First time to race at UP

Since UPD has become our regular weekend training ground, we have never run an official race within the campus. This Sunday’s “Hataw Pilipinas” will be our first race at UP and it will be followed by the “Dean’s Cup UP Law Invitational Triathlon and Fun Run” on the 30th of August. We just hope that the thrill and excitement of joining a race will overshadow the boredom of running around a loop for several times. Also, seeing friends at the race will surely make it more enjoyable and fun. See you at UP!

Run for Cory – UPD Group

August 5, 2009 was a day of mourning for Filipinos as former President Corazon Aquino was laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park. In order to pay tribute to the former President, runners from the “iamninoy movement, ” member runners of Takbo.ph and other individual runners staged the "Run for Cory” in different parts of Metro Manila. There will be groups running at BHS, Makati, Alabang and Mandaluyong. One converging point was the University of the Philippines in Diliman. A group of around 30 runners, mostly wearing yellow shirt or singlet ran around the academic oval not minding the downpour.

Swthrt and I arrived at UPD at around 6:30am and joined the lead group of runners headed by couple Vener and Xty. They were followed not far behind by more runners in yellow. We ran around the oval 3 times before the group decided to proceed at Times St., Cory’s residence, to pay our last respect. We took the University Avenue going to Q.C. Circle and then Quezon Avenue. We then regroup and wait for the other runners at the corner of Examiner St. before finally ran straight to Times St.

photos by Vener

The runners have a moment of prayer lead by one of the runners before breaking out into groups. Some headed home, others went for breakfast and some of us ran our way back to UP. There were 7 of us, with Swthrt as the only female who decided to ran back to UP. With us were Rey, Ronald, Pio, James and his friend. We took the same route except that we took the counter traffic at Q.C. Circle. When we reached the entrance to UP at University Avenue in Philcoa, the group took a walk for the cool down and finally say goodbye to one another in front of the Admin building.

To President Cory, thank you for the life you shared with the Filipino people, may your soul rest in peace!

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Looking back to when I was a kid, I always remember playing basketball with my dad. Every day after school we would go outside and we would shoot what seemed like a million shots.

At the time, I didn’t understand it. Spending that much time shooting seemed like a waste to me. But now I understand! My shot wasn’t perfect. It needed work. Through constant repetitions, I improved and eventually had a pretty good shot. No matter how long I had played, though, there were always aspects that I needed to work on!

Just as my dad pushed me to become a better ballplayer, God is constantly giving us opportunities and trials that push us to become better Christians. We all have room for improvement!

As Christians, we should take every opportunity we have to build up our faith and get closer to God. Although it may seem menial at the time, each act plays a role in our growth as Christians. God has a plan for each of our lives, and He will continue working with us until we are perfected!

—Brooke Thompson

Bro J runs with Swthrt

It was already more than a year of enjoyable running experience and it became more enjoyable when Swthrt started to join me in races. Last July marks Swthrt’s first year anniversary in running. Her first official race was the One La Salle Run at The Fort last July 2008.

Since then, we have joined races, either running together in same category or running separately.

We have also join speed training at the ULTRA with Team BaldRunner. The hectic schedule of work and taking care of the children especially in their schooling temporarily stop us in joining weekday trainings. However, we really hope to be back in speed training with Team BR soon. We also have gained new friends through running. Today, I have seen more couples running together. I hope that they will continue the health advocacy, because it is not only beneficial for them physically but it also strengthens their marital relationship.

First 21k of Swthrt, photo taken by Rununlimited, Vener

Same route but with a different experience

I have already posted twice our weekend run from Home to UP. I’m not keen of posting another one because it may become a duplicate of the previous postings but last Sunday’s run had a different twist. It was a fine weather with some drizzles at the different part of the route. We arrived at UP with a lot of people since it was UPCAT day. The academic oval was not closed to traffic even though it was a Sunday. There were still a lot of runners around the oval. A running club with their uniform singlet was very visible. We also saw couple Vener and Xty doing their training (preparation for the full marathon for Xty) along the way and some familiar faces we called classmates, hehehe. We were able to complete our target of 3 rounds before going home. It was not a great run though. The sight and smell of food at the stalls set-up around the oval was very tempting. It was really hard to run as I smell the tasty Shawarma and the sumptuous foods displayed at the different booths, hahaha. As we made our way back home, Swthrt felt a slight pain on her knee. It was her first time to experience it. It became persistent as we continue to run along Katipunan and after taking on the Kalayaan flyover, we had to walk the remaining kilometre on the way home. The good news is that after taking a rest overnight the pain subsided.