Davao City Run hits the roads on Sunday, May 29

Another big running event takes place in Davao City this Sunday from running specialty store RunClub, this time in partnership with the new Nike Athletic Club flagship store at Abreeza Ayala Mall.

Some 1,700 registered participants are running the 4K-8K-16K Davao City Run which starts and ends at the newly opened Abreeza Mall.

Monchit Mackay of RunClub said more runners would have wanted to join the run and apologized to those who were not accommodated.

"It is not our desire to hold a run of more than 1,500 runners as we want to make it organized, safe and fun filled. In fact, we reached our ceiling as early as last Saturday but tried to accommodate a few more slots for our RunClub friends," he said.

As in previous runs organized by RunClub, Kenneth Sai and Vantage Sports have been tapped to ensure a safe and well-organized run this Sunday.

The event will benefit the Padre Pio's Home for Children, a Catholic institution for the orphaned and abandoned children at Tugbok Proper, Davao City.

Smart-WWF Run for the Environment: for runners, nature-lovers and dog owners

Environmentalists, nature-lovers and dog owners who love to run take to the roads again this Sunday, May 22, in the Smart-WWF Run for the Environment in Davao City.

The four-distance (2k-3k-5k-10k) event presented by Smart, World Wildlife Fund for Nature-Philippines, PLDT, SM City Davao, and The Ark Veterinary Clinic coincides with the celebration of Ocean Month this May and will benefit the Smart-WWF Philippines' projects for the protection and conservation of Davao Gulf.

Prizes await top male and female finishers in the 3K (16 years old and under), 5K and 10K distances. The 2k is a special run-walk event for dogs and their owners.

Run for the Environment starts at 5:00 am at the SM City Davao Parking Area C.

Again from Phoenix Petroleum - the Tagum City Phoenix Night Run

Phoenix Petroleum further cements its support to running in southern Philippines with the holding of the Tagum City Phoenix Night Run on Saturday, May 21.

The Tagum City Phoenix Night Run is the second running event presented by the petroleum company after the successful Araw ng Dabaw Phoenix Run: Takbo para sa kinaBOOKasan in Davao City last March 13.

Phoenix teams up with the city government of Tagum, Davao del Norte in organizing this event dubbed "Dagan Para sa Pinoy-anan" in support of the city's Bahay Lingap Program which provides free house renovation to its less fortunate residents.

Race management is again being handled by Vantage Sports Promotions.

The Tagum City Phoenix Night Run features four run distances - 3K, 5K, 10K and 21K - with more than P100,000 in cash and other prizes for men and women winners. The 3k run will be a competition specifically for children 12 years old and below. All 21k finishers will receive medals.

Assembly time is at 5 pm on May 21 at the New Tagum City Hall where the run starts and ends.

More information on the Tagum City Phoenix Night Run is available on the Phoenix Run Davao Facebook page.

Runners, friends, brothers-in-arms

For a couple of runs or so lately I shared paces with my long time running buddy, Cris, and on another occasion with his son, Klent Reymon.

It has been a while since I ran with someone.

I have been a lone wolf in much of my running life. I am either too slow for the speedy ones or too fast for the rest. I therefore burn the pavement and sweat on my own. On dirt roads, it's only my breathing and my footsteps that mingle with the sound of chirping birds and babbling mountain springs. I see myself as the living version of those photographs of the lonely long distance runner, lonely in the sense of being alone, though definitely not inside where the joy of doing something so loved engulfs the entire being.

There were a few times though when I and some running buddies got together for a run. Cris, his children, a number of other fast friends and me - we ran together. We ran long for marathons. We ran hills. We ran dirt roads where once we chanced upon a man harvesting coconuts and asked for some young ones for a swig of water. It was perhaps the best mid-run refreshment I have tasted. We even ran in a downpour once braving the rain until we were too wet and cold that we had to stop and crowd ourselves on a small roadside shack, the only shelter available to us on that farm road we were on.  

Those runs will never be forgotten.

As Cris and I ran together a couple of weeks ago, talking about my latest race performances in Davao, he brought my attention to a younger man running parallel to us on the other side of the road.

"That guy has been tailing me since I started. Let's show him what we old ones can do."

He told me to pick up the pace. I smiled, and matched his strides. The young man on the other side of the road did the same. We picked up the pace a bit more. In less than a kilometer of running, the young man was behind us by quite a distance. It was again like before.

Running friends encourage each other and push each other to run faster and be better. They may not run together or race together always, but the memories of runs shared and enjoyed together is forever an unbroken bond between brothers-in-arms.

                                                                                                                                                                              (photo from kimbia.net)

Running is alive and, well, running in CDO

I knew there was a yearly Milo Marathon regional elimination race in Cagayan De Oro City. But other runs? I wasn't sure. That is until I saw photos of running events on the Facebook account of a fellow former Cotabato City resident and now CDO-based friend.

There were the 1st CDO Night Run and Run for the Heart in February, the CDO Night Run for World TB Day in March, and this Sunday, May 15, the CUMC Kidney Run hits the roads.

The 3-distance (5k-10k-21k) CUMC Kidney Run, which also features a 2k fun walk, aims to raise funds for dialysis patients of Cagayan De Oro's Capitol University Medical City.

"Dialysis treatment is quite expensive and most patients are treated for his or her lifetime. We are reaching out to some of these underprivileged patients to somehow support 2 or 3 of their dialysis treatments in the Hospital," explained Lani Deleste of the CUMC HR Department.

Lani, who is a triathlete, is also the president of 4:30 RMR. This merry mix of individuals from all walks of life, of varying ages and abilities, shapes and sizes, and gender brought together by a common love for -you guessed it right- running and running shoes, is the main group behind the CUMC Kidney Run.

Sunday's event is the 2nd organized by 4:30 RMR. Their first one was Run for the Heart, a fund-raiser for indigent children with heart problems. While Run for the Heart had a few hitches which 4:30 RMR humbly acknowledged, the event was apparently a well-participated event and a success. Given what they have learned from the experience, 4:30 RMR is expected to come up with a bigger and better event with the CUMC Kidney Run this Sunday.

To everyone doing the CUMC Kidney Run, run strong!

(For more information on the CUMC Kidney Run, please visit the 4:30 RMR site at weebly.com.)