CLOSED FOR GOOD

today marks the end of this blog.

time for a new face lift!

see you at http://runtintin.wordpress.com

TGIF

After a looong loong absence from writing, I find myself taking a breather on this lazy Friday, patiently waiting (more like impatiently) for the clock in my room to say 4:15pm.

So what brought me back? Simply because I now made peace with myself and my training schedule, laid all to rest instead of battling the turmoil and guilt of missing a run and not being able to do enough quality runs. Call it tabula rasa, time for a clean slate, and I think it all came about last weekend as I ran on the roads of Bantayan.

Maybe it was the thrill of focusing on the road that will take me to the town proper. The road was very straight-forward...no complexities, just smooth rolling hills with trees and fields all around. Had two reliable friends who ran and upped the pace with me as we did an Indian run, taking turns to lead and to follow at every kilometer. I actually liked the feeling. Had the chance to own up to my kilometer, was pressured to stay on pace with the thought of not lagging behind as someone else was behind me that would lag too if I did, and of course keeping up when it was my turn to be last of the line. The whole exercise taught me a few things. I think running alone most of the time that I've been here made me grow tired, simply because I had only myself to lead, not having a chance to give up the reins and follow someone once in a while. I guess that's the variety that running with a group brought me. Now that I've had my breather, it's time to start again and just do it. No ifs or buts this time.

I liken the feeling to a smoker who is trying to quit smoking and backslides into the habit. It really sucks, you feel like such a wuss for not being able to suck it up and do what you have to do. That's what I felt the few times I wasn't consistent with my training runs and finally succumbed to what we know as tamad-itis. So many excuses and so many other things to do when you know that at a drop of a hat, you could if you really really wanted to. So the second attempt comes, and the third, and the fourth, until you are ale to set out what you need to do.

I still am having difficulty finding a good, car-free, traffic-free, smoke-free and runner friendly place to run in regularly. Before I had BHS, now I'm still searching for a place big enough and feel safe enough for me to say, "this is my regular route". A place I can run in alone, or with friends. Bananarunning introduced me to the MActan Airport-Marcelo Fernan bridge route, which I did again two days back, and I think this is one of those routes I can get used to. It's not as quiet as BHS, definitely more cars as it passes the major roads chockfull of jeepneys, motorcycles and passenger cars. But I do like the road leading to and away from the Mactan Airport, as well as that point from the bridge upto the quiet road going all the way down to the corner you turn to which leads to Save More. Just a few pedestrians, no traffic buildup. A good place to zone out.

And so today marks the first day of my clean slate.

It's 4:15 already...thank God it's Friday... I'm off for a run!!

BLACKHOLE

A blackhole is simply defined as an object with massive amounts of gravity that sucks anything and everything in its path.

I'm in a blackhole and no matter how hard I resist, it effortlessly zaps all my plans into oblivion. I felt it creeping in the moment I moved here. It ate away my enthusiasm for running... NOOoooooooo. Trying to get my groove back.....

Will channel Yoda and think "Do or do not, there is no try."

KAWASAN FALLS-MOALBOAL WEEKEND PART 1

Just a week fresh from my diving certification, we couldn't wait to practice some skills and decided to go on a road trip to Kawasan Falls and Moalboal.

Good thing our friend T had some guests over who were also divers so together with the scuba team, minus A and C, we went off on his van one fine Saturday morning.

In record time (2 hours), we reached our first destination, Kawasan Falls.

You had to hike up a few meters to get to the falls, the 1st level being the biggest, the 2nd one mid-sized and the 3rd one being the source (but didn't get this far to see it). The hike up to the 1st falls was okay, the road gently sloped up and some parts were even cemented already. The water was very clean, just had a bit of whitish hue to it, maybe due to lime or minerals. The trees lined the pathways and shaded us from the sun. It was refreshing hearing the water rushing by and seeing birds and trees all around you.

Upon reaching the 1st falls, the first thing that came to mind was "I wonder where that Korean jumped?" as a few months ago, a Korean tourist died because another fellow Korean tourist was drunk and foolishly jumped from the falls and fell onto the other person down below. Morbid thoughts I know, but I can't help it! Haha.

The water was very cold...not cool okay, it was cold, imagine as cold as maybe the water you keep in the refrigerator, and even had fish swimming in it. To fully take part of the Kawasan Falls experience, we rode a bamboo raft that took us all the way to the falls which had a little cave under it, went inside the cave, under it and through the falls! The water pressure was something else and we had to crouch and hold on to our heads while going through.

Then we decided to see the 2nd falls, and the hike going up was way different. You had to watch where you were stepping as it was a bit slippery and you had to hold on to a few roots and rocks for balance. Not for the uncoordinated or elderly. The 2nd falls were smaller, and you could even do a little rock climbing to get to the top, in case you wanted the thrill of jumping into friggin' cold water. I found out that the higher you go, the colder the water is.

We had to reach our dive resort in Moalboal before 2pm so off we went again after spending maybe an hour or son in Kawasan. At least i can say I've been there....and it's a nice place to bring people to when in Cebu.

I'll post pictures in a few days as I'm still waiting for all the files, which K and T are compiling for everybody...

Next post... Moalboal diving.... =)

THE SCUBA TEAM

Have been quite busy the past few weekends getting my dive certification, hence the lack of any update, but yes, did it, no mishaps or anything, am done with the test, got my temporary card and just waiting for the official one to come in. I'm now as obsessed with scuba the same way I am with running.

It has gotten to the point that I dream about my next dive (in full color ha), all my dreams are about being underwater and am planning my weekends based on the next dive I'll be making... tsk tsk tsk

Our instructor, Mr. Alfred Alesna was very thorough in teaching us the mechanics, trying to answer all the questions we had (being the teachers that we are). He made sure we learned all the skills before moving on to the next one and made sure we were okay all the time. I felt very safe in the water because he kept an eye out for all of us. He regaled us with his dive stories and humbly shared things he's learned from them.

Okay (shhhh don't tell my scuba team mates either) I did study the book, I answered all the quizzes and highlighted the main objectives in every chapter GEEK ALERT! ALERT! but, it did help me understand the reason behind some of the things he taught us.

Cheers to the Scuba Team!

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

Now I know how he felt, going against a mountain waaay bigger than him.

I also went against the mountain yesterday for my 15k run.

It was tough as it was going uphill and it's my first time to run a long distance on that road too. Call it a baptism of fire as I really didn't know what to expect.

When the going gets tough, go sight-seeing! (and take pictures! hahaha)

Some of the scenes in my 15K route:











I wasn't able to take a picture of my 7.5k route marker though, which was a bright electric blue neighborhood water pump which the locals use for their water.

What was nice about the route up was it followed the side of the mountain, which had a mid sized stream running beside it. Since it rained the past couple of days, the stream had more water than usual. There were times I could hear it even if I couldn't see it. At certain parts of the route, if you peeked over the side of the ravine, there would be people down there washing their clothes and making chika. My friend told me that on really rainy days, you can actually go through this stream with a kayak (ala white water adventure).

As I went up, the houses got fewer and fewer until it was just foliage all around me. This was when thoughts of the Blair Witch came to mind and I hightailed back down to civilization.

Finished 15k in 2 hours (which I personally think took too long, but hey c'mon, for someone not used to running up a hill and being my first time in doing this route , it's not bad right?)

Endorphins weren't enough to keep me awake as I crashed and slept the whole day, Maybe waking up for a few hours to eat and work a bit before sleeping again.

Coach B! I did it! And finally broke that dry spell...till the next run!