To pavement for charity!

Fundraising for OXFAM

On November 3rd, I will be running the ING New York City Marathon as a charity runner for OXFAM America. This means that while I train to complete the marathon, I will also be campaigning to raise funds for this charity organization.

Why run a marathon?

I am an avid runner to begin with. Running helps me relax and I enjoy the overall feeling of being outdoors. One always discover new things and places when running which in turn leads to a better understanding and appreciation of life in general. Although I run mostly on trails now, I still look at the 26.2-mile marathon distance as a baseline to test one's endurance and speed in long-distance running.

Why raise funds for OXFAM?

My last work in the field of community development was with a partner organization of OXFAM in the Philippines in the mid-1990's. OXFAM was a significant source of funding for our organization that mainly do projects on coastal resources management like coral reef preservation.

1999 with OXFAM president, Raymond C. Offenheiser (2nd from L)
and me at their Boston office.

In fact, my first trip to the US was in Boston where I visited OXFAM America's office to lobby for continued funding of our projects. So, I know first hand the effectiveness of OXFAM's work on the ground level. In the same respect, this effort to raise fund for OXFAM is my own little way of extending my gratitude and recognition to their life-saving work around the world.

What is OXFAM?
Founded in 1942, OXFAM is a humanitarian organization working in 90 different countries whose mission is to create lasting solutions to hunger, poverty and social injustice. Their work includes community finance, private sector involvement, disaster relief aid, clean water access, and gender equality among many others. Some of OXFAM's celebrity ambassadors are Scarlett Johansson, Anquan Boldin, Crowded House, and Coldplay. Click here to learn more about OXFAM: http://bit.ly/58sHkx.

How to donate?
Click on the image below, click the word DONATE, and follow the easy steps:

click here to DONATE

Remember:

- OXFAM is highly rated by leading independent charity evaluators, including the American Institute of Philanthropy & Charity Navigator.

- 100% of your donation will go directly to OXFAM America 
-Your donation is tax deductible
-You can give as low as $10.00, comparable to the price of your expensive morning joe
- the 10% processing fee can be changed by clicking on the word itself then change it to zero dollar or any amount you want. 

10 things you need to know about OXFAM America

Thank you in advance for your support.

More on OXFAM America:

a not so disappointing year

Regardless how I try to objectify the things that happened to me last year, I can’t help but get a slight tinge of disappointment when I look back at 2012. My projected mileage was down by 25%, I missed three races including the 50 miler that I trained, and I was virtually on maintenance mode logging only an average of 15 miles per week on the last quarter of last year.

Twilight, past sunset at Verdugo Mts.

It’s a lot easier to identify the shortcomings than the positive achievements we made. Success in itself is a vague term. The way I see it, it’s more measured by one’s attitude rather than the actual outcome. So failure to some maybe a success to others; and this goes the other way around. In my case, it helped that I was able to identify my goals last year and even blogged about it (2012 Goals). Although the goals that I set here can be argued difficult to measure, at least I have something to start with. Reading it now actually made me realize that my 2012 wasn’t that bad after all. This really put a smile in my face. 

Couple of years back I devoted my entire year doing 50 K races so naturally the progression in mileage was to complete a 50 mile the following year, and this was one of my major goals for 2012. I trained for months working around in an almost impossible schedule, logging miles at odd hours early morning before work or late at night with little to no sleep. Unfortunately, three weeks leading to the race I decided to cancel because of the ever increasing demand of our schedule at home. I may have not knocked out this goal but if the timeless mantra of runners hold true, it’s the effort that counts, it’s fair enough to say I get a B + on this. The same goes with the other goals that I missed for 2012, I gave them all my best effort. 

My goal this year is to be efficient. Another big word and vague none-the-less but one that I must make serious effort if I want to get anything accomplished this year. This means getting the most benefit out of running with the given time at hand. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, our family is in a situation where we are still dealing with the medical condition of our youngest child. Although he’s made big progress on his condition, I still cannot commit to anything and any plans that I made are still secondary to his needs. 

My plan is to do more quality training runs and participate only in select races. I wanted to avoid logging junk training runs just to up my weekly mileage. In the previous years, I tend to fill up my calendar with too many races, usually more than I can handle. Since I still want to carry over my previous year’s goal of a 50 mile race, I scheduled one this April and this is the only distance race in my calendar for 2013. To prepare for this, I skipped on the 50K race that I usually do in February, and the Los Angeles Marathon this year will have to wait until 2014.

