My Way of Living:
shoes

Shoes. Nothing piques our fancy more than a nice new pair to break in. From time to time, I'll be running shoe reviews, depending on what comes in the mail. Expect these reviews to be brief, concise, and coming from a very practical runner's perspective.

On today's menu is the Adidas Supernova Sequence 2. While not as glamorous as the Adizero series , its precursor was known as a good stability shoe for moderate pronators (yeah, not the exag overpronators like me) that's somehow gives off the vibe of silent effectiveness.

Underappreciated?

It's main upgrade from the original series is that Adidas has now included a new "geofit" feature, a collection of padded areas inside the shoe that help out areas which receive the most pressure. The Sequence 2 has a lightweight sole with blown rubber coatings, and is supposed to be durable. The outsole also uses the "ForMotion" feature that helps to adapt to different angles or types of terrain. The shoe is supposed to be versatile, and Adidas suggests that it can be used for numerous different running styles.

I took it out for a quick spin on a leisurely 14k. Immediately noticeable was that it was heavier than my trusty, BDM-scarred Adizero Tempo. As the run progressed, I felt that it corrected my stride a lot more (maybe because of all that fancy" geofit material". OOooh.) and that it afforded a lot more stability. Better yet, my ITB didn't give way at the end. Amazing. Speedwork doesn't seem to be affected all that much by the incremental increase in weight. In hindsight, it's even lighter than my New Balance 848.

Style-wise, it's alright. As I said, not as glamorous as the Adizero line, nor doesn't give off the the vibe of a Asics GT. However, it has a workmanlike yet versatile excellent for everyday use and is excellent for those non-exag overpronators. I'd recommend it :P

Hi there everybody. What's up? My name is Rain. And I'm convinced ... . that runners hate me. Days like these, I just want to go out and hang around. This is my time of the year. Do you realize how booooring it could be when my good-for-nothing sister dominates the scene? You know, Summer? She thinks she's sooooooo hot. Well, uh, um, I have to agree. She thinks she's all that. But I've seen people around these parts. They hate her. Curse her very presence in the vernacular. ( sample : !@#$ ang init sa Pilipinas!) Promise! But enough about her. This is my time, and I revel in bringing smiles to the denizens of this metropolis. See those kids jumping up and down the street? They like me! See those little men in weird hats in the fields? They thrown parties when I get here! I even see movie stars dance for me in one of them box-office blockbusters. Boy that was a riot. Sarah Geronimo is so cute. Sigh. It feels so good to be loved.

Would have been perfect. Save for one group I can't seem to get a grip on. Runners. They abhor my very presence. I don't even know what I did wrong. I'll give you guys an example. It's a wonderful Tuesday afternoon, and I'm just going out for a walk. My perfect day is ruined by this dude in shorts waaay tooo short and a watch waaay to big for his own good. Why the forlorn look? He looks so crabby. Whiny even. Ohhh. Must be a runner. Oh. I know this guy. He works in that place where there are a lot of young people. He wears those long flowing things that look like curtains. Wears a cap everytime he runs. Maybe because his hair is horrible. Maybe he just likes to hide his face. Hmph. But yeah. He hates me. He's grumbling to what looks like a big fat cat. Oh, it's a dog. A big fat dog. Geez what do they feed this thing. My bad. No wonder they're called man's best friend. They just keep on listening. Hmm. Anyway, this dude wants to run, but he doesn't like me around. He looks so... down. Check him out... I'm convinced... ..

Looks pretty down eh? And of course the blame goes all back to me. He whines. He whines because his clothes are drenched, because his socks in his fancy gait-analyzed shoes would get wet. He sardonically thanks the gods for his good fortune. Hmph. I hope his watch breaks down. He runs along as I observe. He steps unto a puddle , !@#$ is what you hear. This guy needs to get out more. He is putting his hands behind his back so that his fancy watch won't get wet. Like it won't. Read the manual buddy! IPX7! Submersible! 1 meter! Even I know that! He runs into this really fast dude. I see him all the time as well, seems to be from around here. I mean, he is fast. So they run together, he manages to keep up for like 2k, then really fast dude is gone. Guess what? He blames me for not being able to keep up! Runners.

