A busy week

This weekend was the opposite of last week’s fully loaded workout. It started with a no Friday night run due to work. Swthrt needed to finish her budget plans for their branch so she had to work overtime and afterwards we went to a prayer meeting. Plan B was put into place. We will run Saturday morning before going to the Science Olympiad competition where our son JM will participate. But because we went home late (already 1 am of Saturday) after the prayer meeting, we were not able to run Saturday morning. We have to be at JM’s school by 8 o’clock in the morning before going to the Phivolcs office in Diliman, Quezon City for the Science Olympiad.

The Olympiad
It was the 5th Philippine Society of Science Youth Clubs Science Olympiad National Finals. Twenty schools from different parts of the country will compete to be the National Science Olympiad Champion. The competition was divided into two major parts which was the Practical (laboratory experiments) and Theoretical Exam (essay) in the morning and the Oral Quiz competition in the afternoon. Only the top ten schools from the morning examinations will proceed to the second part of the competition. The second part was divided into two phase. The first phase was, the teams will be asked 20 questions which they have to write their answers on a white board. Only the top 5 schools with the highest scores will battle out in the final phase in which they will be asked again 20 questions and they will answer it by pressing the buzzer. This time any school can answer even before the quizmaster was not yet finish in asking the questions. My son’s school, The Learning Tree was declared the champion. Congratulations to the school and their team composed of JM, David and Vica. Thank you very much to all our friends and families who have prayed and supported their team. To teacher Ryan and teacher Mena, thank you for guiding our children. To teacher Francie, Thank you for giving our children this opportunity to grow and experience this event in their school life. This will not be all possible without your support.

The TLT Team with teachers and parents

The Learning Tree Team, JM, David, Vica

My family

Finally we were able to run
We finally had the time to run Sunday morning at UPD. Swthrt and I was able to do 4 rounds (8.8k) easy run at the academic oval. Swthrt ran the first 3 rounds with our friend Chiqui, while I did 3 rounds of “fartlek” (the Swedish word for speed play). After Chiqui was done with her workout, swthrt and I had ran another round before calling it a day. It was our only run for the week and we do not want to force ourselves. Anyway, it was a good run. Most of the runners would know how it feels to have a good run after a long break. We are hoping to have a better running schedule this week to prepare for the Adidas KOTR. Swthrt will be running her first 5K, while I will try to improve my PR in the 10k event.

Photo Talks

The Learning Tree Child Growth Center Inc. - Grade School

(Team members: JM, David,Vica)

5th Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs Science Olympiad

National Champion - Elementary Division

Nike+ workout data is back!

In my last post regarding my nike+ipod workout data being deleted, Dindo (DATC) suggested that i reset the setting of my ipod. I tried it but still was not able to retrieved the data. This morning, i charged my ipod because i am planning to use it for my run tonight. When i plugged it in the computer it automatically uploaded the data of my recent workout to the nike website. It must be the resetting of the ipod that allowed the data to be retireved and uploaded. It works! Thank you very much Dindo.

Here's my recent workout dated September 21, 2008:

TGIF and rain, rain go away...

Thank God it's Friday! It's the start of our weekend run. We have not run since Sunday and we are hoping that it will not rain tonight so that we can run. If it rains, we will try the Moro Lorenzo Gym at Ateneo. We needed to run today because will not be able to do it tomorrow. JM will participate in the PSYSC Science Olympiad National Finals which will be held on September 27, 2008 in PHIVOLCS Auditorium, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, CP Garcia Avenue, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. We will be there to give moral support to him and his teammates.

2008 PSYSC Science Olympiad National Qualifiers:
Bracket I-Elementary
St. Joseph School Inc.
Center of Excellence
Zamboanga Chong Hua
Ateneo de Zamboanga
Corpus Christi School
Xavier University Grade School
Maquiling School Inc.
Butuan City SPED Center
San Beda College Alabang
The Learning Tree Child Growth Center Inc.
Southville International School and Colleges
St. Mary’s College - Quezon City
PAREF Southridge School
School of St. Anthony
University of the Philippines Integrated School
University of Perpetual Help Rizal
A. Bonifacio Elementary School
Albert Einstein School
BHC Educational Inst. Inc.
Lorma Grade School

They also represented their school in the said competition last year.

