option no. 2 for dec 2 : if you want big bucks

Saw this at the hotel lobby, Wow and double wow! It says Php100K for 1st place. If you are fast and ready make some Kenyans eat dust, then reg and book your flights na to CDO.

Visit http://www.prycegasmarathon.com for more details.

RUPM – Ready to run a bit on C5?

In the dim dark past, a race made us run on C5, we came out via BGC and went in via Bayani Rd. The route was “interesting”. The “breeze” from the fast cars and trucks, I could have definitely done without. Let’s just say that I dont think I’ll ever have C5 as part of my favorite race route.

This Sunday, I believe that RUPM runners will have an improved experience of C5.

Runrio said that they have blocked off 2 lanes for runners, 1 lane to screen the runners from the vehicles and left only one lane for motorists. No need to run as well in the service road. Yey! And close coordination with the mayor of Taguig was also completed to further secure this section of the route.

And now fellow runners, they have done their job, we must also be reaponsible. Running 101 okay:

1. Make sure the gear you choose will not only be fierce and fabulous for the photos but should also have reflectorised bits and bobs so that you can easily be seen in the dark.

2. Speaking of dark, if you are not that comfortable with it or worried that some areas that will be dark, consider carrying a flashlight or wearing headlamp.

3. Always be aware of your surroundings.

4. Hydration. If the past you find that they lack water etc bring your own na rin to be sure.

5. Have a funtabulous time!

Oh and one last thing!!!

Coach Rio would like to remind everybody to be on time. 15minutes after gunstart, the ambulance and Runrio vehicles will start. Outrun them! )

PR : Men’s Health Urbanathlon 2012 : Are you tough enough?

The Philippine edition of Men’s Health, the largest men’s lifestyle magazine, will hold its annual Men’s Health Urbanathlon Festival event on Sunday, October 14 at SM Mall of Asia from 5:00am – 10:00am. Celebrity host, Rovilson Fernandez, will be at the helm of the event.

On its 6th staging, the country’s original obstacle laden race is expected to be significantly tougher, bigger and more intense this time around. Designed to test the urbanathlete’s fitness level, the event now has a 21km distance aside from the usual 5km and 10km categories.

The city-based, multi-disciplinary race requires more than just perfect running form as this also tests the racer’s endurance to withstand a mix of 7 uniquely engineered obstacles that all increases in difficulty in each race categories. Such obstacles involve Monkey and Parallel bars, Steeple chase & modified tires, Container vans, Wall climb, Vertical climb, Scaffolding maze and Military hurdles.

Registration for the Men’s Health Urbanathlon begins on August 22 and ends October 8, 2012. The registration fee for the race is P750.00 for the 5km and 10km distances and P850.00 for the 21km distance. Registration centers are located at 360° Fitness Club Makati & Ortigas, Gold’s Gym Alabang & Katipunan and at ROX, BGC. At the event, each participant will be given a complete racing kit including their urbanathlon singlet, race bib, drink stub from Gatorade, food stub from Century Tuna. Race finishers will get Finishers medal with Men’s Health lanyard, Finishers certificate, Urbanathlete shirt and Urbanathlon drawstring bag.

This year’s Men’s Health Urbanathlon Festival 2012 is made possible by Century Tuna and Gatorade. Special thanks to major sponsors, Bo’ athletics; Cataflam; Emperador Light; Havaianas; Suunto; Minor sponsors, Banana Boat and Schick and media partners, 99.5 RT and Magic 89.9.

For more information about the upcoming Men’s Health Urbanathlon Festival 2012, grab a copy of the July issue of Men’s Health with actor Gerald Anderson on the cover. Men’s Health is available in newsstands, bookstores and supermarkets nationwide. For more of Men’s Health online become a fan on Facebook via Facebook.com/menshealthphilippines and follow them on Twitter via Twitter.com/menshealthph.

RU, ready to listen?

When it comes to making suggestions on how to improve local races, I.AM.NOT.SHY. I am ever hopeful, never demanding and forever grateful.

Unilab Active Health provided bloggers with the opportunity to contribute in making local races simplyFab. They asked us, “What is your ideal Run United?”

Ask and you shall receive.

In 2008, I blogged about my FrankenRace. This is a compilation of the things I wished we could have in the Philippines. I am pleased to say that in the 3 or so years, our local race directors have really worked on improving our local races. My ideal race is within reach…until I come across a few things that could make it even more fab.