Oh the horror! The nerve! That really upset me. Upset me to the point that I cried so hard. No one has maltreated me like that. Ever! I cried my heart out because I didn't even do anything. *Sob* Then something unbelievably incredible happened. Mr. evil runner guy, in solitary mode because the fast bald dude made him eat dust, suddenly smiled amidst my sorrow. That took me by surprise. I could almost hear his thoughts as his soaked persona glided through the drenched alleyways of his favorite training jaunt... ... .

Yeah. Why did I even do this. Stupid Rain. I will be sooo sick later. The Garmin's probably messed up. I am completely drenched. My socks feel gross. Dang I really had to catch Javy aka Tri'n Hard on tempo run/fartlek day. He's on a totally different level. And because of the rain, my projected 20k mileage builder turned into a 7k race pace run. I'm exhausted. Out of shape. It's the rain's fault. Should have done the Sarah/John Lloyd rain dance. Since Sunday. It won't go away. Had to cancel all my runs. I'll get sick eh. Daw. At least that's what the old people said. But you know what? This is actually... .. fun! I feel like a kid again. It's so cold. I feel so relaxed. Why am I so scared about getting sick? It's just water anyway. The old folks just like to scare you I guess. But hey, I am genuinely enjoying this .

Everyone is running for cover and they're all looking at me like I'm some crazy lunatic but hey, I don't care. This is strangely... therapeutic... ... I never realized. You see a microcosm of the metropolis - the hustle going yin/yang against the bustle of our mundane lives, all seemingly frozen in time as a virtual snapshot is encapusulated in a single raindrop. Awesome.Everything seems to be moving in slow motion amidst the deluge. I am in conplete control, freedom of movement married to a psyche completely bereft of any negativity at that precise moment. I feel... . alive.

Sigh. Just when I had counted him out. People. I could never figure them out.

My name is Rain. And I'm convinced... ...

That runners don't hate me after all.

It was hard to admit at first. You hear the comments, you here the snide remarks. But still, you refuse to face up to it. But deep down inside, it stings. It stings that you are reduced to a mere mocking point all while pretending to be unperturbed by the banality of it all. So face it - you're fat and you're getting old. The six pack abs have since been replaced by an unforgiving mass of jiggling fat. It's not like you can tune out and ignore it.

You have to man up at one time or another. So that's what I did. I decided to run. Cancel out all the PR's and endless training, for me it all boils down to losing weight. And in 6 mos of running I think I have been relatively successful. I stand about 5'10 in shoes, and I ballooned to 195 lbs already. Eeek. 6 months of blood, sweat and guts later I'm at 167 :) My original target was 165, but now I'm adjusting it to hit my college weight of 155 :) Wish me luck!

At Takbo.ph we have an abundance of weight loss success stories as well, people like Timmy, Natz, Sam, Carlo, Rodel to name a few. We are all fighting a common malaise, and while the battle appears to have been won, the war is far from over.

Much has been made about the "gait analysis", a hitherto unheard of term for me before I started running. However, once my running injuries started to pile up one after the other, I realized it isn't quite as simple as slipping on the fancy looking pair out the window. Here's my post on my gait analysis experience at Second Wind, a specialty running store located in Quezon City :) Okay, so finally I have had it with my injury-causing Mr. Quickie shoes that caused me to have an agonizing Greenfield Run. I have been using an Accel lying around the house as a very poor replacement. Well at least they didn't cause me blisters. But after running it during the MOntalban LSD and using it for my regular training runs it's like I was getting more aches and pains around my quads and calves, even the heels.
I decided that enough was enough, and that I had to go and get a gait analysis just to know what precisely was going on. Highly recommended was Hector Yuzon of Second Wind. Second Wind is a newly opened shop located in Teacher's Village, QC. An accomplished ultra runner himself, he told me that his shop is envisioned to be one for runners by runners. He could train salespeople to talk about sizes and specs, but it takes a real runner to get to the crux of the matter when customers ask very specific, experience-based questions.

