Today is my day to pace a new runner who would like to run with our group. Her name is Muy and she first posted on Takbo.ph asking if anyone would run on Feb. 8 (Today) at UP. The Takbo.ph peeps, I understand, did run today but not in UP but in Bonifacio High Streets in Taguig. Rans took the initiative and invited Muy via the forum and told her to join our easy 6.6km run at UP today.
Next week will be very hectic for our Runner’s World program and today is the last day of three consecutive easy runs. So off we went to UP with cocs, bhing, eulalei, rans and ReVO. We would be meeting with Muy at the front of the oblation statue. Also at the same day, we would be running with our boss from our work who was invited by bhing. So here we are, waiting for our boss (sir gerry and his lovely wife, sally or sallie?) and our new runner friend.
Sir gerry with his wife arrived almost the same time with muy and we started our short program. The stretching (a must for every runner) was led by cocs. We started immediately since it was already past 8am and the sun’s rays would be much hotter. The freshly cut/trimmed trees inside the UP that day wouldn’t help. We started at a slow pace of 3:30 just to feel each of our new guests running capacity. In our group, most of us can relate to the pace of an oval since we run 2/3 or 66% of our time in Ultra. So we always use this pace setting even if we are in UP. We know how 3:30, 3:00, 2:30 or 2:00 feels. We know that maintaining at 2:24 would be at 10kph. Back to the run, I am pacing muy and bhing was pacing sir gerry with the wife. I noticed that muy is no beginner and she runs quite fast. She admitted, that she always run and just needed company so that running would be more enjoyable. I let her choose the pace where she run comfortably. In a moment we are separating from the others
picking-up to 2:40 pace. She is indeed quite a strong runner because even at this pace, we can exchange stories without her catching a breath. Rans and cocs noticed this also and decided to run with us. I don’t want them to join because me and muy were beginning to get close (hehe!). They later explained that this is their target pace too. Ows really? hehehe! So the four of us are now running together while bhing and sir gerry were left behind. Also, eula became the pace mate of sir gerry’s wife who were also left behind by bhing and sir gerry.
Muy said that she can only run 2 laps in UP which was around 4.4k (2.2k in one lap). I told her that we are planning to do 3 and she could always stop if she cannot run anymore. After 2 laps of running with exchanging stories, i asked her if she wants another lap. She just exhaled (heeuiigh!!!) and nodded. That was the cutest exhale that i’ve ever heard. hehehe! By that time, we also didn’t noticed that bhing and sir gerry were fast approaching and trying to run with us. They did get to us but because of this effort, bhing suddenly had her reserved energy spent and was forced to walk half-way through the 3rd and last lap. Kudos to our boss, sir gerry for beating bhing even if this was his first time to run. Shame on you bhing. haha! Also at that moment, I can frequently hear muy’s exhale. She was digging deep but was still ok and could still carry a conversation. Jules caught us and introduced him to muy.
Now the three of us (me, rans and cocs) suddenly had the urge to sprint the last 800 meters. We need to do this to satisfy our ego. We always sprint our last few meters even if its an easy run. We left muy for a moment with jules and just told them that we’ll wait for them at the starting point. We finished this easy run with a time of 47 mins for 6.6k. Muy and jules came a minute later with a time of 48 mins. Not bad for someone who have done her first straight 6.6k. See you next run.
– pugs
Filed under: RB Stories | Tagged: long run, members, newbies, practices, trainings, up oval | 9 Comments »
Running Bananas 