To maximize the time available for running, I’ve been doing runs in the early morning before work when it is less likely to conflict the day's schedule. This has so far been working I just have to work on going to bed earlier which hardly happens.

Other specific plans include incorporating the basics that I always overlook like strength & training exercises, core workouts, and cross training. Inevitably, this also necessitates on the importance of improving the efficiency of my running form. I started it late last year by doing more walks usually during lunch break at work and by concentrating on running slow and tall. Doing this I was able to complete a 50K race in October without feeling overly spent afterwards and to think that I was only logging about 15 miles per week that time. Although the finish time wasn't ideal, this opened the prospect for me to still pursue the 50 mile goal this year.

I am not really sure what's in store for me this year, but I'll take whatever life throws at me; at least in running, me and my stinking feet will try to deal with the road or the trail ahead as efficiently as possible.  

Balancing act

It’s been a while since my last post. The past months have been very busy for me. Although I am now slowly able to manage my time more efficiently, there are still a lot of things I haven’t picked up. For one, I missed going here to talk about my trail runs, races, and other random stuffs.

I haven’t mentioned it, at least not in this blog, but early this year we were blessed with another addition to our family. I kept this topic out of discussion mainly because it’s not related to the subject of my blog. As much as I also wanted to keep it private, I can't deny the fact that this is the reason why I've been out of the loop for some time now.

Like any family experiencing the wonders of having a newborn. It is both difficult and sweet. What make ours different is that our baby was born extremely premature. Baby Kiko weighs less than two pounds at birth and needed to stay at the NICU for a very long time.

Baby Kiko was less than 2 lbs when born 

He's home with us right now. Although he's still on oxygen 24/7 and on NG tube feeding, generally he's doing well. I say this with optimism because he's been through a lot. From being intubated to series of blood transfusion to surgery. He really has made a lot of improvement. This I credit to the loving people at the NICU which also became our second home the whole time when Kiko was there for six months.
 It was a difficult adjustment for our family but it helps that we're used to dividing tasks at home (at least we try). We don't have any help so between me and Janet, we alternated on “shifts” every three hours.

In terms of running, I resisted in the beginning to change my training schedule. I go to work with little or no sleep then hit the trails with the same mileage and intensity. There was completely zero recovery. As a result, I felt crappy the whole day, irritable at work, extremely stressed at home, and just overall, I felt like a person that I don’t want to be.

Running as a way of life has been one of the many tools that I use to give me a sense of direction. My current situation should not be an exemption. If I am to move forward and be the person that I wanted to be, I needed to find balance. That means giving up some things to make way for the others. If doing this means giving up my training plans and race schedules so I can have more time to enjoy the life of being a father again, I think it's a reasonable trade-off.

This settled, I took two months off from work, stopped training and tried to straighten things out. Believe me it's been a lot easier since then.

I am back to work now and baby Kiko has improved a lot since then. Fingers crossed, we hope to wean him off the oxygen before the year ends. He's so far been cleared by different specialists and some we're still working on.

I still run, but I do it in no terms but simply because I have the time and I wanted to. Although I have more restrictions now. Like I cannot got to remote trails where there's no cell phone signal. So, I pretty much stay local. Regular run for me needs to be planned days ahead; long runs, weeks in advance. I also don't go "all-out" when running, I make sure to save my reserve at home just in case I needed to stay-up all night with Kiko.

Looking back, I thought that I have to take extreme measures to begin this process. That I have to completely cut off myself from the things that I love like running. As it turned out, things have a way of resolving itself. It was hard in the beginning, sitting at home to watch summer pass by and the opportunity of heat training lost. I skipped couple of important races. My training log, pathetic. But things eventually settled down after a few months that I am now able to run on a regular basis.

I still have one distance race, 50 K trail, in the calendar before the year ends. With the way things are moving on, I am hopeful to attend it but I'll not push it if not possible. I'm planning to take a long break at distance events after this and most likely move to short ones. I have serious competition at home anyway with my boy placing at local races.

Baby Kiko now at 9 months, w/ my other daughter, Gabriela, also a premie.

For now, I'm glad to just end each day hopeful on a lot of things especially with our baby Kiko. My stinky feet maybe a little restless for not going out often but I'm sure its thankful that we're at least able to move forward, a little less crappy, a little less stressed, both feet moving in sync, balanced (at least for now).    

proud dad

That's my boy in the picture, Léan (lee-yan). This was taken in front of the Alex Theater after we crossed the finish line at the 2012 Glendale Dash where he won first place in his division, 1-12 yo male. He ran the course 23:22.3 at 7:31 min/mi pace and almost beat me.