Teacher Ryan (Science adviser), David, JM (our son), Accel, Teacher Francie (School Directress, Founder)

Trust in the Lord

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

In this time of crisis and hardship, who do we turn to? Where do we put our trust and hope? When things go wrong and everyone seems to have left us, God is always there for us. Nothing can change God’s faithfulness to us. We can trust Him no matter what our circumstances may be.

Jesus’ disciples had their faith tested during a storm on the sea of Galilee. The wind and the waves were overwhelming that fear set in their hearts even though Jesus, the son of God, was asleep in the boat with them. When their cries woke Jesus, He immediately commanded the waves and the wind to be still. Then, Jesus turned to His disciples and asked, “ Where is your faith?”(Luke 8:24-25)

No matter what kind of storm we are facing right now, God is with you. All we have to do is to trust Him to calm the storm and to care for our greatest need.

Insights by Bro J, Published in NAMRIA Newsletter Vol.IV No.3, July-September 2000

A fully loaded weekend workout

We normally do our weekend workouts by starting a Friday nocturnal run at UP. This weekend, we were not able to fit it because of work. Swthrt had to work overtime for her operations review presentation and we have to go to a prayer meeting in our church. To make up for our cancelled workout, swthrt and I decided to run Saturday morning even though we knew that we would be home late (earliest is 12 midnight) because of the meeting. We were right. We arrived home at 1:00 am on Saturday. Before going to bed, we decided to wake up early for our run. We woke up at 5:30am. Prepared ourselves and proceeded to UP. We started our run at around 6:30am. Swthrt was already able to run 5K straight. We did 3 rounds (total of 6.6K) of the academic oval. It was a good easy run for both of us. We went home satisfied and ready to face a busy day ahead. Swthrt needed to do some work at the office. I brought our eldest son, JM for his review class at Commonwealth Avenue. After that, I went to Fort Bonifacio to fetch our youngest son, Josh’s report card. On my way to Fort Bonifacio, I got a text message from my cousin, Kuya Hector that they have already registered for the Adidas KOTR at the Podium. It got me excited and wished that it won’t take me long to get the report card. When I reached the school, I was the 4th parent in line waiting for our turn. The class adviser had to talk to the parents regarding their children’s performance at school. It took almost an hour before I was able to talk to the teacher and got Josiah’s report card. After that, I drove fast on my way to the Podium to register for the KOTR. I was able to register and got my race kit.


I was quite disappointed that I was not able to register swthrt because the singlets for women were not yet available. The lady in charge of the registration told me to return today, Monday. I fetch swthrt before picking up JM. In the evening, we ran again at UP with our friends Louie, Lea and Chiqui. Swthrt did another 2 rounds (4.4K) easy run with them. I did one round at my tempo pace of not slower than 6min 30sec to check on the accuracy on the distance measured by my Nike+ ipod sports kit. The unit recorded a distance of 2.3k After the run, we went to a worship meeting at Mindanao Ave, Quezon City.

We went for another run yesterday, Sunday at UP. Our friend, Chiqui, and my son JM joined us in our run. There was a race sponsored by PMI for their foundation anniversary. We saw Jay (Prometheus Cometh) and coach Rio. Swthrt, Chiqui and JM ran around the academic oval twice (total 4.4k) while I circled 6 times (a total of 13.2k). That was my longest run so far. I’m trying to build up my base. And hopefully and eventually improve my PR on 10k race.


