April 2020: QuaRUNtine

It's a wrap, April!

Never really thought about doing some crazy stuff during the ECQ, but on the 3rd week of lockdown I got really fed up with Netflix. I tried running on our roof deck, around a really small loop measuring less than 20 meters, or about the same size as the loop you make if you run around your car. The transition was never seamless and the first run was horribly boring. Tried it again two days later and found some sort of a sweet spot. April came, and it was time to level up. After my third try I covered 10K so I thought I could do at least a half marathon easily. For added motivation, I challenged my friends to do a home quarantine ultra... Jacob accepted, Tito Bo and Kotz Ney were quiet but I knew they would do it because I saw their Strava logs doing trial runs. Rex? No brainer - he does crazy stuff all the time. Now it became a goal to at least finish an ultra at home within 12 hours.

Fast forward April 4th. Prepped up the aid station. Yes, there was an aid station complete with a cooler, bottles of coke, candies, bread, and water. Watched Unbreakable on youtube before hitting the sack to somehow boost my confidence, well I did nothing really. D-day. waited for the sun to come up so I could start and played Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack on my phone, and went off at 5:59 AM. After more than 2500 laps around that miserable concrete micro loop, I called it a day. I covered 50.62 kilometers in 10 hours. Lost some weight, gained some mana foor my mojo and of course some painful sunburns. That was probably the craziest thing I did.

Check out my 20-meter loop

Aid station

cloudless day

Accidentally saved my activity at about 15K so I had to start a new track.

I actually swore I will not visit the roof deck again for some time. But I spoke too soon. Two days later I was up there again doing crazy loops.

Logged a total of 176.03 kilometers total on my roof deck this month. Not even close to my usual
 monthly mileage. Maayo nalang kaysa mag tiktok ko. 😂

Lockdown is depressing? Au contraire! But I might need to see a shrink soon. And facebook will remind me of this pointless feat every year. 😂😂

CTR Dirtbag Of The Week Special Quarantine Edition: RD Richard Anania

The stage is set for what could be the most beautiful Trail Ultra in the Visayas region... but this pesky Corona Virus came and dimmed it's shine - multiple times in a span of 2 months. Alicia Ultra 2020 is the brainchild of one of Bohol's pioneers in trail running, Richard "Chardee" Anania. Nope, this is not about the race, so save your whining later. Let's get to know the RD a little bit.

Chardee has always been a student of adventure, and just recently became a full-time adventurer after leaving the corporate world. Ever heard of Bohol Trail Adventure? That's him, too. An avid outdoors-man who craves big challenges and has this weird thirst for pain. He got a taste of both when he signed up for Columbia Eco Run Pinatubo in 2012, his first 12K trail run, just to get 50% discount on Columbia products. The rest is history.

It is almost automatic to consider all race directors to be badass runners themselves, well I heard there are few of them who can't even check a box (myself included) but that's none of my business. Chardee is probably the best example of an RD who has been there and done that. Check his CV and I'll hold your jaw. He has done trail races with distances ranging from marathon distance to 100K. This includes last year's Mt. Apo Vertical race 100K, Cordillera Mountain Ultra in 2017, TNF 50K, Mt. Pack Ultra, Rizal Mountain Run in 2017, Mt. Talinis Ultra, MusPo 50K, TMMT 100K and the TMBT 100K in Malaysia and many more. Oh and we can't just skip CM50 which he completed five times, making him one of only a handful of "Baddest Ass" awardees. It's pretty obvious this is his favorite race. Well, he also told me CM50 is not just an ordinary 50-miler because it always brings out the grit you knew you had in you but could not quite reach it easily in any other races. Whatever that means.

But it isn't just his resume that makes him an awesome RD. Chardee's hands-on approach to his races and his seemingly unending search for "something new" adds to his mojo. And nobody hates him. True story.

Fun facts:

Chardee...

- is an Ahon athlete... and he sell Ahon mercs too.

- is a chapsuey runner... Salomoon vests, Hoka shoes, T8 shorts and underwear, Petzl headlamp

- is not big on structured nutritional plan. As long as rice is available, he'll survive.
- already set his crosshairs on KOTM H1, but Covid... 

- idolizes Kilian, Walmsley, Meux and the 50 Miles expert himself, Jacob Ong

Well that is all I can squeeze from this lanky race director. I'm not sure why he is reluctant to share more, but I respect that. I should probably start a podcast so I can get you all to open up. Heh!