The Risen Christ - Happy Easter

Our faith in Christianity is founded on our belief on Jesus Christ who died on the cross and has risen from the dead to redeem us from our sins.

Easter Sunday is a new beginning, a time to rejoice and live a life in accordance to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I take this opportunity to greet each and everyone a HAPPY EASTER. May the Risen Christ guide you and your love ones in accomplishing your individual endeavors and aspiration in this life.

HAPPY EASTER.

GMA All Star Kapuso Fun Run - Celebrity Watch

April 10^th was another weekend race in Manila. There were two scheduled race event for the day, the NatGeo Run at the BGC and the other one is the GMA All Star Kapuso Fun Run at the MOA.

Having joined the NatGeo Run last 2010, I opted to pass on the same this year to be able to experience another type of event run. I had myself registered for the 10k event of the GMA All Star Kapuso Fun Run.  I have no high expectation of the event but was only hoping to have an enjoyable weekend race to avoid the monotony of solitary run.

The GMA All Star Kapuso Fun Run was hosted by Richard Gutierrez with Izza Calzado. As what was expected a great majority of the participants that attended were more on the celebrity watch rather than on the run event. There were more than a handful of celebrity names that were mentioned present during the event but being of the old school the names mentioned during the lengthy pre-race program did not ring a bell on my memory.

The event was suppose to start at 6am but with so much scripted talks being done on stage the sun was already shining when the starting gun for the 10k event was sounded at around 6:20am. It was a 20 minutes delay which could have been easily avoided should the organizer/”stars” been on their toes when it comes to timing. The route was nothing special at it started along the Sunset Boulevard of MOA and all the way to PICC and back tracking to MOA going through the artery of roads within MOA before ending again at Sunset Boulevard.

The handling of traffic by the marshals was acceptable except within the area of PICC. At the said junction the traffic could not be controlled as there were so many cars dropping guests who were to attend a graduation ceremony. At PICC you need to literally fight for the road. I find this a struggle and a downer. On the hydration aspect of the race there were about three (3) stations for the 10k route spaced every 3 kilometers which was acceptable, however, there was no water provided after crossing the finish line.

While I was not really impressed on the run event in itself I would not fault it that much as the event was a “fun run” and more like a “celebrity watch” for TV stars of GMA channel 7.

As ever it was still a good Sunday run that could not be denied.

Hongkong Run - My Battle Of The Bulge

For the past 10 days since my daughter arrived Manila, I had been very busy attending to her needs and accompanying the family on a vacation in Bohol and then to Hongkong. It has been almost a feast in every meal so much so that I have gained 4 pounds in the past 10 days.

Why is it that gaining weight is so easy whilst reducing weight of say equal pounds will entail 3 to 4 times the duration to lose the same weight. I could also feel that the extra weight gained was in the tummy of all places. Life is so unfair! Why oh why? My Battle of the Bulge has been declared.

On 7Apr11 it was difficult to wake up early in the morning that just getting out of bed is already a struggle in itself. We were then on our 3^rd day in Hongkong and with temperature at 19degC the weather was cooperating in my struggle to reduce the undesired weight.

At 6:51am I started my run at Butterfly On Prat Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. There were still very little traffic on the street and with barely a hundred meters from the start I was finding it difficult to continue the run as there were stop lights in almost every block and that overhead pedestrian bridge are a “must use” on major intersection.

With no pre-determined plan on my route, instinct told me to head toward the coast line and/or any open space away from the building so that I would be able to have an unobstructed route. After a kilometer of about 10 traffic lights and 4 overhead pedestrian bridges, I found myself along the Avenue of Stars at Tsim Sha Tsui and saw a good number of joggers. It was then I told myself “this is it”.

The following are pictures of the scenery taken of the route that I took.

01h26m16s after and having logged 10.20km I was back at Butterfly On Prat Hotel with 764kCal burned during the run. God it was even short for a good meal! I have to push myself or otherwise I will be backsliding and recovery will be too hard.

I am on my Battle of the Bulge and I know there will be plenty of Battles to come, but, pray that I shall eventually win the war.

Panglao Bohol - Early Morning Run

With 4 days to spend on my family’s holiday in Panglao Bohol, I was well decided to squeeze in a couple of daily morning run during our stay.

On our 2^nd day of our stay at the Dumaluan Beach Resort and with an early pickup from our guide at 8am for the Danao Enco Adventure Tour (EAT) I decided to take a very early morning run to be on time for an early breakfast and pickup.

At 4:30am I was all dressed and ready for my run. As ever when you are not well versed on the locality, I decided to make a 6km run with a 3km outbound and reverse track to come up with a 6km distance.

The road was unlighted that I have to guess where to land my foot. However, the terrain was fantastic with uphill and downhill slope to tackle. The best was that the early morning breeze was fresh and with zero pollution that you could smell. About a kilometer on my outbound run I passed the Bohol Beach Club on my right and proceed straight until I reach the 3km distance before back tracking. My only complaint during the run was that there were too many dogs that go after you. One thing I noticed was that I approach a dark area (maybe because of my heavy breathing) the dogs already could sense that someone is coming and start barking. They are quite domesticated with all bark and no bite type, but, it’s the “what if” this dog really do bites. I thing this was also a factor that made the run trilling.

0h47m18s after with 6.12km completed I was back at the Hotel with plenty of time to spare for the coming days family outing. The following was the route recorded on my Garmin 310xt.