CTR Dirtbag Of The Week (W6): Arneil John Mercado

He showed up at Bagsakan in Pamutan to join one of the recon runs for the first Fatass trail run some five years ago, and just decided he wanted to be a badass ultra trail runner. True story. AJ "Wawa" Mercado runs as part of a very serious weight loss program - because he was dared to lose some weight in exchange for one whole lechon. Nothing more... well, that's before he stumbled upon a very inspiring video of Kilian Jornet on Youtube, "This. I want to do this!": his exact words after watching that video. Then started to take trail running a bit more seriously. Like, two H1 finishes and 4 CM50 finishes, serious.

While others are busy racking miles and religiously covering hours-on-foot on weekends, AJ runs 10K's and half marathons at local fun runs. Yes, you seldom see him out on the trails on weekends, and he spends most of his free time at the gym strength training or some yoga session. That's it - no dates, no clubbing. That's about the most SINGLE lifestyle you'll ever hear. Well, aside from investing in Salomon trail running gears because he has no one to buy a gift for, or go out on a date with. Sorry, friend. He is a fast road runner which can be credited to his ever growing obsession to chase people. He is one of those who always makes a race out of a small backyard event. Competitive is an understatement.

There is no question why AJ picks races in the north as his personal favorites. For him, the best trails are found in the Cordilleras, and the north in general. In fact, he did H1 three times already just to have an excuse to travel to Kayapa and socialize. He finds joy in rubbing elbows with the country's hardcores. By the way, CTR folks call him "Friend". Self-explanatory. Not to say he stays in the friend zone for too long and actually believe he has no Asshole bone in him, no. He loves being single and friendly. There. Kidding aside, he considers H1 2018 as his most challenging race. His feet was already riddled with coin-sized blisters before tackling the last big climb to Mt. Ugo and was on the verge of giving up and no one is there to push him since he had no pacer. Facetime came in handy! After that, it was the longest 18K hike of his life. Well, maybe longer since H1 is more that 160K.

AJ's work ethics is rather crazy. Check his strava logs and see why. His off-season log looks like he got hospitalized or something. Almost zero! And during the months leading to a big race, it's all green... in most days, he logs multiple runs in a day! Much like his training, his race day antics are also kind of eccentric. He does this weird 8-10K warm up run hours before the start of the race. No hard-boiled eggs, only gel, tailwind and nuun for nutrition. He relies heavily on his pre-race snack... half a gallon of ice cream!

His journey from a really heavy teen to the young  and buff software developer friend we know now is truly inspiring. Apart from his curly locks (only a miracle can straighten that), he managed to turn everything around by putting in the time and effort.