So without further ado, we began with the analysis. You're supposed to run with your current shoes, and I was embarrassed when he told me that that Accels were actually badminton shoes

I was made to run on a treadmill, and actual video stills were taken. It showed that I was essentially an extreme overpronator with my left foot while my right was normal. I also learned that I was a midfoot striker which is good for long distance running. Apparently , there's an acceptable degree of variance when your leg hits the ground, and my left leg was way out there. This was the reason why I get injured often. So to combat this, I was referred a stability shoe to correct the problem. Hector offered 5 choices from best to good, then had me test them on the treadmill after.
I ended up getting the New Balance 848's, and they worked like a charm during last Sunday's race, helping me set a new 10k PR

Overall, Hector's amiable demeanor and encyclopedic knowledge of all things running related helped me immensely in making the right choice. Happy customer here, and I highly recommend his shop. Lots of singlets, shades, shorts to choose from aside from of course the shoes.

Check out my gait analysis here guys. It's by appt by the way, just give his shop a call

Click to zoom and drag to navigate!
Open publication - Free publishing - More gait analysis

Some days, you wake up and you feel that it's going to be a wonderful day. On the flipside,some days there's just a dour aura of gloom pervading around you. For whatever it may be, I was lucky that just two Sundays ago it was the latter that came into play. The ATC Southern Run had a terrific setting, there was barely any heat around, and it seemed like the perfect day for a race. Here's my take on what happened as previously posted on the Takbo.ph forums : Ako I must admit I really had fun with this race. The venue, the whole atmosphere seemed very relaxed and highly conducive to running. The course itself was rolling up and down, which provided somewhat of a challenge to the fatigued

Started the race up front with ultraman PAt ( my goodness elite na to, 46 mins 29th place) Natz (another Takbo elite 47!!!) and Boss Jinoe (52 I think, new PR too lupet!) . I tried to pace with PAt, and suceeded in doing so for like 500 meters. He was like Usain Bolt out of the gates. The blazing start took me out of my rhythm. Wrong mistake. I learned that attempting to pace with someone way above your league isn't exactly the best thing to do. Although that first kilometer attempting to catch up with PAt amounted to a 4:40 lap, it took me out of my comfort zone and I need about 3 K's t0 recover. Boss Jinoe caught up with me at 4k mark I think, we paced until the 7k mark which was when broke away na. I was planning on making my move at the 8k mark, wasn't too confident if I could sustain a neg split pace that early. At the 8k mark I picked up the pace na, from a comfortably hard 5:40 I lowered it to 5"20, and last K was 5:05. My goal for the race was a sub-55 finish, which was somewhat of a stretch. Sabi ko kahit madaplisan lang ang 55 okay na ako. But perhaps a combination of real running shoes (goodbye Mr. Quickie! Not PINK NB's!), a 305 to help me strategize and more mileage helped me immensely. I was so happy to cross the line at 53:40, a time that once seemed like an impossibility for me. My first 10k race I finished at 1:28. I'm so happy. It's like all the hard work, the "getting roasted in the sun because you started your 20k run at 5am" sacrifices were all worth it. And it made me believe na it's possible pala for average athletes like me to realistically lower PR's over time. Dati kasi I used to think it's either you have it or not. Of course, hanging out with the Takbo.ph gang made it all the more special. The kulitan pictures and the camaraderie truly made it worth the long drive. Happy runner here

Congrats everyone

I'd upload my run but MotionBased aint working now

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... .

"So, do you guys wanna score tonight??" I was cringing at how the two DJ/Hosts were painstakingly wading their way through innuendo-laden copy.
"Who wants to score with (Name of fun male host) ?"

