The FAB is back!

....and still fabulous, i know!  Thanks to my genius daughter, this blog has undergone a fanta-bulous orangey facelift.

HIBERNATION

So I did some hibernation.  And the cause was actually triggered by my English triathlon champ daughter when she referred me as legallyFABTrunner.  So I sulked in one corner, stopped running, quit blogging and got really FAT!!!

Of course, that's not true.  Well, at least the sulking and the quitting.  And especially on the getting FAT thing!

What actually happened was I got injured.  Oh yes, I mean....oh no!!!  It was shin splint and it was so freaking painful.  It took me almost three months to recover and I missed a lot of races which I signed up in advance.  Except of course for the Angkor Wat International Half-Marathon...


Angkor Wat

As early as September 12, 2012, I had myself and hubby registered to join the famous Angkor Wat International Half Marathon.  Who would not dream of running on Siem Reap along its famous temples, one of which is part of the World Heritage Site as declared by UNESCO?  I've arranged everything, from air transportation to hotel accommodation.

Sadly though, when I attempted to run my first marathon in the first ever Run United Philippine Marathon on October 28 (a day after my birthday!), I got my first ever injury!

I was hoping to recover before the Angkor Wat race, but despite seeing one (1) Orthopedic,  two (2) Physical Rehab specialists, and plenty of physical therapists to perform miracles on my injured tibia,  I was still limping (slightly) when we traveled to Siem Reap.  But that did not prevent me from joining the race!

I was able to join the runners and walkers from the starting line until I reached 3K where I decided to DNF (it was my second!).  Anyway, hubby went on with the race and I went back to the starting point straight to the medic area where I met also an injured runner (she said it was a nagging plantar fasciitis) and she ran also despite the possibility of recurrence.  Most runners are really stubborn, eh!

Better let the photos do the talking....


                                         Posing at the finish line before gun time.

                                       

                                          With Cambodia elites, such strong, sexy running legs.

Tagging along with the determined Aussies who planned to power walk the entire course.

 With Yuko Arimori, Japan's 1992 Summer Olympics silver medalist for marathon.

Hubby finished the race by running half of the course barefoot.

I will surely be back to finish this!  I am already planning for the full marathon debuting next year...

The 1st Angkor Empire Full Marathon 2014 TO Run for charity and Save the children in Cambodia. EVENT DATE: 17 August 2014 ( Full Marathon , Half Marathon, 10K  and 3K) VENUE: Angkor Wat Temple, Siem Reap of Cambodia

Running Again

Yes, I'm running again after almost two months of hiatus!  My blogging break however was longer at 3 months .

So, what happened during the past 2-3 months?

During March, I joined my second half-marathon organized by Coach Rio - the leg 1 of the RunRio Trilogy/Run United Series (composed of 3 legs).   I was able to break my record by 20 seconds (hehe, i know I'm still a noob!).  My motivation is the medal/s cum puzzle.  The first medal is actually a part of a medal puzzle which can be completed if you run in all the three legs in the category 21k/21k/32k or 21k/21k/21k.

I also bought new running shoes with matching new running socks!  I bought the shoes on my hubby's birthday (mean right?  instead of buying him a gift i bought myself one!).

Bye K-Swiss, Hello Asics!!!

On April and May, we had a grand time in enjoying the summer.  We went to Misibis Bay (fantastic but expensive place!)

Then, off to Samar for a 2-week vacation.   It was really an awesome vacation though I wasn't able to do some running!

And late May, I was back to the fabulous world of running.  I had joined 3 races so far...

10K at Greenfield Run for Clean Air (Paseo de Sta. Rosa)

12K at Brooks Run Happy (BGC, Taguig)

21K for Run United 2 (BGC to MOA)

I could not find any picture of me after scanning the gazillion Run United 2 pictures. Though it took me three (3) hours to finish 21K, I enjoyed the race due to cool weather.  Alas, I did very minimal walking!  Hubby came back to me again after he completed his 21k.  It was really a surprise seeing him barefoot.

He ran barefoot at 16K mark & ran an additional 5K after finishing the race!

Hope, Honor and Half Mary

Note:  This post has been sitting on my drafts for almost two (2) weeks.  I was actually waiting for Dani to do the edits (yap, she is my editor and she's being paid a decent fee for it!).

I did it! I ran 21 kilometres, or also known as, *cough cough* the half marathon!.

The day before, Doods and I had planned to load carbo by eating pasta, bananas and what-have-yous.  It was perfect, because that Saturday, one of my closest classmates in law school was set to have her twins baptized, namely  Hope and Honor. The twins are very cute and so cuddly.