Looking at him in this picture I noticed how tall he's become. Whew! another parental moment... either I'm getting really old, or he's growing too fast. But he seems to be enjoying running. Although I think we may have to do more races together while I can still beat him (ha ha) because pretty soon I may have a hard time doing it.

snow and sapporo

Rattlesnake Trail

Last Sunday, we drove up to one of the highest peaks (7000’ elev) in the Angeles National Forest and hit the backcountry for a 13-mi high altitude run.

The timing was just perfect because the high winds subsided the night before and although there’s plenty of snow in the trails, the forecast was not too cold which means we can run light and enjoy the trails without having to worry too much of the elements.

The route we took follows the AC100 route from Cloud Burst Summit to Eagle's Roost Point. We saw human tracks on the snow along the Cooper Canyon campground but past this area there were none but ours except for the occasional animal tracks here and there. There were a couple of times when we have to circle back to find our way because the snow literally covered all the outlines of the trail.

I’d be easily lost lost if I were to do this alone but since I was running from behind, I just followed the snow foot prints of those running ahead of me. There’s comfort when you’re with the company of devout trail runners. They’ve been here many times and knew the place like the back of their hands. I say this because I'm no stranger to getting lost in the trails and for all the troubles I made they're always there to look out after  me.

Little Rock Creek

The notion of getting lost was probably due to the movie Gray that I watched the night before. It helps however to be up-to-date on the news because the lone wolf we have in the state crossed the border back to Oregon a few days ago.

The trail we were climbing parallel to the creek became too slippery at one point. While some in our group run right through it without any problems, I was a bit tentative since I wasn’t wearing spikes or ice cleats. Also, its a narrow trail with a good fifty feet fall down the rocky creek.

Then just like that Jose, who was running in front of me, slipped and landed on his back. He lost his footing again trying to get up; and with this balancing act was how he managed to make it across safely. Now, me and Harry were ready to turn around and call it day because we thought it was too risky to continue and there are probably more slippery trails ahead. But the guys who've done this many times showed us how to lean on the mountain side and to step on the fresh snow for traction. It worked.

We made slow progress on the trails because in some areas the snow is about a foot deep making it difficult to run. Still, every step is a workout considering also that at this altitude the air is thin so I was breathing more heavily.

We got off the trail at the Little Jimmy campground and took the road until we reach the tunnel. We then turn around for another 6 mi run along the Angeles Crest highway to the Cloudburst Summit where we started. As usual, I was the last to arrive and the guys are already enjoying our post run meal courtesy of Adan – beer and Mexican tostadas.

Believe it or not but this outing is part of our training for the LA Marathon. I am baffled myself at the choices of our training locations and can't help but wonder sometimes if we're doing this to prepare for the marathon or to simply just make our runs more exciting by visiting different trail locations (I made an earlier post about this, read here) . Regardless of the reason, the ideal training for me is the one that I enjoy and the one that makes me happy. And outings like this score high in the enjoyment and happiness scale.

So, while we were busy talking about the upcoming LA Marathon, Abel, out of nowhere offered me a challenge. He'll buy me a pack of Sapporo if I beat or even if I'm within 10 mins behind of his finish time at the LA Marathon. Otherwise, I have to buy it for him. Abel is 20 years older than me so the answer should be easy, right? But this 58-year-old in our last run at the Santa Clarita Marathon, clocked at 3:23:55 and won 1st place in his division. He was ahead of me by 20 mins. That means I have to improve my time by 10 mins if I were to beat him. He did his math well. But I know his intention was to simply encourage me to run my best, otherwise he would have offered a different challenge or at least get the beer of his choice, Tecate. Obviously, my chances of winning is almost zero to none but I appreciate the gesture. Abel knew how hard I've been training for this race. It took me a while to answer but I happily accepted it. If anything else, win or lose, me and my stinky feet will still get to enjoy our favorite beer.

Here's a small clip of our run that day:

Bandit Trail Runs 2012 - Upgraded!

Bandit Trail Run never fails to impress me. After I did my first ever 50K event here last year, again, I was treated to a wonderful trail run experience. Scenic views, well-organized support, helpful volunteers and just the overall feel was awesome. And the medal, definitely a first class upgrade. Wearing it left no doubt about my gruesome ultra race finish. I am wearing it now as I do this, yeah, baby!

Medals compared. 2011 medal (top) and this years' first class upgrade.

