Start of the Lenten season

February 25 marked this year's start of the Lenten season for a predominantly Catholic nation like the Philippines. Lent is a season for reflection; time to examine one’s spiritual position with God. For others, it is a time to thank the Lord for the love He had shown by sending His son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of men. Whatever reasons or manners to observe, this season will only be between you and God.

I believe that this is the time when intentions to know God and to be with God are made. These intentions may be noble nil if nothing is done to attain them. An action is better than a thousand intentions. When Zacchaeus learned that Jesus is coming, he intends to see Him. Zacchaeus, being a small man, had a difficulty seeing Jesus because of the large crowd surrounding Him. Zacchaeus ran ahead to where Jesus was going and climbed a sycamore-fig tree. He had to do something to overcome the difficulty preventing him to attain his desire to see Jesus. He went beyond his good intention; he acted and in doing so, got more than what he desires. Jesus saw him up the tree and asked him to come down because He was going to dine with him at his house. (Luke 19:1-6)

Our desires to see and know Jesus need a step further. We need to act. Jesus never closes His door to anyone who seeks Him. All it took for Zacchaeus to receive the blessing of seeing Jesus was his effort to overcome the hindrances of materializing his intention.

As we observe the Lenten season with the intentions of knowing God, are we willing to act and do something to overcome the difficulties that may come our way in fulfilling these venerable intentions? Are we willing to make sacrifices in exchange of being with God? Are we willing to accept Him in our lives? May God bless us this Lenten Season.

Work comes in the way of running/blogging…

It’s just a joke. Work will always be a priority for most of us. We should all work hard especially in this time of economic crisis. My hands are full for the past days that I have to let go of blogging about the RUNew race we joined last Sunday. I knew that most bloggers have posted their personal account of the race. Last Monday, I had a rush photo collage project for our administrator and yesterday, I had to video document one of the major project of our agency. We went to Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology at Cabanatuan City. Our mapping department conducted a leveling of our Active Geodetic Station inside the university campus. We have to photo and video document it for my division to do an AVP and layout a primer/brochure on the project.

A treat on the hills

The course of the RUNew Race last Sunday was a big challenge for runners. It was a treat testing one’s endurance and threshold on how to attack hills. It was a new course from Coach Rio, whose organizing skills continue to outsmart other events organizer. He continued to surprise every runner joining his events. This time, the race started at the McKinley Hill and passed through a double treat at Heritage Park. Congratulations to Coach Rio! It was another great and well organized race.

My run
As I will give the account on my run, I will try not to sound like making excuses for my relatively poor performance. Swthrt and I woke up at around 4:00am and prepared ourselves for the race. We arrived at MKH at around 5:00 am and met with friends. As the race comes to its start, I was not feeling well blaming it to a sore left calf and grumbling stomach. I was feeling butterfly on my stomach the night before the race. This was not my first 15K race and so I don’t think it was because I’m excited or tensed about the coming event. Anyway, I tried to get my composure and get ready for the race ahead. The gun was fired at 5:45 am for the 15K runners. During the first 3K of my run, I really felt uneasy and from time to time got goose bumps which I don’t know the reason why. After I got heated up, I was on with the race. I tried to keep a pace where I am comfortable to make sure that I can finish the race strong. As I make the U turn at the MKH-C5 I was feeling better. I saw Swthrt along the way. I managed to escape the MKH and proceeded along Lawton Avenue but I knew I was running at a very slow pace. I reached 6 Km marker at 40:00 min. At this point, I knew I will not be able to break my PR or even equal it. I decided to take it easy so as not to aggravate the pain I was feeling on my left calf. I was able to maintain my pace and did not walk even on uphill portion of the course. I sometimes tried to target other runners ahead for me to pass by. Sorry folks, just trying to pick-up my pace. Entering the right side of Heritage Park was new for me,. I reached the 8 Km marker inside the park at 53:10. I entered the other side of HP at 1:00 hr and managed to run through it in 6 minutes. As I left the HP, I was thinking that it will only be a few more kilometers. Reaching the 14Km marker at 1:34 was a relief. I told myself, one more K and I’m done. I reached the MKH turning with 1:38 on my watch and tried so hard to at least finish below 1:40 but missed it. My time – 1:41:46. I don’t feel bad about it. It gave me inspiration to strive more. I met Swthrt who ran 5K at 34:22. It was good race for her considering her first time to run at MKH chopping off a few seconds from her best time. Afterwards, we got our camera and took some time to meet with friends and have some souvenir photos.