(Awkward silence)

Not as awkward as the look on the face of the old lady in the back though. And while the overbaked wordplay on the theme wasn't exactly resonating with the crowd, the product at hand seemed to have loads of potential. Enter the SCORE CARD, an intriguing sports lifestyle discount card that would make you forget all about your SM Advantage Card (admit it, you have one tucked in somewhere)

Infinitely cooler than your Mercury Drug Suki card.

The venue was chic nightspot Fiama (where I constantly evade drunken teens at 5am en route to Sunday Morning MOA races), Lots of beautiful, sporty people abound with a cool indie band playing in the background; it really didn't take a rocket scientist to ascertain where they were positioning this card to.

I'm getting too old for this.

The beautiful people of the athletic world abound, like these Frisbee gals.

Do you wanna SCORE?
The premise is relatively simple. Introduced into the country by promotions group Sports Media Asia, the card is touted to be the "Ultimate Athlete's Sidekick". Once you get past the hyperbole, what you really get is a discount card that is specifically targeted towards the recreational or serious athlete. You get cool discounts and perks at all sorts of establishments that encompass nearly the entire sports spectrum.Gear, nutrition, shoes, food, yoga, spas - name it, they've got it.

Cool indie band helped set the overall vibe

Pretty Score Card people with guests

Multimedia affair
Of course, given the propensity of athletes to be injured, they also threw in free P20,000 insurance coverage to boot just in case you blow out your ITB or chip your brand new nail polish (apparently, this phenomenon happens more often that I had imagined). You just need to register your Score Card at www.sportsmedia.com.ph to validate the whole thing.

My Where's Wally shot :P
Sports-minded altruism is apparently also one of the focal points championed by the company. And from what I understood, they will be allocating a certain percentage of the proceeds from card sales to help athletes and sports groups raise funds for training, equipment, etc. for their competitions. So have a worthy cause? Tell them all about it!

Score Card head honcho explaining stuff.

And to cap it all off, it's not like its some lame card you shuck away in your wallet. It's actually an ergonomic, eye-catching piece that would make you the envy of your running buds. Just wearing it would... .change you. Look at these photos to see what I mean.

Geeky looking loser guy with no Score Card

Cool Score-Card toting dude.

Amazing isn't it? So what are you waiting for? Grab your Score Card today. Visit their site at www.sportsmedia.com.ph if you're interested.

Thanks by the way to Doc Marvin Opulencia for the presser pictures, I shamelessly stole them from your photo blog smirk. :P

Hi gang, been awhile. Hope you enjoyed the BDM series I put out for you, it was so crazy I thought it would never finish writing it. Believe it or not, I typed out the last part of that article at about 12 midnight at a Mcdonald's branch in a seedy part of Kuala Lumpur. The free WiFi was worth the "You want lady love you long time?" catcalls while attempting to grab a cab home. Eeek.

Anyway, I'm running this just because I felt so guilty for missing the presser, my car arrived late and so that's that . In a nutshell, wat's the spin on this? Out of town, flat course, sunset race. Nuff' said.

I wanna run this...

I'm hopeful that the ITBS injury I sustained during BDM would be completely healed by the time this race comes around. It sort of has sentimental value, as it was maiden race was my first ever 21k. You should have seen me. Check out this passage from an ancient blog entry of mine :

Get a nice Running Shoe! Believe it or not guys, after all these races I have been running on a 1998 retread cross trainer with the heel replaced by (gulp) Mr. Quickie. At the 14k point my toes and heels were burning, and who knows the crummy shoe may have been the reason for my injury. Mr Quickie! (shudder). Before kasi I'd just use it to run 2km outside my condo, no biggie. Never thought I'd be this hooked into running. Now, I need to buy! I feel I'm losing so much efficiency because of it.

With matching trucker cap, basketball shorts and weird shoes.How fast time flies. I think I finished my maiden half-mary at 2:28 that day, then I could barely walk after. Lol. Anyway, here are the details for the race. Seems pretty straightforward. And just in case you have never ever been to Enchanted or Tagaytay ( fun life you lead eh?), I put in a map of how to get there for good measure. Sunsets sound good. See you all there!

