sliding as I stepped my feet on the steep parts of the trail. Jogging slowly, I was able to reach the top of the hill and I was surprised that it has a trail that connects to another hill. I proceeded to the next hill which has a distance of about 500-600 meters. After reaching the second hill, I decided to look for the trail that goes down and I was able to pass some illegal settlers which are hardly seen from the nearest highway.
I slowly went down from the hills and it was a good 1 kilometer descending trail. Once I reached the main road which is paved, I ran another one kilometer through it which is uphill and then ran back for another kilometer. Not bad that I was able to count at least 1,040 steps for each kilometer distance and I knew I was running at an average pace of 5:15 minutes per km. As I finished my run along the paved road, I went up again to another hill which is the place where I am staying.
It was already dark when I finished my run. I was able to run a distance of 7 kilometers and I was not tired at all. My GF 305 registered 350 meters ascent to the hills.
Looking around where I am, the hills that I ran through were not the ones that I wanted to reach. Instead of going to the North direction, I took the trail that goes to the South direction. It came upon me that I was lost and did not check on my directions before I started my run. I realized that I just ran through the first trail that I’ve seen from the paved road. I guess, I am still disoriented in this place.
I will try the North direction anytime today and conquer some hills and look for trails that will lead me to the higher mountains someday. My “guide” could not be located…
Team BR Defends Mt Mayon Trail Run Honors
While the Quezon City International Marathon was on-going yesterday morning, another trail run race outside Metro Manila was being conducted in Legazpi City (Albay) and this was the 2nd edition of the Mt Mayon Trail Run.
Members of the Elite Team Bald Runner had to defend the title as the King of Mt Mayon Trail as Elmer Sabal won the Championship in the Trail Run during its first edition last year with a Cash Prize of P 30,000. I was able to join this race last year and it was a well-organized race under the leadership of Yves Yu aka Be Cool Runner and the Team JC International of Legazpi City. Although it was short of few kilometers from the announced 21K distance, the course was very challenging with rope climbing on rocks, running/crossing a wide river, steep inclines, narrow & slippery trails, and running on the lahar rocks (big & small) along the slopes of Mt Mayon.
For the 2nd edition, the race organizer added more distance and challenges to make it as a 21K run. My team had reported that one of the additional challenges was running inside a tunnel! The race organizer in Legazpi City is full of ideas and challenges for the runners.
Alcuin Bolivar of Elite Team Bald Runner won as Champion in the 21K Trail Run with a Cash Prize of $ 2,000 + Trophy and Gerald Sabal won the 1st Runner-Up in the 21K Trail Run with a prize of $ 1,000. Johnny Espana won 5th Place. Corazon Salcedo won 2nd Runner-Up in the 21K Ladies Category while Raul Lamprea won 1st Runner-Up in the 5K Race. Overall, the Elite Team Bald Runner was able to defend its title as the King of Mayon and bring home the Cash Prizes for the event.
I would like to thank the support staff of Team Bald Runner for their untiring assistance to our athletes; to Mesh Villanueva aka My Iron Shoes and family for their support in providing the accommodation of my team; to Yves Yu aka Be Cool Runner & Team JCI Legazpi City; and to the Race Organizer & Sponsors of this race.
Elysian Park Trail Run; Gym Workout; & Easy Long Run
10:30 AM 30 May 2009 @ Elysian Park
Thanks for the tip from Ben Gaetos regarding the Elysian Park Trails. I was able to make confirmation from my daughter about the said trail after she told me that she had a chance to visit the place last year. My son simply gave me the direction on what street to take to be able to reach the place. And after “googling” the place, I was able to get the details about the streets that lead to the place.
I left my place in the morning of last Saturday at about 10:30 AM as the sky was still overcast and the temperature was still in the low 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I started slow during the early part of my run until I reached the uphill road at Scott Street that leads to the Elysian Park. Running along Scott Street from Echo Park and Glendale Boulevard was already a very challenging uphill climb. I never stopped running until I reached the said park.
