Weekly Photo Challenge : Purple : Milo and a flower

The theme for this week’s photo challenge is PURPLE. Barney! Today is also the day before the Milo Marathon.

Barney + Milo = Bad memories.

I remembered again the runner wearing purple shorts who tricked us to cheat in the 2009 Milo Marathon finals.

Goodluck runners. Run strong. Run proud. Run true. Don’t ride the bus!

Change topic…

My entry for this week is this gorgeous flower I saw at the Salcedo Market. This is a Purple Passion Vine. Gorgeous!

Some interesting purple entries this week:

1. Purple Pod Pole Beans – love the play on purple and red

2. Dusk at Mt Fuji. I chose Kamakura over Mt Fuji now I regret it not visiting. Here it looks majestic and mysterious.

3. Thistle do. It’s tiny, pretty and yeah play on words was witty.

4. Flowers!!!

5. Pinoy purple goodies galore

6. Venice Carnival player

7. Purple rain down under

8. But wait there’s more, click here to see all the entries.

Milo time

Some of you might be already be … getting ready, getting ready for the premiere road race in the Philippines

Here are the provincial scheds. Time to strategise and book flghts for that coveted podium finish.

I am not ready this year but the qualifying times makes me excited for next year. New age bracket, baka puydi na!

The loot! Woot!

asking the hard questions

I attended a couple of press launches where they invited both mainstream media and bloggers. During the press launch, one of the veteran writers at the back started asking very interesting questions. About the sport and racing issues in general that I as a blogger never considered before.

With upcoming marquee races these questions will be asked again.

It will be in the papers. At bottom of the sports section. Maybe 2 para long. (While in the lifestyle section all the pretty faces who ran their first 3K “marathon” will have a full page spread.)

And as I wait for the plane that will take me on my week long journey, I start asking myself the same questions.

1. If a national athlete qualifies for the Milo Finals, will they be banned to join again by that govt agency that banned them from joining the last time?

http://sports.inquirer.net/sport/running/view/20091013-229774/Milo-Marathon-queen-gets-Patafa-boot

2. Cash Prize for Fun Runs
How much is the cash prize? Race organiser answered, “None.” Then continued on to explain that their objrctive is to promote a healthy sporting style.

I get that.

Majority of us race because we have a goal and we will never settle until we reach it or exceed it.

Back to cash prize, should races have cash price? Depends on the goal of the race. And really most races are not running competitions.

Now, if a company wants to position itself as a premiere race in the country and the region and wants to attract competitive elites, then they have gotta budget prize money. Or pay elites for appearance fees.

For now, sorry Manongs, tiyaga muna sa 5-3-1K for podium.

Oh! And I heard a horror story about cash prize and 4th, 5th, 6th placers hounding a race organiser and his peeps. It sounded horrible and sad at the same time.

3. Now this one is mine. – Kaya ba natin talunin the “local” kenyans?

They were fun when they first arrived. They are still a joy to watch. But local elites are suffering loses due to them.

Ang tanong … are they training to match or beat the Kenyan pace?

Palagay ko pede.

Pero hapitan at pukpukan galore. Pagminsan it’s sad na to see the top 3 kenyans strolling by tapos yung pinoy sa 4th place hataw na, naghahabol pa rin 200m-500m behind.

Oki gotta go, my flight is finally boarding.

The Dream : Pilipinas : A Running Destination

In 2008, I had a dream. I wished for a quality race with all the bells and whistles, I called it my FrankenRace. 2010 delivered so many FrankenRaces, it was so hard to choose which one to join.

Happy New Year

For 2011 and beyond, I have another dream. I wish the Philippines will become a preferred running destination in Asia. Runners travel to Singapore and Hong Kong to run races, why not here?

A silly dream? No, it is not.

This post was prompted by  snippets I picked up recently. At the bloggers launch for the Condura SkyWay Marathon, Ton Concepcion told us that they have big plans for 2012. Fellow blogger Rene (Jazzrunner) mentioned that friends who ran 2010 Singapore Marathon said that it was so simple and didn’t measure up to our local races. And finally, when I read about the upcoming events for 2011 from big time blogger Vimz’s post at Kulit on the Run, I realised that we could make it happen.

Ingredient No. 1 : Marquee Races. We already have them. The trimmings to our races are truly amazing and can compete if not surpass what the key races in Hong Kong and Singapore offer. Add to that the extra challenge of running in our climate should draw running enthusiasts who wants to test their limits.

I’m so thrilled that races are not just like mushrooms growing everywhere. Sponsors and race managers/directors are now planning things in advance. They are making races an event that we runners look forward to and prepare for. Scheduling races in advance will allow international runners to put us in their racing schedule.

For me, the top races to look forward to in the Philippines are :

1. January – Cebu Marathon (I think Cebu and Camsur are competing for having the most number of local cheering sections)
2. February – Condura Skyway Marathon
3. 1st week of March – Bataan Death Marthon 102 Ultramarathon
4. September – Camsur Marathon
5. November/December – Milo Marathon (runners need to qualify by joining provincial elimination races)
6. 3rd week of December – Corregidor International Half Marathon

Ingredient No. 2 : Cheap Airfare. The advent of budget airlines makes travel to the Philippines really affordable. Putting out race schedule early will give runners a chance to take advantage of the promos of PAL, Cebu Pacific, Jetstar, and AirAsia. The races I’ve listed above are already calendared and delivers quality races.

* * *

Lure No. 1 : A Podium Finish. Strong runners in the region have an opportunity to test their mettle against “resident” Kenyans and local runners. For the 42K, females who can run a sub3 marathon will definitely have a field day here and males who can run 2:30ish may get lucky and snatch the podium from a Kenyan.

This is of course is a challenge for us local runners. We have to up our game to give visiting runners a good race.

Lure No 2 : Race Extravaganza. The lootbags are amazing. The singlets and finisher’s shirt are improving. We have fireworkers to send off runners. We have ice cream and beer at the finish line. We have a party at the end of the race. It’s a fiesta!

Lure No 3 : The rest of the country. Arrive on Saturday. Race on Sunday. And if you have time, go visit our 7,107 (or 7,108 when it’s high tide)  islands.

* * *

Bonus! Bonus! Bonus! : Takbo.ph and the rest of the runner/blogger community. We have a very active running community here in the Philippines. The active contributors in the forums and write ups in the blogs can help visitors prepare for their races here in and around the Philippines.

* * *

That’s it? That’s all we need?

Well…not really.

We all have to pull our efforts together.

Race Directors and Sponsors : They have to continue what they have been doing right this past year and make adjustments where it’s needed. Cmon guys, keep giving us fun and safe races.

Bloggers : We need to continue promoting in our blogs the races here in the Philippines. No whitewash of course but give props when it is deserved.

Runners : We gotta keep training. We gotta deliver a competitive running field for the visitors.

* * *

Well, that’s just me dreaming. Happy new year everyone!

* * *

Ay wait, I have one more dream, wish and plea pala.

Dear Bongga and Bigtime Race Sponsors,

Can you please sponsor the winners of your marathon to an overseas marathon? Please, pretty please. Something like, giving race reg, airfare, accom and allowance to the top local finisher? Please. They are good runners and they need to test their skills against a stronger field. If I were a Sabal or a Tolentino, I’d be pleased with the purse I get at races but I  will be bored. Wala na challenge if a win is almost guaranteed. An opportunity for international exposure will up the ante and improve Philippine running records. If we have a history of runners going TNT, then maybe just to the ones in Asia?

Pleaseeeeeeeeeee. Thank you. Happy new year.