Having ran the course in the past really helped a lot. I paced accordingly and managed to stay on target even on the most difficult portions of the trail. The course was physically taxing nonetheless. On the first climb, my Achilles tendons were about ready to burst (20% grade incline from mile 2 to 2.4, whew!). Las Llajas Canyon was all mental with what it felt like a never-ending ascent. And right about when you thought you've reached the top, there you'll see another quarter of a mile of nasty uphill.

At the start line, photo courtesy of Rowell Ramos

Since Rocky Peak is at the heart of this race, the surface of the terrain was the main challenge. I couldn't imagine myself tripping down on those rocks. I'll sure bust my knee (or face) if I wasn't careful. So, I was cautious but this didn't stop me from doing one of my favorites on the trails - down hills. And like the way I do it on any of my trail runs - I holler, yell and shout my heart out before I roll and plunge down hill. 

I improved my time by about 40 mins from last year. This I credit for having a positive mental outlook throughout the race. I greeted each runner I passed and the ones that overtook me. I offered the same courtesy to other trail users who were not part of the race greeting them "Good Morning" even when it was probably past noon (took me 6 hours to finish). I chatted with some of the volunteers manning the aid stations though briefly. I never got bored and was humming a lot of my favorite tunes. I was tired in the end but I felt strong. I even managed to do a movie night with my family when I got back home after the race; and the next day went back to work just like any other day (now I'm bragging). Overall, another very positive Bandit Trail Run for me and this race is definitely on schedule again next year. Click the link below for full result: http://bandittrailrun.com/BanditDocs.html

goal this year - to be a better person

January is now gone and I haven't done my recap for last year. To sum, it's safe to say I made good progress in 2011. I broke my personal best in different distances from 5K to 50K. I ventured into a new distance, 50K, and fell in love with it. I trained consistently throughout the year averaging 25 to 30 miles a week. My kids got involved in youth cross-country. And on a personal level, I became more disciplined in training. Having said all these, there are still a lot of things that I need to work on if I want to be a better runner, and more importantly, if I want to be a better person.

View from top of Verdugo Mts at dusk. First 2012 run.

I'll make my goals simple this year and try to focus more on the transformative values of running. I admit, sometimes I get distracted by mundane things and tend to forget the reasons that motivated me to pick-up this sport. I concentrate more on the time of my race, whether I broke my PR, or how much mileage I logged. When really, running to me has evolved to more than just the numbers and distance but as a way of life.

Running has made me stronger not only physically but mentally. It led me not only to a healthier lifestyle but also to a healthier view of personal relationships. Yes, the long runs made me durable on the road, but it also trained me how to be more patient, how to measure up to my weaknesses, and how to harness my last reserve when needed. These are just some of the transformative values that comes with running that we often forget to consider when assessing the success or failure of our goals. Running really has a lot of potential that can transform us into a better person. 

I'll try my best to focus on these things as I try to accomplish each of my race goals this year. If I didn't PR, missed the cut-off time, DNF, or got sidelined by an injury. I know better how to take it because each time I raise the bar to become a better person, I know that I transform myself into a better runner. Belated Happy New Year to all!

Here are some of my goals this year: 

• weekly core training "with love"
• completed at least one 50 mi "fun run" race
• focused speed work and "community development work"
• transitioned to minimalist shoe and "pocket"
• mapped-out local trails and "joints"
• more local races and "picnic at the park"
• volunteer local XC and PTA
• yoga class and "cooking class"
• logged a thousand miles and "smiles"

Closing the Year - High Desert 50K

I was already up at 4AM race day trying to keep myself busy for the High Desert Ultra 50K in Ridgecrest. The temperature at Mojave Desert was extremely cold at 30 degrees but this was expected especially when it’s this close to winter. What concerns me more was the high wind that swept through the Southland a few days ago. I left home Saturday afternoon for this race and the severe weather alert was still up. This morning, however, the wind was relatively calm. I hope it stays this way for the rest of the day because the open desert is not the best place to be in the middle of a windstorm.

Typical course terrain (photo by Rowell Ramos)

Ridgecrest is about 3 hours drive from Los Angeles. It is not that far but far enough to drive for a race that the best option is to stay overnight. I was invited to this event by a co-worker. Joel did it last year but this will be my first. I did my research and found out that this race has been around for many years. Despite it’s out-of-nowhere location in the middle of the desert, runners from all over the country go here to compete each year.