Being my first time to visit the place, I took the right road which is closed to vehicular traffic and started going uphill and tried to look for those trails. I later found a fire road and followed it to where it will end and then followed some trails good for one person. I just did a clockwise run along these trails until I was back where I started along the end of Scott Street. There was another fire road on my left and I started to run into it and I found out that this is the more popular fire road for the walkers. I would overtake a lot of walkers with their dogs, small and big, and meet also walkers on this fire road with and without their dogs. After running about one kilometer on this fire road, I observed that I was the only one running along the trails! There was this steep and winding downhill part of the trail which ends in the switchback (leading to more plain trail) with some woods buried across the road to prevent erosion every ten meters along the trail. This fire road was a rolling one and it ended near the entry to the park from Stadium Way Street. After taking some pictures of the place and drinking some water from my Nathan Hydration Belt, I decided to cross the Stadium Way Street and go for the higher part of the park.
As I crossed the street, I took the trail on my left and it was a trail which is good for one person. As I maintained my running pace on this trail, I could see Highway 5 on my left (way down below my feet!) where I could hear the noise of cars and vehicles passing along the busy National/Federal Highway. I was practically running along the edge of the mountain! I could see more walkers along the trail who gladly went to the sides, allowing me to pass as I greeted them and I kept on running until I ran more trails and finally led me to where I started after crossing the Stadium Way Street. After reaching my starting area, I had to retrace the trail I had taken and went all the way to the top again of the mountain and took the trail back.
I crossed the Stadium Way Street once again and retraced the fire road and went to that “challenging steep winding downhill” part and try to run up to the top without walking. With much determination and positive attitude, I was able to run through this part of the fire road without stopping. Later, I was able to reach Scott Street where I started. I slowly jogged around the visitor’s park and parking area and orient myself and see where the trails are located.
I knew I had 2 hours of run along the trails and it was time to go back. From the Stadium Way Street, I took Scott Street and back towards Glendale Blvd. I took another loop at Echo Park where I replenished my water supply before proceeding to my favorite uphill climb (near Belmont High School) where I do my hill repeats before proceeding at the house.
I was able to run a distance of 22.22 kilometers (almost 14 miles) in 2:30 hours with an average pace of 6:45 minutes per kilometer. I was surprised to observe that I was “sunburned” even with the overcast sky and lower temperature during my workout run! I finished the race at 1:00 PM and immediately took my lunch. It was a nice workout. This will be my alternate trail run location but I still need to go to Griffith Park Trails for a higher altitude/elevation workout. However, what is good about Elysian Park is that I can run along its trails for hours and it is very near to my place. Next time, I will bring food provisions in my backpack in my next runs and run along its trails for 3-4 hours.
9:30 AM 31 May 2009 @ Gold’s Gym
My son and I went to Gold’s Gym at Downtown LA for a 1-hour workout. I did my core muscle and upper body workouts for one hour. I was surprised to see the overall set-up of the gym to have changed for the better since I had my last visit last year. The gym had a bigger space and more equipment. There was no “traffic’ in the use of the equipment as more options had been added due to more equipment. Before going to the gym, I was already set to do my rituals for my core muscles and my upper body muscles. It was a very fast workout with easy and light weights so that I will not strain my muscles after almost three months without any weight-lifting workouts.
After the gym workout, we returned to the house and I cooked pork adobo for our lunch. It was rest time after lunch!
7:00 PM 31 May 2009 @ Echo Park & Silverlake Reservoir
At this time here, the sun is still shining and it will take another one hour for the sunset to finally arrive. I decided to have an easy long run. I had an easy and slow start as I started to jog towards the Echo Park and did one loop and finally decided to go to the Silverlake Reservoir loop. After one loop at the Silverlake Reservoir, I started to feel the urge to relieve my urinary bladder but it became problematic when I found out that the comfort rooms at the Park were closed. I tried to control my bladder until such time that it became too dark and saw to it that there were no runners/walkers who would see me going to the thick bushes to relieve myself. I did it successfully without any problems! Sometimes, you need to take the risk when emergency comes. At least, my “style” is better than the video clip of Paula Radcliffe peeing on the street while she was running a marathon race! ha! ha! ha!
I did 4 1/2 loops around the Silverlake Reservoir before going back to Echo Park and finally proceeding home. I did another loop at the Echo Park and slowly had my cool-down run a block away from the house. I did my post-stretching exercises before entering the house. My GF 305 registered a distance of 23.10 kilometers (14.4 miles) with a time of 2:29:11 hours with an average pace of 6:40 minutes per kilometer.
I will take a day-off tomorrow for my stretching and Pilates exercises. It was a nice weekend.
Bald Runner 
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