We ate a lot of pasta during the reception.  Our dinner was only boiled bananas, a very good source of, yet again, carbohydrates.

We slept at around 9PM and woke up as early as 2 AM. It was finally the day of our half-marathon! We planned to wake up an hour early so that we could have a warm up run.  At 3AM, we arrived at the venue..  Oh boy, the parking was almost full!  But, wow, the moon was beautiful. I was excited to run for hours under such beauty!

It was good thing that the race organizers split the runners in each category by waves.  This is to prevent clogging of the way up to the skyway.  We came across a familiar face - a fellow runner from our neighbourhood.  Then, it was time for the prep up for the gun time. Condura has really lived up to its hype - fireworks, marshalls, a helicopter filming, etc.

The runners were so excited to ascend the skyway... and off we go.  Doods had promised to pace me, so instead of speeding up and leaving me; he stuck by my side, even though I knew that he was having a hard time with my snail pace. The first half (10.5km) went smoothly.   The hydration stations were well spaced out and the water was plenty with some sports drinks (courtesy of 100 plus).   There was some pride brewing inside  me when I realized that I was really running the highway where our car would pass by every work day!

It's funny when we approached the toll gate and somebody shouted "free toll fees!!!".  For a change, we were not charged by passing the toll gates, he he he.

I took my energy gel when I was near the 1-hour mark.  So, I was very  energetic when I did the u-turn at the 10.5k mark.  The first problem I had was when I was approaching the 16K mark.  It was an uncharted territory.  My longest race so far was my Bull Run, an opening race for 2012.  A combination of fatigue and fear of the unknown brought some discomfort on my calves.  I was sensing some cramps (or maybe I was just imagining them).  So, I told Doods that I would have to stop running and instead just walk to avoid any untoward incident (of cramps).  I told him to continue running and meet him up at the finish line.  He willingly obliged.

I walked and jogged and walked for around half a kilometer.  Then, I did some stretching.  I felt kind of relieved so I decided to run again.  Well, the hubby could not leave me!  He waited for me (actually, I was hoping for it!).  We ran together towards the finish line.  Somebody took a picture of us holding hands while we were about to reach the finish line. Nice timing! :)














So, here's our official time:

Not too impressive but hey it's our first time!!!

Energy gel...for endurance!

I had my first taste of energy gel last Saturday.  And it tastes good (of course, I chose the blackberry flavor!)

This gel has provided me with a shot of 100 calories of carbo upon reaching the 1-hour mark.  I've read in one of the running books that when you're running for more than two hours you will need some energy boosters.  This will help with replacing the glycogen level and also avoid build up lactic acid thus avoiding developing injury.  Ooops, sorry for the running lingo!

Speaking of runner's language, I had a funny encounter with a muggle last Monday.  I went to Mercury Drug Store hoping to find energy gel there....

Me:  Do you have GU energy gel?
Pharmacist:  Ano po yun?
Me:  Energy gel...kahit anong brand.
Pharmacist:  (with a bewildered look)  Para saan po yun?
Me:  For endurance
Pharmacist:  (with an enlightened look) Ahhhh

He left to get a sample.  Guess what he brought?  A condom..yup, endurance is a known label for a condom....LOL.  Anyway, I left the drugstore empty handed.

This Sunday, I will be running my first half-marathon (21K).  Based on my current training pace, I might do it  for about 2.5 - 3 hours.  Oh yes, that's how slow I run.  But, as they say in running, it's not how fast you run but on whether you finish the race or not.

21K Race Map

  So, let's run and conquer the Skyway!

An Opening Bullish Run

This race is the opening salvo for runners this year. Late November last year, the 16K and 21K slots were already sold out.  It was a good thing that we decided to register for 16K as soon as we were able to survive our Milo 10K run.

Why the 16K and not the 21K?  Well, I didn’t want to rush things. I am the type of person who sticks to the plan. I am already training for 21K and based on the schedule, I’m supposed to run around 15-18K this week.  So, just to add spice to the training, we decided to sign up.  Other motivations are, of course, the give-aways, like the finisher’s shirt and the medal (aside from the singlet, of course).

SO how did it go? 

We were at the site at around 4:30 AM. The gun time was at 5:20, so we still have time to do some warm ups and other prep stuff.  I thought running the new distance was going to be a grueling task so I had some muesli and a half-glass of milk for early breakfast.

The gun start was not the usual. It was a bell, like the one they use at the PSE trading hall.  At 5:15, the 21K runners sped off, shortly followed by us, the 16K runners.

