What Running Shoes do you Wear?

Running is probably one, or if not the most inexpensive sport I know (next to chess probably). However, if you are gonna spend something for running, then the single most important equipment any runner should have is a good pair of running shoes. So I decided to introduce the shoes I'm using everytime I go out and run.

The very first running shoe that I had was a Fila Marathon. It was also the cheapest running shoe I bought for just a thousand pesos. I'm not even sure if they are still selling this shoe. I couldn't find it in the internet either. What made me buy the shoe was its weight. Its probably the lightest running shoe I got. The drawback though is that it has less support and cushioning. I've only run with this shoe for 5KM straight. I don't plan on using this shoe for runs longer than 5K.

Just to complement the Fila Marathon, I bought a white Adidas Response, which was my first cushioned running shoe. It had a Lite Sole Eva (I'm not sure what particular Adidas Technology this is, but it has good cushioning). I prefered this shoe over the Fila Marathon primarily of the support and cushioning it gives to my feet. The problem with this shoe was it was a lot heavier than my previous Fila Marathon. But this shoe gave me some memorable PRs such as that of the Clark New Balance 10K race were I clocked 50 minutes.

The next shoe that I bought was an Asics Gel Equation. The reason was it was on sale and for 3K pesos, I'd be using an Asics shoe. They said Asics Gel technology are great. I had a bad experience though with this shoe. I looked at the internet and I saw the review that it was designed for supinators, which I'm not. I also noticed that my feet is slightly twisted which gives me knee pains everytime I used it. I've already bought the shoe though, and the damage has been done, so it just remained the Asics Gel walking shoe.

Due to a bad experience with the Asics Gel Equation, I decided to make sure that the next shoe that Id buy should have a decent review at Runner's World (http://www.runnersworld.com/). So, I looked at the Editor's Choice list and I stumbled upon the New Balance 902 (orange shoe in the picture). I called up new balance, and I was blessed to hear that it was on sale. I bought the shoe, and by far, it was the best shoe I've worn, and it has broken PRs. It was a lightweight trainer, that utilizes a stability web for support and with very good cushioning. You could go fast and still get all the support and protection your feet needs.

Last Christmas, our company gave us an SM Gift Check. So, I decided to buy my first Trail Running shoe. It was a Merrel Gore-tex Cruise Control. I've already run several kilometers with it, including a run in the beach. It was a very good trail running, and not to mention a potential hiking shoe that I could use in future climbs.

After hundreds of kilometers running with my favorite New Balance 902, I've seen the sole get worn out, so I decided to buy a new pair of shoe that would be great as replacement for my 902. And again, it was New Balance. I bought the New Balance 825(white shoe in the picture) for only 2K pesos at Planet Sports Rockwell. Surprisingly, they are selling NB shoes with 50% discount. And many of the shoes had good runners world reviews. Not to mention some are even tagged as Editor's Choice. Can you imagine buying a runners world editor's choice for only 2K? Well its true. You just need to make sure they have the right size for you. I had no regret with the 825 because it feels like the 902 and its also a lightweight trainer.

Who's taking the Pasig Marathon challenge?

The day of the Pasig Marathon is almost near. My problem is, I need more long runs... so the question is, should I do it? Well, it depends with my trial run this sunday. If everything goes well and I complete 35KM long run, then I'll call it a go, otherwise, I really need to consider joining the next marathon. Running a marathon is very risky and I don't want to regret getting a serious injury in a marathon.

How about you? Who's taking the challenge??

To give you an idea what the marathon is all about, watch this video from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8XSit8XyeM

PSE Bull Run

After my dissapointing walkaton strategy at Clark, 2 weeks after would yet be another race were I would be trying to beat my own PR and hopefully avoiding a middle race walk. Now I made sure I'll be sticking with a pace. Previous PR was 47:30 now to beat the record, I've decided to stick with an approximately 4:30 minutes per kilometer pace throughout the whole race.

I arrived at the Net2 building were I met up with my officemates who would also be joining the race. I met up with Virgo, Narod and his girlfriend Catherine.

Upon arriving to the site, we saw plenty of runners. This looks like by far, the 2nd largest delegate of runner's I've seen next to the Milo marathon. There were PMA delegates, and High School University of Taguid P.E. students(it looks like they brought the whole school)?

Anyway, this race wouldn't be as fun as it was if not for the many people who participated the race.

The 3K runners ran first, followed by 5K then our turn, 10K. When the bell rang, we started running. Glenn, Joy and Regie had decided to run together. I was planning to run with them, not until I realized that they were running at a below 4 pace at the start. I never wanted to repeat my mistake last race at Clark so I told them to go ahead since I had a pace to follow. So the plan was to stick with 4:30. Again, since at the start, most are down hill my pace went for as low as 4:15, but I never became ambitious to try faster than that. So my pace played between 4:15 and 4:30. At the first turn around, I tried to check my heartrate, and my heartrate wasn't shooting up as much as it did at Clark. So again I still maintained my pace. At the last turning point at C5 Heritage, It was a loooong uphill. But still, I knew I still had to maintain my pace. At certain point my pace went as low as 4:45, and a couple of seconds to 5:00, but everytime it did, I tried to push the pace harder. I went closer and closer to the finish line, and I knew it would be another PR.