As I was writing this, I got my ipod to check on the recorded data. And to my surprise, all the recorded workouts were deleted. I don’t know what happened. The only record left was the total of 15 workouts with a total distance of 73.58K , and a total time of 8.74hrs. The farthest was 15.1k. That was my Sunday morning run. Maybe, the records were deleted when I tried to calibrate the sensor Saturday night. That’s technology at work, hahaha. It was a product of my ignorance. I guess I just have to go on with the calibration since it already deleted all the records. I wanted to calibrate it because I noticed that it register a longer distance when I ran at a slower pace (below 7min/k). The same is true when I do fartlek. The distance recorded last Saturday night was close to the actual distance because I ran at an average pace of not slower than 6.5min/k. The problem is that I’m not yet able to sustain to run at that pace for 10k. For now it will only be in my dreams, ha ha ha but maybe achievable in the near future. Impossible is nothing. Hehehe.

Hosanna! is an outreach publication of Hosanna. It is a compilation of teachings
Delivered during one of the Sunday Services of Hosanna.

The following is an excerpt of the issue entitled

"FIVE SHORT PARABLES CONCERNING FAITH IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 13
(Matt.13:31-50)"


Jesus once told a parable of the mustard seed. Let us read about it in Matt.13:31-32. He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." (NIV)
In this parable, our Lord Jesus tells of a man who took a mustard seed and planted it in his field. Jesus points out that the mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds; but when it grows, it becomes a huge tree. It is such a wonder that a seed so small and insignificant can attain the size of a big tree. With its hugeness and strength, it can sustain and assist the lives of other creatures. Jesus mentioned the example of the birds which come to its branches and perch there, even building nests on it. This is like the seed of FAITH. In Matt.17:20 Jesus also compared FAITH with the small mustard seed by saying that if we had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, we could command a mountain to move from its place and it will indeed move. In the verses that we read, Jesus says that if we plant this small seed of faith in our lives, it would grow big enough to benefit others, just like the birds which benefitted from the branches of the grown mustard tree. Such was the small faith of Moses whom God used in order to benefit the Israelites ( Exodus chapters 3-4 ). Such too was the small faith of Peter whom God used to benefit the new believers in Acts chapter 2.

for complete issue click here

5K easy run

Just a quick post....

It's Thursday today and we are not allowed to go out on the road until 7pm because of the Vehicle Volume Reduction Program (coding system) of MMDA in Metro Manila. While waiting, I had an easy run together with my officemates, gemini and donski at our office ground. Donski ran 3K since it's her first time to run, while Gemini ran 3K with us and continued to run on her way home. That would be a total of 5K according to her. On my part, i finished the 5K ran i set for my workout today.

Thank you Swthrt…

Runners have different reasons why they run. Some run for competition, others run for health reasons. Still others fell in love with running by mere accident. I have my own reason too. It’s a choice to have a healthy family. To do this alone is very difficult to start. I need the support of people who continue to encourage, give a push, teach, and provide help in this sport. They were my officemates who are into running, the runners/bloggers, friends to name a few. But one person I truly thank is Swthrt. When I first asked her if I can run after office hours she cautiously said, “yes, where?” I told her, “at the office grounds. I will be joined by some officemates who keep on telling me to try running”. She cautioned me because of my prior diagnosis of angina (chest pains). The reason why I asked her permission was, she will have to wait in her office to finish my run since we go home together after office hours. But that “yes” made a big difference in me. Every week, I gradually reduce weight and gained more self-esteem. I was able to meet new friends as well. It opens a new dimension in my life and my personality. Her support not only ends in allowing me to run but she even accompanied me in every race I joined. Together, we have joined races like the One La Salle Run, Mommy Milkshake Marathon, and counting. We now regularly run whenever our tight schedules allow us. Last Sunday after our long run, she asked me, “Is it ok if I go with you when you run?” My answer was resounding “yes” and I asked her “why?”. And she said, “Because you might want to have some space.” She knew that I have always encouraged her to go out with friends without me not because I didn’t want to be with her but to grow as an individual person, to do what she wants without my restrictions. I love her and I want her to be happy. When we got married, we became one with the love of Christ that binds us together. Swthrt, I know you will read this, I want you to know that I love running with you! And I’m happy that you’re with me in my new (and I think my forever) passion… running. I would not have reached this far without your support. Thank you and I love you!

