Being a slightly overweight guy at the time, people kept on talking about breaking the sub-60 barrier for the upcoming race. That race was the now-infamous Men's Health Miracle Run (with the results still unpublished to this day, save for a couple of paltry 5k snippets). Singlet was nice except for the obtrusive Frenzy logo on the back. Great for shock value! Casually, I was dared by Takbo.ph resident 'coach' Pojie to pace with him if I wanted to beat it. For a guy whose best previous finish was a 1:08 with maximum effort, a sub-60 finish really seemed like a stretch, a veritable impossibility if I may add. But coach Pojie was determined to push me to the limit. Check out my thoughts at the time :
Thanks everyone!

Thanks master Pojie for the terrific pace! I was really, really pushing myself

Mali lang calculation ko nung huli, kala ko lapit na may mga 1 km pa pala hehe. I need to train more! Feeling ko also not drinking anything for the entire race zapped me during the homestretch. Wala ako hydration belt, tapos di ako magaling mangkamay ng tubig.

Lol with no hydro belt, awful form and even more awful shoes I finished in 57:40. Eternal thanks to now-marathoner/coach Pojie for giving me the jumpstart in the sport that I needed. And that was more or less where my story began... .