sports in the summer 11:20 PM

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just being too hard on myself.

Last Thursday, Love Grace and I went running again in Legaspi Park. Love did her usual run-walk-run-walk regimen while I was psyching myself up to run somewhere between 5km to 8km. I didn't bother to follow what the SmartCoach program wanted me to do that night, which was speedwork. Forget that.

So just to sort of compensate for my flagrant disregard of intervals, I was trying to muster the energy to run over 5km. But the summer heat that night was stifling; I couldn't feel any breeze while I was running, and as such, I felt claustrophic and unable to breathe properly. Summer can suck at times, really. I ran only 5k that Thursday evening, clocking in at 30:28 (6.1 min/km).

Some people would be okay with that, but I guess I'm just so hard on myself. Did my cool-downs wearing a somewhat dissatisfied expression on my face. Although when I was stretching, I was wincing at the usual soreness in my right shin. Even Love noticed I was limping a little. So, actually, I did right to stop at 5km.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I'm supposed to do a long run. Hmm. Will see how far I can go. The humidity is so terrible these days that the prospect of running on a treadmill inside an airconditioned gym sounds appealing. But then I think of that one-armed lolo elite runner (who looks like he's in his 60s and whom I see in some of the races) and then those Bataan Death March 102km ultramarathon runners--and I feel wimpy and idiotic for even considering running inside a gym with A/C. Silly me. Running outdoors is still the real thing.

***

I'm considering transferring to a new boxing gym starting this May. Checked one out in the Salcedo Village area this afternoon, and the best thing about it is that it's just a 10-minute walk away from the office. It's nearer to my place of work and residence, and thus, more convenient. While I'll certainly miss my old trainer, Mong, I need to check out other boxing gyms that are geographically more feasible for me, given my working hours. And if I'm not happy with the new one, I can always go back to Elorde.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside this new place was the "old school boxing" gym look and feel to it (similar to Elorde). No A/C, no fancy lounge and locker room areas with complimentary toiletries. Just the bare essentials: boxing ring, punching bags, speed ball, wooden floors, standard weights and a no-frills shower area. I love it. My idea of a real workout place.

The gym has the same training program as Elorde's (so I should feel at home, hopefully) and also offers boxing bag aero group exercise, which should be interesting. This one-hour workout combines traditional boxing strikes and punches with Muay Thai moves and cardio aerobics, and I'm actually kind of excited to try it. But until I actually sign up and finalize my boxing regimen this summer, I won't be posting updates on boxing in the meantime.

***

My two younger sisters, Karla and Steffi, are resuming their tennis lessons this summer. I'm happy for them but at the same time, I don't envy the sport they're in. I hate playing under the heat of the sun. It gives me migraine.

Anyway, I consider all three of us girls lucky because we've always been on the thin side--and hopefully will continue to be until we're geriatrics. Nothing scares me more than a sedentary lifestyle.

more running buddies 1:11 AM

Summer's getting to be a real bitch. Since I live 10-15 minutes away from work, I usually walk to the office. Those 10-15 minutes are becoming quite torturous, with the summer sun beating down on you. I go to work in my Havaianas now, and just put on my heels when I reach my workplace.

Today, I was wearing jeans and a thin white blouse and I was still sweating despite the office airconditioning. Lord.

Went running last Friday with Neva, Kline and their friend Sandy in Legaspi Park. I was supposed to do a 4.8k tempo run with a 1.6k warm-up and 1.6k cool down. But because it was just so effing hot and I hadn't fully digested my hungarian sausage w/ egg sandwich and coffee, my body felt heavy and so, so very hot (literally).

Ran a total of 4.36k only but at a 5.8 min/k pace, which was nice. However, I ran faster than I should have, and the entire training run left me very breathless. Not good actually. So not good. I should learn to pace myself better and be more patient. Neva did 10 rounds of 1-minute running & 2-minute walking, and was in good shape. Sandy, a karate instructor, served as Kline's pace runner. Poor Kline. For someone who hasn't joined a single 5k or 10k race, Sandy was in great shape and a natural in running.

