GIG RUN 09

GIG RUN 09: Green Is Good! Run for the reforestation of the Ipo Dam Watershed

The UP Mountaineers, through its Environment Committee and the Padyak Project Foundation presents: The 2009 GIG Run. A run to raise awareness on the need to protect the Ipo Dam Watershed.

Date: June 28, 2009
Race Start: 6:00 am
Venue: UP Diliman Grounds (Start/Finish at AS/Palma Hall Parking Lot)

Categories
10km men’s / women’s
5km men’s / women’s
2.2 km Costume Fun Run

Prizes
10km Male
1st: P10,000 + Columbia Sportswear Knapsack
2nd: P5,000 + Columbia Boar Butte Shirt
3rd: P3,000 + Columbia Boar Butte Shirt

10km Female
1st: P10,000 + Columbia Sportswear Knapsack
2nd: P5,000 + Columbia Peclet Blouse
3rd: P3,000 + Columbia Peclet Blouse

5km Male:
1st: P3,000 + Columbia Sportswear Knapsack
2nd: P2,000 + Columbia Boar Butte Shirt
3rd: P1,000 + Columbia Boar Butte Shirt

5km Female
1st P3,000 + Columbia Sportswear Knapsack
2nd P2,000 + Columbia Peclet Blouse
3rd P1,000 + Columbia Peclet Blouse

2.2km Fun Run
Best in the Fun Run category – Gift certificate from Columbia Sportswear

GIG Registration starts on Monday, May 18. You have four options to register

Registration Fee is P250 (includes an awesome event Singlet and other freebies).

1) Go to any Columbia Sportswear outlet to register. However, payments are only accepted in Greenbelt 5, Gateway, and at SM North EDSA. http://www.columbia.com/

2) On May 24 during the RUNNEX Marathon in UP Diliman, we will have a registration booth from 6am to 10am.

3) At the UP Information Office Tuesdays to Fridays at the Quezon Hall (Admin Building). Look for Bernz Varona during office hours

4) During the GIG event itself.

5) If your company will field in enough runners, we can drop by your office for your registration to make it more convenient for you. Please email is for details.

For any questions, please email ask@thegigrun.org

Or text 09159874321/09228235462

See you there!

ReVO won in TNF (Sacobia, Clark)

After all the trainings and carbo loads, Revo got his first achievement. He won 1st place in the age category of the 20K trail run event in the recently concluded TNF100 at Sacobia, Clark. Not only that, he also managed to finish 5th overall.

Everyone was very excited to join this event. Members of RB who wanted to join reserved our slot early in TNF store at Megamall. Eight members joined this event. Revo, Cocs, Pugs, Rans in the 20K event and Eula, Bhing, Shivaker and Mel in the 10K event. Since this is an out of town event, we decided to have our overnight stay at DM Residente Hotel just like what we did during the New Balance Power race lat year. Nothing can take the excitement away because we know this would be a great event, a different experience from running on the road. Revo and Pugs even bought a pair of trail shoes just for this event. How does it really feel to run off road? – That was everyone’s question in  mind.

The race day came. We woke up early so that we won’t be late expecting that the venue is a bit far from the Clark Development Corporation Main gate. We were already up at around 1 am because we thought that there would be a shuttle service from the CDC main gate to the main venue. When we arrived at the main gate, the security guards at the gate was not sure if there really is a shuttle service. We waited there until, one by one, TNF participants started to arrive. The guards told us to wait because they already told their superior about it. At around 4:20 am, an L300 passenger van with TNF100 banner arrived. There were around 20 of us waiting there and all of us  boarded the van. (Para kaming sardinas dun. ). But it’s ok, at least we know that we will not be late.