I Love your Blog Award

Last week, I received a surprise award from my sister. An “I love your blog award.” My sister and swthrt can attest, that writing is not my cup of tea. My interest in blogging came only after reading my sister’s blog, “liza’s eyeview”. It became our link to her and her family (they are in Maui, Hawaii). It also became a source of inspiration and encouragement. The reason why I started blogging was more personal at first. I just wanted to have a personal journal of the trainings in running that I have been doing and the lessons God is teaching me through these experiences. For a while, I have my family and close friends as commenters on my blog. I just continue to write and share my running experiences. To hear from readers, whom I don’t know personally was an encouragement. Like what I received from the foreign runner who commented on the “not so perfect run” article :

The foreign runner said...
I love your blog, your views and your oppinions. I went through the same story, weighing 115kg and now 80kg. Keep it up and who knows, soon you might even break 40min on a 10km.

Thank you Philip for the encouragement.

In one way or another I have touched them through the insights which God has inspired upon me. Now I know that God has opened a door for me to share my faith and the love of God through Christ Jesus. As I continue in this journey, I have other blog sites which I visit regularly to gain new friends and learn from them in my new interest in life, running. I want to thank them and give them this award too in no particular order.

In my own views
Run4change
The Bull Runner
The Foreign Runner
Prometheus Cometh
Manokan
SFRunner

There are more but as my sister’s blog puts it, as a custom in the blogosphere, there are a couple of rules for accepting such an honor!
1.)The winner of this award can put the logo on her blog.
2.)Link to the person you received your award from.
3.)Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4.)Put links of those blogs on yours.
5.)Leave a comment on the blogs of the people you have nominated as well as the persons blog who nominated you.
6.)If the Blogger you nominate has already received this award they don’t need to pass it on.

Quick recap on my weekend run

Because of the uncooperative weather last week, swthrt and I was not able to run during weekdays. We finally had a chance to run on Friday evening at UP. We did 4.4k (2 loops) easy run. The setback for a long rest, though, is that it was really hard to start running again. Last Saturday night, we did another 4.4k easy run together with friends from the church. Sunday was scheduled for our long run. Swthrt did 3 rounds (6.6k) of the academic oval with our friend Chiqui. Swthrt had an extra round alone while waiting for me to finish my run. Louie did 10k of biking while I did 12k easy run. It was also my chance to meet Prometheuscometh along the academic oval. It was great running with you, PC. I also got the chance to meet Coach Rio and Marsha. It was a great weekend run for me and swthrt.

Photo Talks

before running...... after 3 months of running....... last nike+race

Not so perfect run

In my eagerness to train, I decided to run yesterday. Swthrt had a meeting at their Alabang branch and she will be late in returning to Pasig. I brought Josiah home and went to Honda Cars Pasig where I planned to start my run. My route was from HCP to C5-Bagong Ilog flyover and back. I am quite familiar with the route since this was the course during my practice in preparation for the Men’s Health Miracle Run. I was all set to run at around 5:30pm. There were few but vital things, however, that I neglected to perform before the run. I defied the two most important rules before running… warm-up and stretching. There were also things that I did not consider before deciding to run on this route. One, it was rush hour and there were lots of vehicles on the road. Two, the temperature was relatively hot as compared to my morning runs. And lastly, the pollution level or the smoke emissions from the vehicles were high during this time of the day. All these make the route unfriendly for runners. Anyway, I proceeded with my run and after few hundred meters, I was already gasping for air (actually clean air). I also forgot to bring my bottled water from the car. When I reached the E.Rod Red Ribbon Bakeshop, I decided to cut short my run and took a U turn under the Ortigas flyover. I was tempted to ride the jeepney back to Honda since I brought with me some coins for contingency measures, he he he. My way in going back was even harder. I had short walk breaks especially during uphills. My ipod logged a total distance of 1.86km with a time of 22:02. My average pace was 11:48min/km. It was very slow than my average pace of 7.5 min/km. I think I’ll never do it again.