Greenfield City Sunset Run 2010
Sta. Rosa, Laguna
April 24, 2010
500m / 3K / 5K / 10K / 21K

Registration Fees:
Category – Slots – Registration Fee – Race Features
(Kids – 500m Dash) – 300 – Php100 – Finisher’s Kit (Kids are for 12 years old and below)
3K – 1,000 – Php 400 – Race No., Singlet, Timing Chip, PhotoVendo, Race Analysis
5K – 1,500 – Php 550 – Race No., Singlet, Timing Chip, PhotoVendo, Race Analysis
10K – 700 – Php 600 – Race No., Singlet, Timing Chip, PhotoVendo, Race Analysis
21K – 500 – Php 650 – Race No., Singlet, Timing Chip, PhotoVendo, Race Analysis, Finisher’s Medal

Registration Areas:
Regular In-Store Registration: March 22 to April 11, 2010
– Planet Sports – Trinoma
– New Balance – Glorietta and Shangri-la Mall
– Athlete’s Foot – Alabang Town Center
– R.O.X. – Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
– Greenfield City Sunset Run Booth – Paseo, Sta. Rosa, Laguna

Late In-Store Registration: April 12 to April 17, 2010
– R.O.X. – Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
– Greenfield City Sunset Run Booth – Paseo, Sta. Rosa, Laguna

It's sorta near EK and that cold place with Bulalo. Yum.

There are some things in

life that when you finally get rid of them give you a little spark of delight. Some for good reason, like a bad relationship, an old beater of a car, a ragged pair of shoes. Or a website? How on earth does finally cancelling a web site give me this type of oddly freeing feeling? I have no idea.but it does. Maybe because I am severing ties to something that became more of a burden, than a joy and I couldn’t let go of it. Or maybe because there are new and open roads in front of me that there didn’t seem to be before. New horizons, it’s up to me.

Having Muddy Boot Dreams blog tied directly to my business, was both a good and bad decision. Who knew that blogging would turn out to be so much fun, such a delight [at times], and inspiration [almost all of the time]. Having had to censor what I was writing because it represented my business, was at times stifling, a garden blogger was what I started out as. That square peg didn’t fit into my life, it was too constricting, too limited for what I grew into. Who can write only about plants, and gardens, never venturing past the garden gate. I’m not a niche blogger, I’m like a dragonfly, I like to sample all of the flowers in the garden, and then fly the fields.

I love to write about what I feel, see, experience… the swooping sound of the giant raven’s wings as it passes over my head, or how it feels to see more then one eagle at a time fly by me on the way to the mailbox. How the copper colored sky makes the purple swelling of the tree branches glow above the snow in the fields, and why I didn’t regret not taking the camera that time.

It means taking photos for myself, experimenting, learning, reaching past what were once boundaries… and loving it. Opening my heart, and soaring about my expectations… writing, and taking photos of what makes my heart sing, and hopefully entertains you. Now that’s a odd freeing feeling.

Yesterday was a interesting

day. I got my feet poked, my husband got his back crunched, and Boo got a two for one get out of jail free card for all you can eat lunch. Oh, and the smelly salmon. That stunk. Heel Toe Hip-hopper He runs 10 k [that’s pretty far] every other day, or at least he did, until his toe started to hurt, and then it moved up to his knee, and of course because it was the weekend, and everything is closed, it went to his hip. He was in excruitiating pain all weekend. Yesterday he saw the Chiro, now he is fine. The toe is connected to the knee, the knee is connected to the hip… simple math. Go figure.

Foot Worn not fancy free I have Planter Fasciitis.in my heels.got a cortisone shots in both heels… think twice if your Doctor tells you that it is going to hurt like crazy… it does. And when she tells you to take a deep breath… do it. Don’t try to be brave, and say it can’t hurt as much as your feet do when you walk on them… it does.

And that wasn’t the bad part… once again I almost fainted… I want to laugh at it, but it wasn’t that funny. I was seeing only black fog, feeling like I was going to fall over, they brought me a tiny dixie cup of water… I stumbled out of there as soon as I could. Sat in the truck with the windows wide open, seat down breathing in, and out until I could drive.