This race reminds me of a lesson of not trusting on your own ability but of seeking God’s guidance and trusting and obeying His instructions. Running 15K race several times can not guarantee that I can rely on what I did the last time I’ve been through it. In the spiritual race in life, I can not be boastful of overcoming trials or problems by having “been there and done that” mentality. In every situation, I must seek the will of God and learn the lessons according to his ways. I must always be sensitive of His leading and understanding his plan for me. I may want to break a PR but if God will not allow it I can not do anything about it. I will just have to understand His better plans for me at the moment. As my tag line will put it, “the race of life is ran by grace and won by faith”. God bless us all!

Photo Talks - RUNew Race

Fort Bonifacio to Camp Aguinaldo

Since Swthrt joined me in running last year, we have been running together almost all the time. It was our bonding moments. Even in races, we join together though sometimes we ran on different distances. Last night was no different from other training days except that we joined each other in spirit. I ran at Bonifacio High Street while Swthrt did her workout at Camp Aguinaldo. Although we wish we could run together, circumstances did not allow us. I couldn’t go out on the streets of Metro Manila until 7 pm because of color coding. Swthrt once tried to be at Fort Bonifacio so that we could run together on Thursday night but she was caught in traffic along C5-Kalayaan intersection because of the on-going construction of elevated u-turn slot. The best thing to do is for her to go to Camp Aguinaldo to run solo while I am doing my own workout at BHS. I’m glad Swthrt is slowly building up her mileage and start gaining confidence. Hopefully, she’ll be able to run her first 10K race soon.

Back on track

We are back on the track oval last night after being absent in speed training at the ULTRA for a couple of weeks. It was an exciting feeling to join the group again. There were already members of the Team BaldRunner doing the stretching when we arrived. After our warm-up run and stretching, we join the rest of the group for the specific muscle warm-ups and drills. Yesterday’s main menu as coach Ferdie would put it was 7x400 threshold run and 4x2000 tempo run. I must confessed, I did not complete the second part. I only did 3x2000. I guess being absent in training for quite sometime paid off. Anyway, I felt satisfied with my workout with the team. Swthrt also did the threshold run but was given a different workout for the second part.

Breaking the monotony

Regular readers of this blog knew that UPD Academic Oval is the venue for our weekend run. Swthrt and I find the place runner-friendly since it has runners’ and bikers’ lanes plus the roads are totally closed to motor vehicles during Sundays. The place is also surrounded with lots of trees which make the air cleaner and the temperature cooler. We normally do 3-5 rounds of the oval depending on our goal. Last Saturday, Swthrt and I had 3 rounds (6.6K) Valentines run at the oval. And on Sunday, we took a different route to have some challenges and break the monotony. We tried on the bigger loop which sometimes was the route used for 5K/10K races at UP. We finished our Sunday run completing approximately 12K. We were satisfied with our workout and hope to do more of it or even try the heartbreak route as suggested by Run unlimited.

Hope to be back in speed training with Team Bald Runner at the ULTRA this week.
See you runners on Runew Race on Sunday!

For Swthrt ...

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Running in pain

It’s been hard to squeeze in our training schedules at ULTRA lately. Either we are not feeling well or there are important tasks to do. That’s why we are really craving for speed workouts. We had a short but good workout run (4K) at our office ground last Thursday night. We had to stay up late and wait for the coding ban hours. Last Sunday, Swthrt and I had a good 5 rounds (11K) at the UP academic oval. Our original plan was to run at Fort Bonifacio covering the regular 10K route for races but the sudden change of events lead us to UP. On our way there, we saw bunch of runners, BR’s runabout group along Katipunan Avenue. Their number seems to be growing and can be likened to a group of bikers every Sunday. Upon arriving at UP, the Takbong May Yabang race was already on its way. We saw blogger runners joining the event like Jinoe (manokan express) and Que, Vener (rununlimited), Anna (the meek runner) with her family, Dennis (running fatboy), Eric (run for change), Dra. Doray (doralicious), and coach Rio (runrio.com) among others. We also saw Lester on our way home. Anna even had our photos taken while we’re running. It was a good workout as Swthrt is trying longer distances during weekend runs. Hopefully, she will be able to build up her base mileage and gain confidence to join in a 10K race soon. Though there was still pain on her shin after running for several minutes she still manages to run well. I too, had several minor inconveniences lately like I had cramps on my toes after running beyond 7K. Sometimes it was accompanied by minor pain on the side of the feet. I only felt these in the recently concluded Happy Run Race and last Sunday’s run. Is this common to runners? I can feel that my feet get wider as I run. Could this be possibly true? he he he.

Photos by the meek runner, thanks Anna.