Tonight, I had a laugh trip of a dinner with Love, Randy and Earl before my usual run. Love wanted to take up running and so we planned to run in Legaspi Park 8 or 9pm-ish. But with Randy as your dinner companion, it's impossible to end dinner early.

Love and I ended up running in the park at 10:30 pm. Mike joined us as well, so it was nice to have another running buddy.

Tonight's program stated that I should be doing a 3.2k easy run at a 7:31 min/k pace. Since I merely use the SmartCoach program as a rough guide, I decided to run longer than 3.2k tonight. So I ended up with 5k, clocking at 29:28. And at a 5.9 min/k pace. Sheht. Takbo na may konting yabang na. Although to tell you the truth, I really, really, REALLY still feel slow, because I average 132 steps per minute. The calibrations are all correct now, but I'm careful not to feel so elated over my improved pace. The true measurement anyway of improved running performance is always race day.

Randy's joining us on Thursday for the usual regular practice run in Legaspi Park. More sweat, more muscle soreness, and more running buddies!

quiet Thursday morning 3:46 PM

I wasn't expecting Maundy Thursday to be this quiet. Went to Greenbelt, hoping to have breakfast at Flapjacks with A and do some last-minute shopping afterwards.

When we got there, lo and behold, Flapjacks was not yet open at 10 something in the morning, and all the stores were completely closed for the next few days. The hell. I thought this sort of thing only happened on Good Friday, considering how Filipinos are such mall rats.

It was a toss-up between Italianni's and Chili's (the only two restos open at that time), so we opted for the latter.

And being the devout coffee patron that I was, I made sure to get the Holy Week schedule of the Starbucks branches near my place. Starbucks The Columns is open today (Maundy Thursday) while the People Support branch will be open on Good Friday, 6 am onwards. We have come a long way from those it's-so-quiet-I'll-go-out-of-my-mind Good Fridays when everything was closed except 7-Eleven.

As you can see, coffee is not on my list of things to abstain from this Holy Week.

***

I am sitting inside Starbucks right now, typing this entry and trying not to wince at the sight of so many people entering the store to have their own coffee fix as well.

Currently reading Margaret Atwood's Booker Prize-winning The Blind Assassin, and I'm feeling slightly annoyed at myself for reading it only now. As I love novels that have a story-within-a-story structure, The Blind Assassin is my kind of book. It manages to be exciting and complex with a satisfying mix of world-weariness and irreverence without being sensational (whew, so many adjectives there, I realize). An easy read enough, and comes well recommended--so far (since I'm only halfway through the book). This is my first time to try Atwood, and I definitely plan to read her other books after Assassin.

***

In the spirit of Holy Week traditions, my friends and I will be having poker (and board games!) tonight. Which will involve the hefty sum of 20 pesos per buy-in. Gamblers! Pagans! Infidels! Cheapskates!

So far, it's turning out to be a most relaxing Holy Week.

Brangelina in Boracay! 12:18 PM

This would be one of those times I'd wish I had my old PR job back--just so I could grab a free ticket to Boracay courtesy of SEAIR (my former client) and catch a glimpse of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Rumor has it that they're staying at the new Shangri-la resort in Boracay. I wonder if they will be staying the entire Holy Week (which is a nightmare, if you ask me. Boracay is so crowded during the Holy Week, the place is simply a sinking island waiting to happen.)

According to Ivan Henares, the couple chartered SEAIR's Dornier Do-24 ATT seaplane to get there. Hooray for SEAIR and the Do-24 ATT! I have a special love for that seaplane. It was my biggest SEAIR project ever, and it happened to be like my sort of entry point into landing a job in UNICEF.
This restored Do-24 ATT went on a world tour last 2004 to raise funds for UNICEF Philippines' programs on education, protection and awareness, and we were able to raise on the first leg alone USD 61,000 for UNICEF.