Wish 1: Pilipinas – A Running Destination
Picture this…registration for RU races closing in a matter of days and attracting 10,000 runners for the AfroMan distance from all over Asia!

I.Dream.Big (and in technicolor). RU can do it! Our weekend races are already at par with the major banksponsored races. It’s not even a case of “if you build it, they will come” anymore, some are travelling to Manila races. Last July,
a KL runner mentioned that he has friends travelling for the I’m getting ready, getting ready Marathon.

RU, ready to make the Philippines the next premiere race destination?

Wish 2: Showcase our Elites. Remember the runner from Cebu who finished 2nd in the 2010 KL Standard Charted Half? Well, she finished, 13th in the 2012 HK SCM edition. Let’s get more Mary Grace delos Santos out there.

Please RU, I will run and run races that not only promotes a healthy lifestyle but the only sport I am passably good at and love dearly. Please! It would really be great to see running in the Sports section and not just in the Lifestyle section of the broadsheets.

RU, ready to support local elites?

Wish 3: Top brand finisher’s shirt. I like wearing my the shirts from the Nike Human Race and We Run Manila races. It would be great if RU can pair up with Nike or Adidas for their finisher’s shirt. Imagine the advertising mileage, it will be worth it!

RU, please let us play and celebrate our accomplishments wearing top brands.

Wish 4: Slippers, oo tsinelas. I ran Half Marathon in July and I was in runner’s heaven when I found a booth that was giving away slippers. Check it out here. Not branded, plain white tsinelas for my tired feet. Heaven.

Spartan man or Havaianas is okay; RU, game to give us bliss?

Wish 5: Customised AfroMan Distance training plan. This is truly one of the best innovation of RU. A unique distance pero am a bit at a loss on how to train for it. I like training plans; they keep me on track. But if I were to train for the 2013 AfroMan Distance, do I use a Half Marathon plan or the Full Marathon Plan? If I use the Half, baka masunog ako with the pace. If I use the Full naman, baka I won’t be running fast enough. So please RU, get me ready for the 2013 Afroman diatance with an appropriate training plan. Look here o, they do it for other races.

RU, game to take the AfroMan distance training to the next level?

Wish 6 : Video wall cheers or Finisher’s pix up on a really big screen. Imagine getting video cheers from family and friends at designated Km.

Again, at my July Half, knowing that I had something to look forward to at certain kms made me run a little bit faster to the video walls and a little lighter and with a big smile after it. The videos were triggered by the timing chip I was wearing and recorded during the expo. It was downright silly and fun.

Or if the video wall is too much, how about our picture up in the videowalls at the Guadalupe bridge?

Picture below was from my 2009 marathon, we had to send a text messages to a designated number with our unique code and out pops our picture at Times Square. And we sent lots and lots of text messages, minsan lang ito! I’m excited to see myself and fellow runners at the Guadalupe videowalls! Plus it’s a great way to promote the brand and the healthy lifestyle using normal people.

RU, willing to make us your models?

Take the poll folks!

7-Eleven Run 800 : big day for Elites and pilits

Got the PR material below for general info. Pero listed below are a few reasons why Pinoy Elites and pilits (like me) would love the concept of this race:

1. Dream come true, thank you 7-Eleven!!! Top 3 Filipino male and female runners in the 21K category will be sponsored to join the Macau International Marathon on December 2012. Best race prize ever! It’s time for our top elite runners to shine in the international scene. It’s ON!

2. SHOW ME THE MONEY. Lately, races have been marketing events. Petiks lang sila. I hope that the cash prize offered by 7-Eleven will bring out the fast and the furious and make this a truly competitive road race.

3. NEW ROUTE. Have you ever been to Cavitex? I haven’t. I’d like to check out this new playground.

4. Revolutionary Registration. Trust the number 1 convenience store to offer the most convenient way of registering for the race.

5. 7-Eleven Gives Back. I ran for ek, clavoom, achoo-choo, etc. but never really know what happened to it. This time they are promising a total of Php800K worth of food and medical supplies to the top 3 cities we will vote for (limited to cities with 7-eleven branches).

Event Diary

July 6 – Aug 9, 2012 : Online Reg

To register, visit http://www.run711.com/. To complete registration, runners can pay reg fees at the 7-Eleven nearest them. Take note of the 7-Connect number and pay at any 7-Eleven store within 24 hours. They are open 24/7, convenient eh! Race Kits can be claimed on the date indicated on the receipt, and from the same store where payment has been made. And there is one near most of us. We even have one in the office.