One thing I like about out-of town races is the chance to travel and explore places I’ve never been to. Desert to me is the hot and desolate place we pass-by when going to Las Vegas during summer. Doing this race however has given me a new perspective and appreciation of the place. The unobstructed view of the desert valleys and barren mountains lined with seemingly endless trails were simply amazing. I will definitely go back to this place again.

We arrived at Ridgecrest Saturday evening and went directly to the local church for the pre-registration. Like any ultra event, this was low-key but what it lacks in flare, it makes up for the feeling of belongingness and a sense of community. I saw many familiar faces and met new ones as well. 

Richard, who has been consistently placing in a lot of local races in our area was there together with the course record holder, Roberto Leonardo. These two eventually will placed 1st and 2nd over-all. There was also Rowell, who opted to do the one-hour early start at 6AM so he can return home early. Ultra runners are generally friendly and down to earth people - one will never feel lost among their company. 

We carpool to this event and shared the cost of the hotel. With the few bucks I saved, I treated myself to a hooded sweatshirt and bought a few one-dollar worth of raffle tickets for the local charities. The carbo-load dinner also costs only $8.00.

50K Elevation Profile (grabbed from the event website)

At our table, we chatted with the race director of the Squaw Peak 50 Mile Trail Run, John Bozung, who invited us to attend his race in Utah. This is something I might consider since I haven’t done any out-of-state ultra event. We stayed for a couple of hours before we head back to our hotel to close the day.

Race day. There's no denying to the popularity of this event. Close to about 300 runners for the 30K and 50K at the start line. The race also hosts to a number of highly recognized events such as the USATF So Cal 50K trail championships, so I expect this to be a pretty deep field.

I put on my arm warmers and gloves, the temp was still at low 30s. This will be my coldest race to date. I decided against wearing a shell or a light jacket because the race has no option for a drop-off bag.

Despite the absence of huge cheering crowds, the race took off with high spirit. Short to say, we were cheering each other since there were only a number of spectators around, mostly organizers. True, in ultra races, there are usually more runners than spectators (haha).

As we enter the trailhead, I saw Jack Chen who was alternating between running and walking. I decided to stick with him even for a brief while because he’s always friendly and chatty. I met him while spectating/running the last few miles of this year’s AC100 as they descend the Brown Mountain. He reminded me that pushing to gain a few minutes advance in the beginning could cost you huge time deficit later in the race. He took off ahead of me after a few miles, I tried to target his shirt but I lost sight of him eventually. His advice however became my mantra throughout the race.

The ground is mostly sandy but what makes it challenging were the series of small motorbike jumps along the course (no kidding!). The gaps are about three to four steps in distance. Joel warned me of this but I played too much with it enjoying the roll-down-propel-up motion that my left hip started to hurt later in the race.

We were chatting a lot I didn’t notice the distance we covered until we arrive at the first aid-station, Hub Cap at 5.5 mile. The sun was already up around this time. I rolled down my arm warmers, enjoyed the scenery and just bask in the glory of the sun. I could not imagine myself anywhere else.

I pick-up the pace as we go downhill for one mile and onto a gradual uphill until the next aid station at Haystack Turn. Ahead was the first of the three uphill. My plan was to average a pace of 14 min/mi uphill, basically run-walk, and speed-up going down hill.

The excitement began at the Saddle turn-off after about mile 11. I rolled down the hill and started to play catch-up with other runners. But I wasn't alone. There were about six of us who were pushing it and none wanted to give up position. When we finally reached the valley at the highway crossing, we all stopped at the aid station, made quick introduction, and thank each other for the group effort made.

Climbing up the second hill, I felt a slight discomfort on my left hip. Still, I paced myself evenly until the Wagon Wheel station at mile 17. It was when the course became relatively flat that my hip really started to hurt. This time around, it was a struggle to run the motorbike jumps so I decided to avoid it. If I had fun with it earlier, I now despised it. I walked a good portion of this course and stopped a lot to stretch. The pain eventually subsided as the course transitioned to a gradual uphill. I hardly even noticed it going to the last and highest peak of the course (3699 feet).

It was all downhill afterwards. I am usually more concentrated towards the end of a race. Sheer exhaustion sometimes bring out your basic instincts. You began to focus on what's important when there's little left on the tank.

With 6 more miles to go, I checked the time and I was right on target, maybe better. I was exhausted but I felt strong. I didn’t have a problem cranking up the speed again. I eventually slowed down at the sight of the college thinking I was close to the finish. The route however didn’t go straight but weaves around the college so it took me probably another half an hour to finish. I crossed the finish line at 5:32:21. See complete race result.

