Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Running is alive and well in General Santos City


It has been the venue of several Milo Marathon regional elimination races these past few years and I see one big reason why that is so. General Santos City has a vibrant and growing running community.

I had the opportunity of getting in touch with General Santos runners when I was invited by Gensan Run Club's John Apollo Bautista to give a talk on running basics May 18. There was a good sized crowd that night at the lecture, runners of different abilities coming from different clubs. I counted at least four - Mason Runners, Rotary Runners, Tampakan Runners and Gensan Run Club which seems to serve as a group that brings all these clubs together.

The next morning's group run at Robinson's showed me more. People of all shapes, sizes, gender and ages were walking or running at the mall grounds, some even going barefoot. People who were not at the lecture the night before joined us in doing warm-up exercises and ran a few rounds with us. It was both elating and inspiring.

Even the number of races that are organized locally shows how much running is picking up in this premiere city of Central Mindanao's SOCCSKSARGEN region.

On June 17, the Masons of Dadiangas Lodge No. 225 is holding the Wheels of Hope Run, a charity event to raise funds for a project that provides wheelchairs to indigent persons with disabilities. The 3k, 5K and 10K event which starts and ends at the East Asia Royale Hotel Parking Grounds hopes to gather quite a crowd with participants coming from all over the region.



On  June 23, the EnviRUNment Takbo Para Sa Kalikasan takes center stage with its 1.5K, 3K and 5K runs which start and end at the Mindanao State University High School Campus.



I'm sure more will be coming and more people will be joining with such a vibrant running community keeping the sport alive and well in Gensan. And with new-found running friends in this city to inspire and motivate me, maybe my dream of running a race in Gensan's relatively flat fast course will now come true.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Team Davao Runners charity run 3: it's for schoolchildren this time




Once again Team Davao Runners is organizing a charity run, its first for this year and the third since the practice was started on December 20 last year with a 12k charity run for victims of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro.

This time, beneficiaries of the 12k charity run are the children of  Tibulao Elementary School in Carmen, Davao del Norte and Datu Manlangan Elementary School at Sitio Kinse-Kinse, Brgy. Salapawan in Davao City's Paquibato District who need help with their school supplies for the coming school year.

As it did in the first two charity runs, TDR is asking runners who are joining this 12k run on May 24 to donate at least PhP100 worth of school supplies like notebooks, pencils, paper, and school bags. Cash donations will be converted to school supplies.

This will again be a raw run with no runner support, no water stations, and no food. Runners who will join are encouraged to bring their own hydration.

The run will start at 5:00 am from McDonald's Bajada, go all the way to Motolite at Lanang and back.

As with its two previous charity runs, TDR is optimistic that a good number of runners will again join and share their school-opening gifts for the needy children of Tibulao Elementary School and Datu Manlangan Elementary School. Runners after all have big hearts, and there are a lot of them in Davao City.

"A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up." 
(from The Best Giving Quotes on www.boardofwisdom.com)

School children of Datu Manlangan Elementary School
Photo courtesy of Arn Sandoval Enobio 

For more information about this event, please visit the Davao Runners Facebook page.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

My run, my song of praise



Feet touching ground
romancing dew-kissed grass
Heart pumping blood 
warming veins 
Lungs expanding
contracting 
as air rushes in and out
through flaring nostrils
slightly open mouth
Arms swing 
back and forth
Eyes fixed 
ahead
I run

The pounding in my breast
the burn of oxygen debt
tell me
I am alive

I am blessed

I am grateful
and I forever 
will 
be

My run is my song of praise
It is when I feel God's goodness the most
It is how I best proclaim His greatness
in creation.

(Photo: Sun Runner by Banaski)

What matters is the run

 For the past two weeks, I have been running in my more than two years old pair of Saucony Kinvara 10s. They still felt good through several...