Fit and Run.Info

Our route for the 7th ungo run from Sun Star to BTC, 6.92 KM

25 minutes of nonstop running from the Sun Star office to Ayala Center Cebu during the 7th ungo run, a Holy Wednesday (31 March) was quite a big surprise for me! But better still, when I calculated my pace/km for the entire length end to end until Banilad Town Center (BTC), a total distance of 6.92 KM, I had the shock of my life: 5:43!

These ungo runs are good for me!

Ever since that 26 March ungo event (the 6th) the previous week, I was breaking personal records that I have while following the running plan which I started 2 March. Not only was this my fastest so far, it was also my longest distance. There were some struggles but generally, it was a wonderful night run that was quite manageable. It also helped that Charles, and later, Teddy, paced me from Jollibee Gorordo all the way to BTC.

Looking back, I credit it to my competitiveness as well as the running plan I was following. It’s fun with other runners and trying to challenge oneself of “beating” some can do wonders. I also strictly followed a constant speed in all my runs, conserved energy unlike what I did when I first joined my fellow ungo, and, I think, the couch-to-5k plan was gradually making my body adopt to this routine. All these while a small knapsack with my DSLR camera with an ultrawide lens, a shirt, wallet, cellphones and a small water bottle strapped at my back.

I really didn’t expect these developments and all the more motivated me to do running as a sport. If I will do this right, I might prove myself capable of doing greater things in the future. With fingers crossed and keeping up with my training.

We tried another route from SunStar to IT Park via Mango Ave. at 6.32 KM

Vehicles were moving past me, honks blaring and the bright lights keep coming as I ran against the traffic along Gorordo Ave. I was alone. Some of the runners were ahead, others were behind but I just kept on moving forward my left, then my right foot, keeping my pace steady. I said to myself:

Keep it up Estan. Keep it up. A few more minutes you’ll be there.

Sometimes, my legs hurt a little and I have to walk for a few minutes before running again.

And indeed, I later saw the bend at Salinas Drive going to Asiatown IT Park. There’s no time to stop! A few more meters, a few more minutes and I’ll be there with the rest of the ungo runners. Just continue. Run.

At last, I saw a few of my companions standing at the grassy surface infront of The Walk. A wide grin etched on my face as I was approaching them. I glanced at my watch and I was happy, no, ecstatic that I was beating a personal record and that there were still a few of us who finished! It was my first sweet taste of a runner’s high!

That was three weeks ago in Cebu, my second time to join the ungo runners, the 6th to be held, who have taken up among ourselves to meet every Friday night at the Sun Star office in P. del Rosario St. and run to a predetermined destination covering between 6 – 7 kilometers just for the heck and fun of it.

What made this run very memorable was that I’m a newbie runner. I just started running 2nd of March following a running plan and during this week, I was doing 90s/90s run-walk combos capped with a long walk that usually takes me an hour to negotiate and about 4-5 kilometers long. But during this night, I was running most of the time with brief walks interspersed in between. My pace per kilometer was a surprising 8:40 and a longer distance at 6.32 KM!

Thus finishing at such time was very much of a big thing for me! It was great. I can’t help but bask in my own small victory, nevermind if there were other runners who were faster than me. The important thing was that I was beating my own record and proving to myself that I can do this sport! While I was cooling down by doing a slow walk within the area, I was smiling and just very, very happy.

A runner’s high is indeed true and I had it this first time! SWEET.

Haide Acuna giving tips, as well as inspiration as an ultramarathon runner

I joined again the ungo Friday night runs and guess what? It was my best running experience so far! Anyway, I’ll write about it in the succeeding post. For the meantime, I’ve already uploaded the few pictures I got before the run. Haide Acuna, who ran in the Bataan Death March Ultramarathon 2010 gave some tips on being an ultramarathon runner which was great and inspiring as well.

Probably in April or May, when I’ll be back in Cebu, I will schedule one all-photoshoot night with the ungo runners without me running too.

At the Mango Ave. waterstop

Initially, I wanted to be at the start of the 42K race of the Cebu City Marathon 2010, 0400H at the Asiatown IT Park but I was still too sleepy and the thought of waiting for more than four hours made me leave our house at already 0700H. Anyway, the plan was to go directly at the starting point but when I passed the 37th kilometer waterstop in Mango Ave., the sight of runners was just to enticing that I went down the jeepney and took images from there. After about 30 minutes, I proceeded to the Ayala Center leg of the race, just before the flyover ascent and eventually went to the IT Park.

Even though I wasn’t a part of the race, I was there to witness this event mainly to shoot for this blog as well as motivate myself to run, hopefully, starting next week! It was also nice to meet my elementary classmate, after all these years (!), Patrick Mendoza as well as a Smart colleague before, Neil. A high highschool classmate was also there, Gifford John Perral, who ran his first 42K that according to his FB status a few hours later:

I did it! I’m officially a marathoner! Wohooooo! Time 5:32:43s.

Anyway, the Kenyans ruled the top two men’s 42K and I hope this will make the Cebuanos take up the challenge of topping next year’s race!

By the way, I’m setting up this blog for a gallery page where I will be posting 123 images of runners that I took this morning. For the meantime, check out CebuRunning for the latest results of the 21K and 42K. Over at CebuMarathon.com, the complete results are now posted including accurate time of all participating runners who finished with data provided by their ChampionChip.

More images at the Gallery page.

At the Mango Ave. waterstop

Willy Tanui, first placer of the 42K - Men

Racer #97 just passed the 37th kilometer at the Mango Ave. waterstop

Assisting the runners at the 37th kilometer water stop (Mango Ave.)

On his way up the Ayala flyover

Wonder Woman has conquered the race!

The Cebu City Marathon 2010 uses the ChampionChip for the 21K and 42K races, the first time in the province and third in the country. Image by GIFFORD JOHN PERRAL, racer number 280, 42K

Just one more day to go and it will be the Cebu City Marathon 2010, the first full marathon in the province. What makes this big sporting event memorable is that it goes high tech with the use of ChampionChips. These are just small devices used to time runners that they can wear (organizers advise marathon participants to wear it on their shoes):

…consist of a miniature transponder in a specially designed housing, marked with a unique identification number.

Two main advantages:

• fast and accurate times of the runners
• immediate posting of race results at organizer’s website

This will indeed be an exciting local marathon with results known within minutes!