Two for one, and get out of jail free Meanwhile Bootsie is at home, I fed him before I left, my husband comes home, Bootsie ever the opportunist begs and cries like he is a starving homeless kitty. He got two feedings for lunch, the cat has it made.

The Stinky salmon Mom and I did some shopping around town.she needed to return some ground salmon that she had bought that was spoilt. When I got in the truck I thought it smelled a little off, but chalked it up to maybe some old shoes, or something. We drove around town, went to the bank, ran errands… and the smell followed us from store to store. After we got to the grocery store parking lot I asked her if she had remembered to bring the ground salmon… she opens her purse and pulls out a open plastic bag… with the ground salmon in it. No wonder it stunk so much. What a day. These are as close to Salmon related images as I could find… or I could show some feet, toes, hips, but I think you would prefer shells.

Hey gang. I took a week off due to a very hectic schedule, but otherwise here's the latest lowdown on all and and sundry in the running and multisport communities.

• Multisport aficionados are buzzing about the country's participation at Ironman China on May 29th, with the Philippine delegation presumably campaigning under the "One Pilipinas" banner. The full Ironman distance will be held on May 29th, and this early the country's top triathletes are already ramping up for what promises to be one of the most highly anticipated multisport events of the current season.

• The year's edition will be held at a completely new venue in Jixian, Tianjin province. The race takes advantage of the perfect late spring weather of the locale, and people are scrambling to look for wetsuits as temperatures during the swim leg ( to be held at a clean water reservoir) are expected to be in the low 20's. Among others, Endure Multisport's ITU Level I Coach James Dulalia is expected to compete in the 70.3.

• 2012 goal : IM China. Smirk. Wait, I need to learn how to swim a wee bit faster.I timed myself swimming 500m and the average was 3:18 per 100m. Wow. Any recos regarding a coherently structured program?

• One of them more hilarious threads in Takbo.ph has someone creating a firestorm amongst running denizens by stating that he's aiming for a 4:30 marathon with 6 weeks training. He's an admittedly newbie runner with a 2:15 21k pr. 2:15 x 2 = 4:30. Makes total sense (x_x). While I can't discount the possibility that he may be a genetic freak blessed with iron will, truly there is nothing scientific about this approach and leaves a lot of room for long term injury. Seems that there's an obsession with distance amongst the newer runners, like some sort of prestige thing. I can't blame them, I was once in their shoes. But latest news through the grapevine is that a lot of the newbies who rushed into buying a 42k slot are "downgrading" due to injury. Conventional wisdom (or lack of it) wielding its ugly head? Don't say we didn't warn you. Oftentimes we all feel invincible until it actually happens to us.

• Congratulations to my TPB fellas for snagging three of the top 10 slots during BR's first BDM test run. Why do I get the feeling you guys raced it like a marathon?

• On a happy note, congrats to Takbo.ph head first couple Jinoe and Que for welcoming their first- born , cute baby Gab. I think this early, they're already having him undergo heat training :P

Heat training this early never hurt

• "Holdapan" is on the rise with both road and mountain bikers very susceptible to syndicates on the prowl for expensive bikes. To all our fellow cyclists out there, extra prudence and vigilance. It's good that Senator (and sometimes cyclist) Pia Cayetano has actively sought out the help of the PNP in thwarting these so-called bikejackers. These bikes represent a massive investment on the part of their owners, and this announcement somehow alleviates the growing concern brewing in the community. Even if the skeptic would say that it is only political grandstanding, a placebo never hurt right?

• Last I checked, using a gel during a race was never considered "cheating". Let me check again ha.

• To cyclists : does using Viagra during a race really help your performance by as much as 40%? Wouldn't there be a little, er, stiff discomfort down there?

It works. It really does.

