After a painful DNF at Pulag100 (May 22), I thought it would be good to just clean up my stuff and stay in the sideline for a while and contemplate on making a strong come back late this year. Well I was able to hang on to that idea until I read the facebook message from my friend Rex Gonzales 4 days later. He wanted my to run on his behalf. And that was no easy run. It was another 100K just a couple of weeks away. The TNF 100 Philippines (June 14)! I said yes hoping for a quick redemption, but this race was a lot tougher than P1. It so technical that many thought was not even trail running. Long story short... another DNF! But surprisingly it was not that painful... at least after learning about 80% of the field also DNF'd!
 |
| Bisdaks at H1/P1 |
 |
| One of many foot bridges |
 |
| TNF100 |
 |
| There's about 20 of this |
Fast-forward 5 days after I flew back to Cebu. Fellow Marathon Maniac, Ken invited me to a no frills Ultra at his hometown in Dumaguete (June 20). Road 50K, night time, 5 loops of 10K. I gave it a shot, thinking maybe this will be a good recovery run. Wrong! This was my first road ultra in two and a half years and although it was mostly flat, it felt like hell! Five agonizing loops on hard paved roads! Despite that, I had fun. The guys I ran with, DARS, were so cool. And Paultom, the RD was the bomb! Its my first time to run his race but I can already say he is my favorite RD.
 |
| I love Dumaguete 50K |
I was ready to hang my shoes up when I got this message from Ken. He can't make it home in time for the Cebu 360 (72K) on July 18th. He asked me to sell his slot. But since I already committed to volunteer as a marshal for this race, I thought maybe I'd run on his behalf and be marshal at the same time. Brilliant idea! At least that's what I thought. Hey I did my job as a marshal first before deciding to become a participant late in the race, when the sun was up. Don't judge me! I didn't want this to be a hat trick! It was another road race but it felt familiar. All those climbs and drops felt like I was a trail race. It was fun chasing solo runners and waiting in the dark, occasionally turning off my headlamp to see if those guys get tempted to "hop on'. Of course with my camera always ready to document what went on in the dark. It was fun playing detective but not the entire race. I had to drop that job and raced on to the finish. Still finished well within cutoff, though. Wearing trail shoes. And gaiters. Rock n roll to the world!
 |
| Rakenrol! |
Credits to the owners of the photos!