I reached the finish line at last. I forgot to check my watch not until I was able to give my number at the 10K line. Anyway the time at my watch was 46:18. So maybe its a little bit faster than 46:18. The route though was more than 10K according to my watch, but I turned the autolap setting and my Suunto unofficial 10K time was 44:55. It doesn't matter though, either way, its still a PR for me.

I met up with Virgo and my wife who was able to capture a video of me finishing the race. I have also manage to have a photo taken with Sen. Pia Cayetano. (Dont mind the other people at the pic, it was suppose to be only me, my wife, and ate merlyn when everybody started posing). Now, the next question is, when is the next race, and what's the target time? I'm not yet sure, but it will sure come soon.

Potipot Island Adventure

Me and my officemate friends had planned to have our weekend at Zambales Poptipot Island. This was sort of a camping adventure since the island did not have any cottages. So we had to bring our own tent. We had to ride a Victory Liner bus coming from Sampaloc station and travel for 5 to 6 hours to reach the Dawal resort. From Dawal, we got additional supplies such as water and grill and we took a boat ride to Potipot Island.

So, what do you do if you are in this island with no television or mp3? Well, its basically eat, swim, sleep, and of course run.

The island's circumference is about 1KM according to my Suunto watch. For swimmers I would guess swimming around the island would be around 1.2KM. Early sunday morning, I was able to run arround the shores of the island for around 5KM. It was just then, that I realized it was really hard to run at the beach. You don't get that much grip on the sand so there isn't that much force that moves you horizontally.

Clark Internation Marathon 2008

This was one of my highly anticipated race since I really tried to prepare well for this race. Besides, my last race was since the Animo run where I clocked 48 minutes. We arrive just minutes before the gun and I was really nervous. When the gun shot was heard, everybody started running. I started running and saw that I was really running very fast with a pace of around 4 to 4:10 per kilometer. The problem was, I've never tried running at this speed in any races, nor training. So I tried checking how I felt using this pace and thought the pace wasn't as hard as it looks. The pace began slowing to 4:22- 4:30 at the 3K mark. Then 4:45 at the 4k mark. I felt really good running the first 5k with a fast pace. But at the 6KM mark just a kilometer after the turning point, I began to feel fatigue. I saw my pace declince to 5:00 and then to 5:30. I checked my heartrate and now I realized I've been using a heart rate more than I usually use in my tempo runs. I began to be anxious of whether I could even clock a decent time. Now I realized running too fast on the first half is really a bad idea. Now the worst part was about to come. When I saw my heartrate shoot up to 185 I decided to stop. So I began to walk. I was very exhausted, and looked at my watch as my heart rate slowly decline. I began to see other runners getting pass by me. This was the most dissapointing feeling I've ever felt in any race. Then I tried to compose myself. I thought I should at least finish the race running. So I ran a bit then i notice my shoe lace was undone, so again I had to stop and tie my shoe lace. Then I started running again. This last 3K was like the longest run I've ever made, feeling so dissapointed. I made it to the finish line though and clocked 47:30. I looked at the time and I was surprised. I still manage to get a PR with a wrong strategy. But nevertheless, the fact that I walked was for me a complete dissapointment. Ill be skipping the Subic Marathon and train for the BullRun race. This time, I'll make sure ill know my pace, and stick to it, even if its so tempting to sprint the first half of the race.

But after the 10K race, since it was sunday and it was suppose to be our long run, me and my friend Glenn (who clocked 40mins. In the picture) decided to still take another 10k run to complete our long run for the day. It was fun running in the foot steps of the other 42K runners.

Our Media Noche

Last year, we spent our new year at Bay Walk and this year we thought it would be nice to spend our New Year with my parents.
Our New Year this year was simply a simple dinner. It has already been a habbit of our family, for years now not to buy noisy fire crackers. We basically enjoy the time looking at our neighbor's fire crackers. What we have at my parent's place are simply sparklers and a party popper.
But it wasn't really the fireworks that I'm really excited about. It was the dinner and the time spent with family members.
For Media Noche, we had a caesar's salad as our appetizer. My mom calls it authentic Italian caesar salad since she got the dressing recipe from an italian chef during a europian cruise.
After the caesar salad, we had as usuall sotanghon. Since we were little until now, there was never a new year without sotanghon. I don't really know why, but it has already been a new year tradition to have sotanghon.
Then we had spaghetti afterwards. You know us pinoy, every occasion should have a spaghetti. Besides, not to brag, but my mom's spaghetti is really one of the best spaghetti in town. We liked mom's spaghetti so much such that no one even touched the callos.
Servced with our Media Noche dinner was a glass of red wine. I don't really drink, but I had a sip or red wine just for this occasion.
It was really a fine evening except for the fact that our daughter Meekha was having fever so I had to assist my wife in giving her sponge bath and paracetamol. Thank God that just this morning, her temperature is now back to normal.
Anyway, this is just my new year story. Happy New Year to All!