Overall, I was satisfied with my result. Although, I must admit I was a little bit anxious going into this race. Lately, the monotony of training had me a little bit drained, mentally and physically.

Doing this race however, I felt more relaxed. In fact, this probably was the most comfortable I've ever been in any race. No pressure to compete, no worry about the time. I simply just ran.

It dawn on me that I’ve done my part. This was my third 50K race this year, I trained throughout the summer heat, and I’ve been knocking some of my personal best lately. Best of all, I survived the year with no serious injuries that require long term recovery. With this in mind, although I still have a long way to go, I felt that I’ve finally measured up myself to this distance. Maybe it’s time to work on another challenge. A different trail route maybe, in a totally different place, or maybe a new distance. Hmmm… something to think about, my stinky feet are now excited for the prospect of next year.

BEARS at the National Championships!

Seven kids from the North Valley Golden Bears (NVBG) Cross-Country team qualified to the Nationals and will be going to Florida for the AAU Junior Olympics Cross Country National Championship on December 3, 2011.

We are doing a raffle ticket / fund raising event to help the expenses of our Florida delegation. All funds raised will go directly to NVBG delegation to Florida AAU.

Ticket cost is $5 each or $20 for five tickets for a chance to win an Ipod nano. Raffle will be drawn on November 26, 2011 4PM to 6PM at El Cariso Park in Sylmar, CA. You do not have to be present to win.

For details or to buy tickets, contact smeltedfeet@yahoo.com


Here are the stats* of the NVBG Florida delegation:

Name	Division	Best Time	Date  /  Location
Julietta Huerta	Gremlin Girls 5-8 yr old	2K  09:30.47	10/22 Central Park, Sta Clarita
Dolly Baltazar	Bantam Girls 9-10 yr old	3K  13:10.97	10/22 Central Park, Sta Clarita
Adriana Beltran	Bantam Girls 9-10 yr old	3K  13:17.97	09/24 Corriganville, Simi Valley
Mariah Moro	Midget Girls 11-12 yr old	3K  11:31.88	10/22 Central Park, Sta Clarita
Joshua Espinoza	Midget Boys 11-12 yr old	3K  13:03.12	10/22 Central Park, Sta Clarita
Mayra Huerta	Youth Girls 13-14 yr old	4K  17:09.59	09/10 O’Melveny, Granada Hills
James Hernandez	Youth Boys 13-14 yr old	4K  16:08.44	10/22 Central Park, Sta Clarita

*data from vcy-xc.org

Wild Mountain Runner Club: Attention all Gatos, Gatas, Family and Friends.

The link is from our club website, Wild Mountain Runner, may you rest in peace, Claudia Morales. 
Please read:  Wild Mountain Runner Club: Attention all Gatos, Gatas, Family and Friends.

No more excuses

Sorry blogger if we haven’t talked lately, uhm, OK, it’s been three months but believe me when I say that there are lots of stories I wanted to share but like always, time is the enemy. Between family, kids, work, past summer activities, and training, it’s been difficult to find time to spend with you especially now that the kids are back to school.

I know you would understand, you always did, and come to think of it the less time we spend together, the more time I get to do things that I am passionate about – those stories you like to hear. Not that I totally abandoned blogging, in fact, I’ve been reading many of my favorites, if only to amuse and inspire myself. It’s good to know by reading other people’s blog that I am not alone in this struggle to find a better meaning of life.

So, though we may have missed each other on many occasions, rest assured that I was busy - working hard to simplify my life, celebrating life’s every waking moment, advocating on issues close to my heart, and, of course, ever continuing to explore what nature has to offer by running the trails.

Okay, enough with the excuses, I’ve been bad and I owe one big apology to you, blogger, and more so, to myself for always falling short on projects I started. And of course, to the very few that valiantly subscribed to my blog, who I’m sure were mostly my relatives, ha, ha. Truth is, I’ve been sick the past week and the running downtime has opened free time to pick-up on old projects I’ve neglected like spring cleaning, organizing the cluttered garage, and, uhm, blogging ;)

I did a write-up on a recent ultra race that I did but didn’t finish it. When I opened the file, I didn’t realize a month has already passed since I started it. I’m not so sure now if I should post it since its too old a story. Talk about stale news - that is so "me". 

To recap some events that transpired since my last post - summer was busy compared to the previous years. Kids went to swimming class and cross-country. My little Gabu is now at the so-called “terrible two” stage where curiosity always gets the better of her. I trained throughout the season for an ultra trail event that was held August in a horrible triple digit temp. Lean, my eldest, did his first official short distance race, Filipinotown 5K, we both did it not just for the event but also in some way to connect with our roots and to represent - proud Pinoy! 