The race started at 5:30 in the morning. At the sound of the whistle, everyone started to run. At the very start, we could see Revo leading all the runners. He is alone in the lead followed by other elite runners. We were so glad seeing Revo in the lead but also a bit afraid that he could not last this strong. We are even thinking that he might be burned out because of his very strong start yet we believe he can do it. Unlucky for us, we could only see him until before the start of the trail because they were too far away. Revo is really strong! The 1st kilometer is a paved road but after this, the trail started. The start of the trail is like a river where lahar flowed. It is like we were running in the sea shore because of the lose sand. This made the trail run even harder. You exert effort harder because it is more difficult to push off a lose sand than in concrete road. The river made our shoes wet and heavy. Good thing it relaxes me a bit because of the cool water. At the first  5km, I was just following Cocs and keeping my pace not to lose him. My plan was to overtake in the last 5km if I still have enough energy. Pugs does not went with our pace. He told us that he suffered cramps early in the race. I was just behind  Cocs until the mountain part. When I climb this mountain, I lose my energy. Many other runners passed me by in this stage. The steep uphill ate up my energy. I know Cocs was already pulling away. It was fun in this part, though – the mud, the tall grasses and of course, the cow.

At the end, everyone was happy to finish the race. Cocs and Mel placed 24th overall for 20K and 10K respectively. Eula also managed to time 1hr and 30mins on her 1st 10K run. Congratulations to Revo and to everyone for our achievements. I know this would not be the last.

Pictures to follow..

–Rans–

My Running Gears Utility

I’m fond of making programs out of Visual Basic in MS Excel. Just a simple program not much of heavy coding and power algorithms. Not like of most IT professionals’ work of art.

I just found this useful to other runners so I’m sharing this one.

This utility lets you tabulate all your running stuffs like shoes, hydration belts, singlets, caps, etc.

To download just click this link My Running Gears

If you have comments or suggestions, feel free to post.

Running in the Rain

Yesterday, we planned on running in UP in the afternoon until night. We just decided to switch time due to variety of reasons. First is the heat of the sun during summer time. We almost always start running way past 7am for our last two or three runs here and we end up being drained too much by the heat. In the process, we could not get our target mileage for our preparation for the North Face 20k Trail Challenge. Second reason is that we have work the Saturday before and we would need to sleep longer the following day. Third and the last reason is I need to watch the boxing card featuring Viloria and Donaire. I’m glad that we switched time because the boxing match was a blast. Congrats to Bryan Viloria for getting the IBF light-flyweight championship belt and Nonito Donaire for defending his title, the IBF flyweight champion. Truly,  you make us proud to be pinoys.

So after a good treat of boxing match, I had to rest again to prepare for our afternoon long-run. This time, only three of us will be there; me, Cocs and ReVO. Other RBs were unavailable for the whole Sunday. We arrived there around 5:30pm. By that time, the weather seems a little unusual for summer and it seems theres a huge chance that it would rain. The three of us planned a continuous 2 hour of running. We calculated that we should make  8 laps (17.6k) where we had to have a pace of not faster than 15minutes per lap.  Btw, one lap of the UP loop is about 2.2k.

After about 3 laps, we can feel that the pouring of the rain is inevitable and we quickly took-off our singlets so that it would not get wet in the rain. We put it in Coc’s vehicle and we all decided to finish the planned mileage no matter how heavy the rain would be. The good thing about the rain was, it refreshed our legs that it feels almost like starting again where we still have lots of energy. We were all shouting like kids when the rain poured very heavily. It was our first time to experience this and that was a great feeling. While running, we counted few other runners who were unwilling to stop just because of the rain. There were a total of  9 of them, 2 females, 6 males and a dog. These guys are truly hardcore.

When we finished 8 laps, it was already past 8pm. We had a quick food stop at one of the stalls that we frequently go and we ate pancit canton while sipping a cold fruit shake. It was really an awesome experience though the downside of this was our body were itching like crazy because of the insects (higad)  and other objects  that fell on our body during the run.

