Running Long and Celebrating a Birthday

Last Saturday was a record of sorts for me!! But, that's getting ahead of the story.

Mama Ting's group scheduled a strenuous workout weekend for everyone. For the triathletes, Ting, Ed and Laarni, it was 3.5 hr. bike/12 Km. run combination, except for Rico Ibana, who decided to just bike. For me, Dave de Leon and birthday-boy-to-be Oca Sanez, it was a long 26Km run.

The bike/runners were off at 5am. For us runners, we were supposed to start our trek at 5:30am. I miscalculated my prep time and arrived a little after 5:30am. After a glass of juice, we were off on my first ever 26Km run. I was a little bit apprehensive for a number of reasons: 1) this will be the longest and farthest I have ever run, and 2) I was still worried about the condition of my injured toe. Still, I wanted to attempt this run in preparation for the Globe 21K.

As we headed out of the village, I kept testing my foot and toe -- so far so good. We took a left turn on Lanuza headed towards Ortigas Avenue. Oca and Dave were in front on me with a nice, medium steady pace. I was right behind them. We crossed Ortigas Avenue and into the Greenmeadows area and up Temple Drive. This is where I slowed down a bit. Temple Drive is a long uphill run -- not very steep but still uphill. I didn't want to match them pace for pace as I wanted to make sure I have enough reserves till the end.

Temple Drive was wide and friendly to runners. In contrast, as we entered White Plains and Katipunan, the road narrows with really bad sidewalks. Good thing it was still early and cars weren't a problem -- yet!! Towards St. Ignatius, Oca came back to look for me and I waved to him to continue. At the corner of Katipunan and B. Serrano, I saw Oca and Dave turn right down towards Blue Ridge and Industrial Valley.

At the intersection with C5, I saw Dave and Oca waving and pointing at a pack of dogs. They apparently tried to attack the two. So, I deftly avoided them by running into the middle section. We then headed off towards the Marikina River bank. I was unfamiliar with the running trail that Oca was leading us to. I just remember him mentioning the SM Marikina area. We reached that section and up towards the Riverbanks Mall.

I thought we were at the turn-around point already; but it wouldn't be right as we were just only 8Kms into the run. I then saw Oca and Dave climb up a section towards Riverbanks Mall and headed towards a grassy trail. At one point, we emerged near the river bank again but we were traversing muddy grasslands. Since they were quite a bit ahead, I didn't see them get down at a much nicer landing area -- I ended up sliding down a pretty muddy patch and walking through a muddy stretch of the road -- my shoes were now wet and muddy!! With the rains the night before, the river was swollen and was overflowing the banks -- as such, there were stretches that were pretty muddy!!

We regrouped and Oca mentioned that we will cross 3 bridges towards the turn-around point. There was a running path right beside the river and it was paved!! Both Dave and I were really surprised there was this hidden gem of a running path!! We took off and I was actually enjoying myself going through unfamiliar territory.

It was going to be a 5Km outbound run. At one point, I caught up with Dave as he was in active recovery. We each took a GU to refuel and slowly moved forward. A few minutes later, we saw Oca on a his way back. He said, "turnaround point in 300 meters." We reached that in a few more minutes. That was the end of the running path but there was another trail leading somewhere. Dave asked someone on a bike where it led to and we were surprised to hear that it was approaching Batasan (our House of Representatives)! In fact, Dave quipped that he was tempted to just run home since it was close by already!

Dave and I kept each other company on the way back. At one point, he disappeared. I thought he took another route back. I decided to continue forward as I was unfamiliar with any other way. When I reached the muddy area, I had to traverse the muddy and grassy trail again to reach Riverbanks Mall. I was surprised to see Dave at my back a few meters into the trail. Apparently, he stopped by a store to get hydration. Unfortunately, the only fluids they have were Coke. He had no choice but to imbibe the fizzy drink.

When we reached the top, we were trying to get back on the trail but we encountered more mud. We took a slight detour but ended back on the original path. Unfortunately, the trail walk slowed us down enough that it was difficult restarting our run. I told Dave I'd walk back. (And that was still another 8Kms. to go!) Dave decided to stay with me.

When we were nearing C5, Dave said he'll run ahead to find a store to get water. I said I'll catch up. My legs were still in no shape to run so I continued walking. I caught up with Dave near C5 where he was gulping down cold water. I chugged down my own water from my hydration pack.

We headed back up the hill on B. Serrano. This was the underpass that traversed C5 and Katipunan but the side roads were steep -- very steep. By the time we got to Katipunan on the way to White Plains, we were bushed!! The plan was to walk a bit then run back again. I told Dave to go ahead since I knew I needed more time to recover. Dave decided to stay on and keep me company.

We walked all the way through Katipunan, through White Plains and through Temple Drive. We saw how the cars were traversing through Katipunan and wondered how we could run there safely. The roads were narrow and the sidewalks were hardly fit for walking. Plus all the cars in the narrow space meant pollution was pretty bad. I guess at this time, it was good we were not running.

At Temple Drive, we saw a runner in blue coming up. I thought he looked familiar and true enough, it was Ed Francisco, now doing his run portion. In a few more minutes, we caught up with Laarni and Ting. Laarni was admonishing us: "No Walking!!!" :-) Ting was more supportive!! he! he! She just gave us more encouragement.

We were near the homestretch. We got caught in the traffic light at Ortigas and Lanuza. As the light turned red, we were able to cross. I jogged off a bit to reach the sidewalk and decided to just run all the way back to Oca's place. This surprised Dave but he gamely stayed with me on the run. Prior to this point, we were even using a menthol spray to keep our legs from cramping -- and here we are, running the last kilometer back to Oca's place!

For me, seeing the VV1 Gate was such a welcome sight. We managed to continue running until we reached the gates of Oca's home. We both headed to our cars to get our Gatorades and water. It was truly refreshing partaking of liquid nourishment at this stage.

A few minutes after we arrived, the rest of the gang came in. We showered up and enjoyed the hospitality of Oca and his lovely spouse, Grace. They prepared a sumptuous feast -- showcasing the best of Filipino breakfast fare!! I was exhausted but with the company of good friends and good food, I felt really great! It was a wonderful experience -- the first time I ever went on a long run to celebrate a birthday!! But, it was worth all the effort. We all benefited from the workout and enjoyed the feast after!

Now, it's time to test what we have during this Sunday's Globe Run For Home 21K! Hopefully, we're all ready after this! Thank you Oca, Grace and Ting for organizing this unique celebration and thank you Dave for keeping me company -- hope I didn't ruin too much your training run for the San Francisco Marathon. Advance Happy Birthday Oca!! Good luck to all of us on Sunday!