Lazy summer day

I also got hooked to dailymile where I spend more time than any other Internet sites lately. We had small trips in between but mainly stayed local except for a couple of times - in San Francisco where I introduced the kids to see the mural of Lean Alejandro; and to Vegas where we met some HS friends.

Summer is now gone and the kids are back to school. My eldest has transitioned to middle school, a big adjustment on a lot of things mainly on schoolwork approach and methodology. We’re still in the process of adjustment. As for me, I haven’t adjusted yet to the routine of dropping off the kids to two different schools every morning. No matter how early we head out the door, I always arrive late at work.

As a trail runner, I will miss summer for its long daylight hours. I enjoyed the many solo trail runs I did after work that took me sometimes as far as 18 mi and as late as 9 PM. With the change of season, it’s not safe anymore to run trails this late since it gets dark early past 6PM. So, I guess I’ll be home more early now. I'm running low on excuses now not to see you blogger but I’m getting the hang of it, hopefully this lasts long-er. I'll see you soon.

Barely

Literally that’s the word – barely. With only a few seconds left, I barely made it under 4 hours last Sunday at the Pasadena Marathon, my official time 3:59:01s. I could not tell you how happy I was as I crossed the finish line. The thing is, I have given up on the attempt to break 4 hours long time ago. Instead of doing time, I now focus my energy in enjoying the experience of each race. So, it feels good to know when you bagged a better race time along the way.

Carlos Larios leading the pack

I haven't blog for quite a while so let me update first on some affairs that have transpired the past weeks. I have fully recovered from the foot injury and I’m now back to my normal running routine. I’ve been logging miles in the trails as usual and since there’s more daylight this time of the year, I’m now able to do more trails after work. In fact last week, we worked the trails until past 8 PM, there was still daylight but towards the end of our run we were like chasing the last trail of the sun as it slowly disappear behind the mountain. Oh, the beauty of spring!

I also did the Verdugo Mountains 10K in Glendale last week of April. This inaugural trail race not only drew a big crowd of about 500 runners and hikers alike but it also attracted local star athletes that made the event pretty exciting with the winner pulling only a 4 second lead, amazing! It was Daniel Geiman of LA, who won the first place at 00:43:27s, followed by last year’s winner of Pasadena Marathon, Mike Davies at 00:43:31s. I saw the two of them as they descend the trail (I was still struggling to go up the turn around), their downward momentum was so fast that everybody either stopped or slowed down to give them enough elbow room to battle it out downhill to the finish. 

It may be too early to say but it can’t be deny that trail running is now slowly gaining popularity. Especially with the introduction of shorter race distances, and not necessarily ultra races which for years have dominated trail running, we could be seeing a lot more trail races and an influx of runners doing trails in the future. Even Runners World magazine recently released a special issue exclusively on trail running. Whatever impact this will do to the trail running community and to our beloved parks, only time will tell. 

Now going back to the Pasadena Marathon. I like that the race starts at 6:30 AM but like last year, although it was held in different month, it rained at the beginning of the course. I ran with three other Wild Mountain Runner (WMR), Betty, Abel and Harry, but many other gatos were there providing different kind of support along the course. 

I wanted to give a shout out to Jose and Yani for organizing our transportation. Although we had a hard time getting through the street closure we managed to get there with a few minutes left. The runners were already lined up and the divider closed when we got there so we jumped to the first opening we saw which was the start line, yikes! I know I don't belong in this elite group but before I could move back to my pace group, the race ceremony started, so I just stood there and pretended I was a 7:30 runner (ha,ha). 

Wild Mountain Runner - SF Valley

The rain wasn't as bad as last year and it only lasted for 30 minutes so we were all dry halfway through the race. Approximately at mile 18, I saw one member of our running group, Felipe, who wasn't supposed to be in the race, running side-by-side with Abel and I thought was he trying to bandit the race. Then I realized that he was pacing Abel in the most difficult portion of the course. Seeing this made me regret turning down Yani's offer to pace me. I really have no experience on this type of support and when Yani mentioned it I thought he's just going to position himself somewhere along the course and take pictures of me so I told him don't bother. Silly me. 

