My kids, John Paul and Jovelle are starting to love trail running at the Bulldog Trail in Malibu Creek State Park in Calabasas, California. This is my daughter’s first experience in the said trail. Aside from their regular trek to Mt Wilson Trail routes, they have plans to join their first trail race along this famous Bulldog Trail 25K loop. Hereunder are their pictures in last weekend’s run to the said trail.
Two weeks ago, I formally organized “Team Bald Runner” as an elite group of distance runners based in Metro Manila whose aim is for its members to qualify for future international games and eventually, to the Olympic Games. My outfit, Bald Runner’s Events, provides the training and coaching; accommodation in Metro Manila and food/medical support; employment; and travel & food support to races outside Metro Manila. Initially, I have ten (10) athletes—7 male & 3 female. Most of these athletes are regular winners of road races in Metro Manila. I, together with my staff, manage these athletes and advise them where they are scheduled to compete. If there are cash prizes to be awarded to the top runners, for sure, Team Bald Runner is there. It should be noted that whatever cash earned by any of the athletes is his/her own to keep and we only provide them the necessary advise to save their earnings or advise them to send their earnings to their homes to support their family. Continue reading ““Team Bald Runner” Invaded Bicol & Crowned As “King of Mt Mayon””
I bought this versatile running shoes one week after I arrived in the United States last 12 July 2008 from The North Face Store in Beverly Hills, California. I was attracted to this running shoes because it offers a dual purpose of being a running shoes for paved roads and at the same time for the trail roads. It could not be denied that I was exposed to the products of The North Face because of Dean Karnazes, my idol in ultramarathon running and # 1 “athlete-endorser” for The North Face.
The momemt I used this shoes during my first practice run at Malibu Creek State Park’s Bulldog Trail, I felt this is the most appropriate trail shoes which is very easy to wear and use. Aside from being lighter than the other The North Face Trail Shoes, this shoes has the BOA Lacing System. All you need to do is to pull or push the BOA tightening system or screw at the back of the heel support of the shoes. Push the Screw and turn it clockwise to tighten the shoes and there is no problem of dangling shoe laces on the shoes. Just Pull the Screw in order to loosen the shoestring. Continue reading “Shoe Review: The North Face M Arnuva 50 BOA”
The North Face Philippines will be supporting the 1st Mount Mayon Trail Run on 19 October 2008. This will be an 18-Km Trail Run on the slopes of the world-famous Mayon Volcano. Details and Registration are available in every The North Face Store or visit http://www.mayontrailrun.multiply.com. Registration fee for the 18K trail run is only P 150.00. Cash prizes are at stake to the winners of this trail run event. For more particulars, call or txt Yves Yu with cellphone number—0917-558-8929.
Bald Runner’s Team will be there to participate in this inaugural trail running event in Mount Mayon.
Mount Volcano picture was posted through the courtesy of Tomas Tam @ http://www.pbase.com/tam
8:15 AM 28 September 2008: Trail Run at Tagaytay/Mt Batulao, Cavite
After my experience of competitive trail runs and exposure to trail running workouts while I was in California for two months, I started to look for places near Metro Manila where I could run along the mountain trails. After reading the posts and blog of High Altitude, I asked him to accompany me to the trails of Tagaytay which happened to be the trail route used for the The North Face (TNF) 100K Trail Run last July of this year. So, after I arrived in the country, I coordinated with him for a taste of trail running in one of the Sundays of this month.
I left Manila at 6:00 AM of Sunday for Tagaytay and was able to meet with Jerry aka High Altitude; Aldz; and Arjay at Silang, Cavite. After picking them up, we proceeded to Evercrest and started preparing our things for the trail run. We left the premises of Evercrest and followed the trail route for the TNF 10K run. The trail was very challenging because of the mud and slippery condition. We had to jog, run, and jump along the trail with all those loose mud and water along the way. Continue reading “189 Days: “Never Stop Exploring””
10:20 AM 01 September 2008 at the Mt Wilson’s Trail
Being the US Labor Day on this day and “no-work” day, my son just thought of asking me if I want to go on trail hiking at The San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles. I said, “Yes” and we were out of the house at 9:45 AM with our trail running kit, energy bars & GUs, and our respective Camelbaks.
We took the I-210 and went to the direction of Pasadena, exited at Baldwin Street and went North towards the town of Sierra Made, California. We parked our car at Mira Monte Street fronting the Mt Wilson Trail Park.
At exactly 10:20 AM, we started our trail hike at an asphalted road that exits from Mira Monte Street and to a narrow dirt trail road towards the peak of Mt Wilson with the general direction going North. As we entered the dirt trail, we started to meet hikers who were just going down from the trail. The trail starts at an elevation of 970 feet and the peak of the mountain reaches to an altitude of 5,650 feet. The altitude of the mountain is higher than the altitude of PMA in Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City which is 5,000 ft. Continue reading “Mt Wilson’s Trail Hike & Run”
Having registered on line a week before, the following is my confirmation letter to participate in the Bulldog 50K Trail Ultra Run. Please note that this letter was sent to my e-mail address one month before the race day, 23 August 2008. In this letter is a detailed information and instructions to follow on the conduct of the race.
I hope this kind of arrangements or example of professionalism and efficiency will be applied in the Philippines. Continue reading “This Is How They Do It Here! #1”
While browsing and making a research on trail running, I was able to discover these two articles which were written/published at Runner’s World Magazine in 2002 and 2007. They are nice reading materials to those who would be interested in trail running and eventually join trail road races in the future.
For the benefit of those of who will join the The North Face 100 run (10K, 20K, Team Relay, and Solo 100K) next weekend, these articles are nice reading materials.
To those who will be joining this race, good luck and be safe on the trails.
I will catch up with this race in October 2008 for the Singapore event. I hope by this time I will be prepared to experience the 100K run. Continue reading “Trail Racing 101”
I had another trail run last Wednesday afternoon. Instead of going north, I took another direction which was going east and it was a nice run where I covered 10 kilometers one-way and another 10 kilometers on my way back from where I started.
The span of the whole trail was a combination of grass-covered soil ground; sand & gravel road; cement; and clayish-soil. I followed the road beside the irrigational canal which I believed been made way back when I was in my elementary grades. I have yet to find out the stretch of the whole irrigation canal but I was informed that the canal comes from Vintar Dam, which is another 12-14 kilometers away from Laoag City. Vintar is located northeast of Laoag City and it is the source of water that flows along the Bacarra River. The mini-dam in Vintar supplies the water that is needed to irrigate the farmlands in Laoag City. However, I believe that the irrigation canal which was built at the foot of the hills and low mountains that surrounds the city from the north was made also as repository of water coming from the hills/mountains during rainy season. I talked to one of the old guys residing in Barangay Dibua South and he told me that the irrigation canal was made during the time of former President Marcos when the Secretary of Public Works was Secretary Antonio Raquiza, a native resident of Ilocos Norte. I guess, that was between 1961-1964. Continue reading “Trails & Cows: 20K Run”
For the past days after reading Dean Karnasez’ book, “Ultramarathon Man: Confessions Of An All-Night Runner”, I’ve been browsing on the Internet on websites that offer information on ultramarathon, ultrarunning, and ultratrail running.
In the course of reading these websites and blogs of accomplished “ultrarunners” and websites of ultrarunning & ultratrail magazines online, I discovered this article which was written in the UltraTrail Magazine in November 2006.
This is another approach of training for the marathon and I hope you enjoy reading this one. Continue reading “Read This!”
Bald Runner 
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