• If I have Team Powerpuff Boys for running, I also have a newly formed dedicated cycling team! Say hello to Quest 825 Cycling :) It's a mixture of cyclists from different multisport teams, and we'll try to give the pros a run for their money.

Quest 825 Cycling at PCL's Jala-Jala Classic

• Okay, maybe that would take a little more time . Having previously completed Bike King's Tour of Matabunkay (dubbed as the premiere multi-day road race event for amateur cyclists) in god-awful conditions, I had a certain amount of confidence coming into this race. The team had spent the past couple of weekends toiling around the proposed race route at a strong pace, and regular speed work with the pro peloton at the Mall of Asia had us pretty hopeful for this race. A more discerning eye could even call it subliminal swagger. Fate had other ideas though. A late assembly caused us to reach the start line at Pililia barely 15 minutes before the race was about to start. Suffice to say, all that last minute rushing didn't exactly put us in the most relaxed state of mind. My eerie observation was that there were barely any triathletes around. This seemed to be a pure cycling event where we were virtual noobs from the outside looking into a close- knit fraternity. The peloton breezed through a fast-paced neutral zone for the first 40k, but even then the rough roads of Jala-Jala were taking its toll. I've never seen so many cyclists get flat tires. A portent of things to come? Just as we were prepping for the start of the breakaway, a guy was avoiding a ginormous crater on the road and tried to cut left. Unfortunately, in perhaps a split-second loss of focus, he missed out on speeding pros who were catching up after the requisite jingle . Hard break. My tire hits his tire. I uncleat. Some guy hits me from behind. I fall over.Pain. Guys to the right ram right straight into me while I'm on the ground. Wheel straight to shoulder. More pain. At that point it was sheer machismo that had me prop straight back up, but damn my knee and shoulders hurt like heck. I haven't gone 500 meters when I was pulled over by a marshal, turns out my transponder was bent to the point that it was nearly hitting my wheel. By the time I had sorted everything out, the road was as deserted as high noon at the OK Corral. The pain was not deathly, but bad enough to add to the aggravation of doing an ITT over a hilly 110 km course. Thoughts of just calling it a DNF day constantly swirled through my head. Entering the 8k climb at Mabitac, my overcompensated left leg started to cramp up bad, and I was forced to dismount several times (rubdowns from our teammates supporting were a boon) After a draining mental battle, I finally reached the hilltop finish and almost instantaneously cramped up on both legs. As I would learn later, it was a tough day at the office for nearly everyone. Endure powerhouse Erick Guieb ( the only Cat 3 rider on the team) also crashed and lost significant minutes off his target. Multisport vets James Dulalia and Ronald Declarador DNF'd. Strong riders Emil Ancheta and Julius Dela Rosa both succumbed to cramps and exhaustion. If any,mercurial Jason Dela Rama made up for a string of shaky performances by finishing strong and bullstrong Wilnar Iglesia's better-than-expected time were bright spots, but in general the team had a tough day at the office. Back to the drawing board, but there's nowhere to go but up.

• Preparing for two big events spanning two disciplines (PCL and Condura) is tough, and somehow I feel burnt out. A 130k ride/32k run combo on successive days left me sluggish for the entire week after.Once again, back to the drawing board.

• As we welcome one new life into the world, sadly another one is snuffed out in the cold of the night. Yesterday, the entire multisport and ultramarathon communities lost a member of the family in J Cu Unjieng, who succumbed to a severe case of pneumonia. I'm not completely in the know with regard to what exactly happened, but word is ever since he collapsed at a Cebu race he was never the same. We both have regular columns with Frontrunner magazine, and I got to run with him for a good 20-30k during the last edition of BDM. There was a time I didn't know a lot of these fancy triathlon people, and he was one of the first to make me feel welcome in the community. Always self-effacing, I last saw him during speedwork at MOA two or three months ago. The vicious abruptness with how his disease progressed was nothing short of shocking. The world will miss your talent and wit my friend, may you rest in peace.

Massive loss for the community.
Anyway, bittersweet news for this edition. Alas, we soldier on. See you all next week, catch you on the road.