-pugs

Meeting with the Takbong Pangarap Team

Last Saturday, a bloggers’ meet was held at Powerbooks on SM Megamall. To meet and greet with the Takbong Pangarap team Joy Rojas, Mateo Macabe and Chuck Crisanto.

At the Powerbooks

While waiting

Mr. Chuck Crisanto, Mr. Mateo Macabe, and Ms. Joy showing some stuff from SportsAde

Kristel Autencio from Vibal Foundation started the talk and presented the Takbong Pangarap Team. The team shared their thoughts of their dreams and their preparations for the said event. They also gave some short talks about their past runs and experiences. The Trans-USA will not be all about the honor and glory of the team but the pride of the Filipinos and for the benefit of the Social Division of the Philippine Heart Center and the Anti-TB Program of the Inner Wheel Club of Quezon City District 378.

Mr. Chuck Crisanto

Ms. Joy Rojas

The Takbong Pangarap Team

Pugs, ReVO, Mat, and Mel

ReVO, Mat, Joy, Mark, and Mel

Good luck to the Takbong Pangarap Team!
Have a safe trip and a safe run.
We’ll take note of the things you told us. We’ll wait for your return and listen to all the experiences you’ll have in the Trans-USA.

Takbong Pangarap

Every individual has their own dreams. A child as little as 4 years old already has dreams in their mind. You may hear them say “I want to be a superhero!”; “I want to be rich!”; “I want to be an astronaut and go to the moon!” to name a few.

It changes somehow as the person faces and sees the reality. The path they’re taking, and how their life being shaped. Fulfillment after fulfillment the dreams are getting bigger, higher and deeper meaning. Dreaming for one’s self sake to the dreaming for the benefit of the others’. Dreaming for one’s self achievement to the dreaming for the pride, glory and honor for the others.

Takbong Pangarap/Trans-USA Run 2009, the 5,000 kilometer cross-country run across the United States of America to be attempted by Joy Rojas. On her 44th birthday, May 11,2009, Rojas will begin a journey like no other. An ultramarathon from Eagle Rock, California and continue through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey towards New York City. An attempt as the only Southeast Asian woman to have ever accomplished such Trans-USA. Cesar Guarin became the first Filipino to run across America in 1987, he traversed the country from east to west. All in all, approximately 182 men and 11 women have run across the world’s fourth largest nation.

Running the 5,000 kilometers approximately in 100 days and take 20 days of rest, through 12 states. Joy Rojas will be accompanied by her trainer and running partner Mateo Macabe as well as team manager Chuck Crisanto. Mat will act as Joy’s pacer and navigator. Taking turns with Chuck in driving the Takbong Pangarap support vehicle, Mat will run and bike alongside Joy for some parts of the route.

Joy who has just finished Hakbang Pangarap, her Trans-Philippines run in 2005 which she covered 2,000 kilometers from Davao City to Pagudpod in 46 days.

When it was done, I thought, “That’s it?”. Then I realized that maybe running across the Philipines didn’t have to mean the end of a dream, but the start of many others,” Joy tells.

Aside from living her dream, Joy wishes to help others’ dreams come true by running to raise funds for two beneficiaries: the Social Division of the Philippine Heart Center and the Anti-TB Program of the Inner Wheel Club of Quezon City District 378.

The Takbong Pangarap has relied on donations, volunteer assistance and a few corporate sponsorships. The team is also hoping that Filipinos from all over the world will extend their help. This is not just Takbong Pangarap Team’s dream but the dream, pride and honor of every Filipino. This is an athletic feat as difficult as climbing Mt. Everest, running as hard as the punches received in a boxing match.

Takbong Pangarap: “No limit to the Filipino spirit!”

To know more details you may visit this site POC.net Takbong Pangarap
Or go directly to related posts shown below:

Even to Nasugbu, there’s no such thing as “been there, done that”
POC launches Takbong Pangarap channel
Takbong Pangarap FAQs
Joy Rojas joins World Tuberculosis Day Fun Run
Crossing countries, carrying dreams