August 10, 2012 : Last Day of Payment

August 26, 2012 : Race Day

ABOUT THE RACE. After Tour 700, the Philippines’ biggest bike race event held at the SCTEX last May 13, 2012, 7-Eleven now celebrates the opening of its 800th store with RUN 800 on August 26, 2012 along the CAVITEX, more known as the Coastal Road, with assembly at the Aseana City in Parañaque.

Runners joining the 10k,15k or 21k half-marathon will enjoy this course set along the coastal road – CAVITEX, wherein some of its lanes will be closed just for this race. Those joining in the 3k and 5k categories can look forward to an organized race course along Macapagal Ave. This is made possible with 7-Eleven’s system of allowing SELF-SELECTED WAVE STARTS, enabling them to run with people with the same skill or speed (or with friends!). To make this run more exciting, the top 3 per age category will receive medals. Top 3 Filipino males and females in the 21k will be sponsored to join the Macau International Marathon on December 2012.

SUPPORT YOUR CITY. Run 800: Takbo para sa Kalusugan will award feeding and medical assistance to the top 3 cities you voted for.

If you have questions, LIKE facebook.com/run711 so can join the discussions and post questions.

An afternoon with Piolo

I have to admit, when I found out that I was invited to attend the press launch for the 2012 Timex Run, I shrieked. Piolo will be there and they have allocated time for bloggers to ask him questions.

Say what you must, but this guy can run and runs fast. SubPiolo (47min 10k) remains to be an elusive dream for some of us. And for that, half an hour to ask him questions was a treat.

Here are some highlights of the afternoon:

On his 10K PR more popularly known as subPiolo: He says that it was his first ever 10k race. He said he just made sure he stayed on Coach Rio’s pace.

Will he try to beat it on Jan 22 at the 2012 Timex Run? He said he doesn’t know if he will be able to beat his time. He lost weight over the holidays and that will probably help him run faster. If he can’t beat his time, he will try to at least finish close to it.

What’s his training program? Like most of us, he tries to put in a quality workout i.e. tempo and speed workout and of course regular long runs. Didn’t get into specifics. Baka secret training. So if you’re trying to chase him down at the Timex Run, better log in quality kms. Oh and he did tell us where he runs. Hehe.

Running, racing … And the fans : He said that it has pros and cons. On the positive side, they keep you motivated because they cheer for you. On the flipside, he admitted that they had provide him security during the Camsur 70.3. He then told us a story of one fan who wanted to take his picture while he was out on his long run. When he couldn’t produce enough smiles for her pics, she asked why he was masungit. He had to tell her that it’s kinda do a long run and keep on smiling. So on Jan22, cheer for him but don’t feel so bad if he doesn’t wave and smile as often. It’s kinda hard to be chummy at 4:30 min/km. If you don’t believe me, give it a try. )

Nutrition: Before he stopped eating rice, beef and pork. Pero, because of his runs, he started to shrink. He has incorporated rice and beef back to his meals. And yes, he takes gels during runs and swears by them. Me too! Roctane!!!!

What’s next for Piolo? 70.3 relay in Cebu. Mesh, sama na pala ako sa Cebu. And a Full in September at the Berlin Marathon. Goal time for Berlin? He threw in, “yung time na umabot pa ako ng buhay sa finish line.” Then followed it up with, “4 hours lang.” Yes, 4 hours lang. We all wish that, too.

Goodluck Piolo and may you set a new PR at the 2012 Timex Run.

———

If you haven’t registered yet, on site registration is open until JANUARY 18. Reg na!

Details:

5K : Reg Fee – 650. Gun Time – 5:50am

10K : Reg Fee – 700. Gun Time – 5:30am

16K : Reg Fee – 750. Gun Time – 5:10am.

Visit www.runrio.com for complete details.

Thanks to Timex and Runrio for an uber fun, informative and interactive event.

And congratulations to Gigi and Banjo for winning the Pinoy Henyo Challenge. Sorry Let, I’m such a bobo partner!

CIHM 2011 : Last 1, Last 2, Last na ito

Last day of online registration tomorrow, Friday. Visit http://www.corregidor21.runningmate.ph to register.

Last 3 days of in-store registration at R.O.X.

All registered race participants should get their race packs on Dec 3 and 4, 3pm to 8pm during the R.O.X. Runners’ Briefing.