As mentioned by last year’s participants, hydration was a problem. So, I made sure to bring my own drink (water with some Gatorade).  Indeed, it was a good move. The first hydration stop, though, was at 500m.  Can you believe that?  Who gets thirsty after running just 500 meters?  Anyway, at 3K there was no hydration. I even overheard somebody complaining about it.  Hydration came at around 5K and after that though, there was a continuous supply at regular intervals so I didn’t hear any more complaints. There was also a supply of Pocari sweat, which turns out to be nice drink, and I had it for a couple of times.

The refreshing experience I had was with the water shower. Too bad, though, that the singlet seemed to be not so dri fit, since I was dripping wet (especially on my tummy part).

The first 10K was smooth, and it wasn’t really that hard.  In fact, I even broke my personal record in the Milo 10K run.  But, when I approached the Kalayaan flyover, it was really a struggle. I was able to run the first pass.  But coming back, I did feel the drain of energy.  My feet were so heavy it was really difficult to run.  So, I walked going up the flyover.  It was bliss going down; however, the last 3K was done using the walk-and-run strategy.  The flyover had really zapped a lot of my energy.

I finished the 16K at 2 hours, 12 minutes and 42 seconds.  I bested 242 runners (being ranked 426 out of 668, not so bad! LOL)

It was really exhilarating crossing the finish line. I even lingered at the shower area for a while.

Then I gulped an iced can of Pocari sweat. So sweet!

My 2012 List

2011

Wow, that was a very good year for me and my family...

• I was officially admitted to the Philippine bar on April 2011; 

• By attending a marriage encounter in Tagaytay on June 2011, Hubby and I were able to discover Serviam, a Catholic lay organization founded by the late Archbishop of Manila, His Eminence Cardinal Sin.  We are now "entrants" and we will start tomorrow our journey towards knowing more deeply our Lord and Savior;

• Danielle and Julia were in good health the entire year, except for some bouts of colds and cough;

• And last but not the least, I discovered running late September 2011.  So far, I joined two (2) 5k races ( AKOR and SGV First Step) and one (1) 10k race (35th National Milo Finals).

2012

• Do more legal works than finance.  Hopefully, I will get feedback regarding my application with the Office of the Solicitor General (*crossing fingers*);

• Perfect attendance for Sunday masses and Holy Days of Obligation (with kids).  I also want Dani to be part of Serviam's Youth Ministry (!);

• Continuous good health for the whole family and no dengue attack please;

• Running-wise, run at least four (4) half-marathons with at least 1 race abroad (either the Singapore Marathon or Phuket Marathon).  Around 3rd quarter, I would like to start training for my first full marathon (planning to run either TBR's Dream Marathon or Condura's 2013 Skyway Marathon).   Call me ambitious but if Anne Curtis was able to release an album then I certainly can train and run for a marathon (*sorry for the poor analogy*).

Let's ALL rock 2012 by running, praising and giving back all the glory to the One!

The Biggest Loser

Having kid/s is not an excuse to be careless about gaining weight nor being fresh from reviewing the notorious bar examination.

Those were my alibis whenever somebody noticed the bigger Lilet they saw a few months ago.  My weight hit its heaviest at 75 kilograms.

Look at those huge thighs!!!

I've tried a lot of ways to lose those plenty of unwanted fats....from doing yoga to different kinds of diet.  Obviously, those did not work.

Late September this year, our corporate admin officer announced that there would be a contest among those who wanted to be fit!  Called after the hit show, "The Biggest Loser'' targets those who are fed up of starving themselves and binge eating after.

We had our initial weighing in and mine was a little over 70 kilograms.  I've been doing some dieting for the past few months so somehow I already lost some weight.  Just imagine eating either mixed fruits or greens only during lunch during on workweeks!

Then, finally, after a lot of attempts to venture into joining races, I decided to become a runner... LegallyfabrunnR is born!

Fast forward to December, venue: Somerset Hotel in Makati and it was time to announce the winner for the biggest loser...

I did not win....hu hu hu!  I lost to Theresa for barely 0.2kg.  I should have had my hair cut first before the final weighing in.  Yeah..prizes are really amazing - big amount of cash + overnight stay at New World Hotel (with buffet breakfast) and airfare ticket for 2 to anywhere in the Philippines.  Sayang talaga!

But then, I may not have won but I am still happy for having discovered running.  Now, even without any prize at stake I will  run!  Look we have just paid today P1,200 to run for the Condura Skyway Marathon.  Quite pricey, right?  But they will be giving away medals for the finishers.  Look at these...

Here's my nice singlet shirt...

Let's go and run for the mangroves!!