I was still thankful that God used my experience yesterday to another insights on running the spiritual race. Christians in their zealousness or eagerness to share the Gospel carelessly put themselves in an antagonistic situation. What I did yesterday was I exposed myself to conditions which allowed me to fail in my objective of doing a good run. The record showed that I ran way below my average pace. Sometimes, we exposed ourselves to temptations which often caused us failures. We thought we can change a person’s heart and beliefs if we will join him in what ever he does, even if he’s doing wrong. What is fearful about it is that in the end, we are the ones being changed, and we have the tendency to go back to our sinful nature. Some thought they could withstand any temptation. But reality tells us that men are weak and can easily give in to temptations.

Paul said , “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Romans 7:18-20.

To be victorious in our spiritual race God gave us a counselor, a coach, the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds us to always live by the spirit.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul reminds us,
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. Gal.5:16-18

How about us? Do we allow ourselves to be exposed to temptations and think of ourselves as superhuman capable of overcoming it with our own power and determination? Let us keep in step with the Spirit because the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Let us trust and obey Him. God bless us all!

Weekend run

After a week of rest from my last race at the NIKE+ Human Race, I finally had a chance to run last Saturday evening at UPD. Rest was not a choice but brought about by unavoidable circumstances. Either Swthrt or I had to work overtime or needed to do some errands for the kids during the week. It was frustrating but then we still have to prioritize our kids. Anyway, our weekend runs were very fruitful. Swthrt and I had an easy 4.4K run at UPD Saturday evening. As always, we had a great time. We finished the run in 40 minutes. Sunday morning we woke up early for our long run. We arrived at UPD at around 6:30am. There were already many runners since there was also the regular running clinic of Runnex. Swthrt ran with our friend Chiqui, who regularly runs with us every Saturday night. Swthrt extended her usual two rounds to three rounds at the academic oval. She ran the first lap non-stop. It was a big accomplishment for her. I did five rounds which had a total of 11K but my nike+ ipod registers 11.69K with a time of 1:15:19 at an average pace of 6:26min/k. It was another good run for me. There was only one thing that bothered me. I felt I was stepping on a stone or something inside my right shoes. It happened on my second lap. It was painful and uncomfortable for me. It slowed me down. When I checked on it, there was nothing in it. Anyway, I continued and finished the run. We saw Coach Rio and Ben, the photographer on the run with their friends doing the stretching after their run. We went home after our workout and had a cup of taho.

Here’s the detail of my run last Sunday…

Photo Talks

The NIKE+ Virtual Human Race

What a fruitful weekend

I thank the Lord for this day. God is so good!

My blogging has to wait
As much as I wanted to share my Nike+ Human Race experience, I was prevented in doing so because of official duties. I went to Pampanga yesterday to cover on an event of our office. I did a video documentation on the workshop on Hazard Mapping and Disaster Management for the province of Pampanga. It was a multi-agency project and our office was tasked to spearhead the workshop. We only covered the opening and closing activities for the one-week workshop. That means I have to be back there this weekend. Anyway, the opening event went well and we returned to Manila at around 5:30pm.

JM’s Birthday
It was also JM’s birthday yesterday. We are blessed to have a son like JM. He is our eldest and he just turned 12 yrs old. We are so thankful that he grows to be a fine lad. He loves God, honors his parents, and cares for his little brother Josh. He also continues to do better in his studies and consistently included in the Directress List of their school. This coming Saturday, JM together with his best friend David will represent their school in Science Olympiad NCR elimination. We pray that he will grow to be a man after God’s heart. Happy birthday son! We love you and we are proud of you!