In the end it was a very good race for all of us. Betty, Abel and Harry were able to make their Boston qualifying time (BQ) with Betty placing 1st and Abel 2nd on their respective age division. We capped the day with a post race celebration at my place with a little barbeque and some well deserved drinks. Below are the top finishers of the race, click on the link for the complete list: Pasadena Marathon Race Results. Congrats to Richard for placing 2nd overall!

  Men's Marathon                               Women's Marathon 

          1st Justin Johnson, 2:34:31                 1st Mandy Grantz, 2:45:53

          2nd Ricardo Ramirez, 2:43:13              2nd Bonnie Axman, 3:05:42

          3rd Andrew Chandler, 2:44:09             3rd Natalie Kintz, 3:14:59

            Men's Half Marathon                  Women's Half Marathon             

          1st Mark Batres, 1:12:55                    1st Rosario Castaneda, 1:27:22

          2nd Bartolome Sequin, 1:13:21           2nd Claudia Garcia, 1:28:43

          3rd Ray Castillo, 1:15:34                    3rd Kate Martini-Freeman, 1:29:03

recovery and extras

Feels good to be back on the trails after three weeks of no running. The condition of my foot seems to have improved and so far, after logging 25 miles last week I hardly felt any problem on the injured area. I am still taking it easy knowing my body needs time to adjust before I can completely go back to my normal running routine.

The hardest part of the recovery was how to stay put. When you are used to running outdoors one of the worst things that could happen is to be stuck at home for weeks. I tried to distract myself by doing small projects at home but my injury prevents me from doing anything else. To make the best out of the situation, I took this as an opportunity to spend more time with my family. Having this mind set makes the recovery process a lot easier and the wait time more productive. Kids kept me preoccupied the whole time especially my little baby daughter Gabu. We watched countless of Korean sub-titled movies at home thanks to the ingenuity of my brother-in-law in hooking us up with online movies.

All the while I was doing my own rehab: lots of rest, stretch and ice. To help speed up my recovery I've been using the Go Fit Stretch Rope, and I bought a new pair of casual shoes from Crocs. The stretch rope is a simple yet effective tool that enables me to stretch muscle groups I wouldn't normally be able to do on my own, it worked especially well in bringing flexibility to my injured foot. The shoes was a no-brainer, when I found out that Crocs also carry casual dress shoes with the same material as their comfy sandals, I immediately got one. 

Of course I was counting the days when I can go back running. Since my last run was the LA Marathon, I pegged the date in my calendar - first week of April, in between will be three weeks of complete rest. Coincidentally, that same weekend falls exactly on my birthday. And what better way to celebrate than go out on the trails. I'll welcome my one-year-the-wiser (i hope), and my first run coming from an injury to the place where I always find comfort. Couldn't wait, that's all in my mind.



Rock Pool, empty, just us

So finally it came, me and Janet were up early and headed to Malibu Creek on my birthday. I chose this trail because it is not too technical, good for easy and recovery run; and the place also has more foliage this time of the year, just visually captivating. 

The fog just lifted when we got there, it was chilly but the forecast was warm in the afternoon - a perfect day to hit the trails. The plan was to take the M*A*S*H site and Century Lake route but we did a detour because Janet wanted to see the Rock Pool. I was trying to avoid going there because it is   usually packed with college students but surprisingly it was empty when we arrived at the pool. I was tempted to swim but the water was just too cold. We walked most of the time (which was good for me), still, we covered about 8 miles that day and a lot of quality time together. 

Coming home, my 9-year-old daughter gave me a book as a present: Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer, a story about Sir Mallory's climb to the Mount Everest. She said she purchased it with her own money at their school's book fair weeks before (so sweet of her). I've been eyeing a minimalist shoe for quite sometime now but can't seem to save enough but that's exactly what I got from Janet, a pair of Brooks Green Silence (we went back to the store for the proper fit). Top it off with a generous gift from my brother-in-law,  a Garmin GPS watch, the reason for my new widget I put on this blog that tracks my runs and race schedules. I couldn't have asked for more. I am so grateful for being around wonderful and supportive family members.



My goal was to simply get over with this injury and go back to running again. I'm there but not yet completely, but making my first run on the trails, coming back from an injury, on my birthday, surrounded by people close to me, plus all the other extras I got, I felt like the day has given me more than what I want, my spirit completely healed.

On a side note, I was planning to do the 50K Leona Divide on the end of the month but decided against it for obvious reason. I will concentrate instead on the upcoming Pasadena Marathon on the second week of May. If I still cannot make it because of my injury, I'll wait, I know there'll always be races for me to join (see, I'm a year wiser now, ha, ha).