JM and his birthday cake

My Nike+ Human Race experience
I know much has been said about the race and I also want to share my experience. Swthrt and I arrived at the place at around 5:20am. My adrenaline rushed upon seeing the sight of the starting line. There were already many runners doing their warm-up rituals. We looked for mae (gemini0522) who will also be joining the race. After a few minutes, the runners were called to assemble for the warm-up and stretching exercise. The run started early and registered at my ipod at 6:11am. It was a well-organized race and everyone seemed happy about it. There were enough water stations and marshals deployed strategically. Directional arrows and kilometer markers were also placed. The course was very challenging and the sight of marshals giving away bananas and breads inside the Heritage Park was a welcome treat for the runners. I felt strong on the run. It was my first run in which I didn’t walk. It was surely a boost that I have a pair of Nike+ shoes courtesy of my brother Relly and his wife Gem. I was really focused and excited on the race. I paced with mae until inside HP (kilometer 5), until she told me to just go ahead and run with my own pace. I increased my strides and finished at 1:14:54 for the 11.31km distance recorded on my ipod. I had my fastest pace at kilometer 7 with 4:47/km and my slowest at kilometer 9 at 9:55/km. I still feel that I can run more. When I crossed the finish line and received my race freebies ( consisting of nike socks, men’s health magazine and Rush drink) I ran back to Mae and accompanied her at the downhill going to the finish line. Mae was so blessed on that day, she had her Nike+ sportsband replaced (the first one was defective) by photographer on the run and she won a raffle for a 2 nights/3days cruise at Coron, Palawan courtesy of 7,000 Island Cruise Ship. Congrats mae!
We also met the foreign runner, Philip after the race. run4change, Eric was also present. It was really a great fun run. A well-deserved congratulations for a job well done. Kudos! to race organizer and to Nike Philippines who made this event a success for the country’s Nike+ users!

Swthrt and I after the race

Mae and I at the race

Some Notes
I would also like to note that the crowd in this particular race, which is relatively exclusive, was apparently well-behaved. Everyone was falling in line for the give-aways, and for uploading their runs at the laptops set-up for the runners. There was also a line in claiming the photos from the Photovendo booth. I noticed that everyone was in a festive mood. I also heard Ben Chan apologizing for the delays in printing of pictures. I really commend the Photographer on the Run for his apology. I also didn’t get my pictures yet but I don’t mind receiving them later. I understand and know the difficulty of such undertakings. Don’t worry Ben you did your best and you did a great job! When can I get my photos? Ha ha ha, just kidding.

Congratulations to The Bull Runner! I heard your name as one of winners in the age category.

To coach Rio, congrats for a well-organized race!

To foreign runner, Philip, nice meeting you bro! God bless you on your ministries!

To Nike Philippines officials and other co-sponsors, thank you for the race and the freebies!

To all the runners, Keep on running! God bless!

One Race Route
After the race, we went home and prepare for the Sunday Service at our church. God’s word for the church last Sunday focused on having one way to His kingdom. It was from Paul’s letter to the Galatians reminding them of keeping themselves away from the bondage of adding measures into keeping their faith in God. There is only one way to salvation and that is through Christ Jesus. This reminds me of the race I had in the morning. The course was full of directional arrows, signs and even marshals directing the runners to which way they should run. There is only one way to the finish line. Along the route are possible route which you can take to make a short cut. Actually, upon entering the Heritage Park, the announcer there keep on reminding the runners to run along the marked route and not take the shorter loop around the park. Any way I took outside the designated course may cause me time and or disqualification. You just have to be on the one right track to be able to finish the race. And on our way back, the marshals are cheering on the runners to go strong because there’s only few more kilometers or meters to the finish. Just like the angels cheering for every soul that returned back to God.
Having other ways as insurance to having salvation is of no use, no matter how noble the intension was. God gave His only Son that we may have internal life through Him. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”.
Let us follow the one race route God has given us and that is through His only son Jesus Christ. God bless us all!