Now I'm on the other side of the fence--still raising funds. =)

Somebody please post photos of Brangelina in Bora!!! I will live vicariously through those photos.

The Delinquent Runner 12:47 AM

Yes, I can go by that name too! Haha.

I haven't run since last Tuesday's 11.33K, mainly because of work. Had to catch up on some backlog paperwork now that I can spend more time reading and writing with my new glasses. I was supposed to do a tempo run of 8K on Thursday and an easy-paced 5K on Friday, but I had to give those up. Sigh.

Well, abandoning Friday's 5K wasn't really an excuse, because I went shopping in Rockwell that night. Shame on me. Went with Ryan to check out the Rockwell Urban Bazaar, where my dear friend Neva currently has a booth for her fab Leyende bath & beauty products. I'm such a big fan and believer of Leyende, and it's wonderful to see how the brand has grown since Neva started her business some 3 years ago. I get a little nostalgic, just thinking about a few of those times when the poker group would gather in Neva's place for our usual 20-peso-buy-in games, and Neva would dab a bit of her latest concoction on our arms. Of course, us girls would love testing the products and giving feedback before the final versions go out, but the boys were such a good sport about the whole thing and treated it seriously. Real men use Leyende, and that's that.

Ryan bought his usual favorite, the Norte variant of No Rumple Silk Skin Butter and I was excited about my purchase of Place in the Sun Sunblock. (Will use this in the Condura Run and for summer outings. Hooray!) I've tried and used all Leyende products (except perhaps the Hair's End Shaving Oil) and because I'm such a skincare addict, I love the Leyende stuff to pieces--especially the Mother Butter Cocoa Butter Lotion. Ahh, I feel delicious every time I slather this on.

Okay, back to the bazaar. After Leyende, I went and looked around at the rest of the booths. It was an assault on the senses. Too many beautiful summer dresses and bikinis. I wanted to buy something, but I had to restrain myself. I'm under a tight budget these days.

However, I was wearing killer (literally!) black pumps that night (to go with my skinny jeans)--and I kept complaining to Ryan that I could barely keep up with him as we walked. Death by pencil-thin heels was not as worthy as, say, death by 11K, so I ended up buying a pair of slim Havaianas to give my poor feet a break.

I have such terrible self-control; every time summer kicks in (or even a holiday, for that matter), I have this ugly compulsion to buy a new pair of Havaianas. I have so many pairs that I've actually lost track of the actual count. But my feet were in such agony Friday night that I went inside Moana (the first shop in Power Plant that I saw with a stock of Havaianas) and actually felt justified in buying the pretty blue-and-gold slippers with the peacock design. Hay. Adik.

Dropped by Fully Booked with Ry to browse--but again, I had to restrain myself because I still have a reading backlog that's longer than my arm. My friend was able to buy some reference materials on digital photography, so at least one of us came out of the bookstore completely happy.

Next Friday, I am sticking to the park. The mall is a dangerous, dangerous place.

desideratum for summer 5:31 PM

Went and bought several pairs of Havaianas over the weekend. It's really ridiculous how we succumb to the vultures of commercialism--in this case, Brazilians who rake in millions just producing rubber flip flops. Poor old local Islander sandals are now treated as the Untouchables in the Flip Flop Caste System.

I got basic black Havaianas from their Brasil line, the ones with the Brazilian flag on the rubber thongs. Red-hot Espana Havaianas from the World Cup flip flops line looked good on my younger sister's feet so I bought that as well. And my personal favorite is my white and orange Havaianas from the 2006 Havaianas Cartunistas collection, which features colorful cartoon drawings from Brazil's top cartoon illustrators. They're absolutely adorable. Wish I could wear them to work everyday.

So now I have four pairs, including black High ones for everyday use. I wanted to buy this other pair of brown Havaianas with brown, blue and white stripes on the rubber sole, but A's mom and sister had to practically drag me away from the entire display. (I looked psychotic, smelling the rubber and holding the brown slippers close to my face.) They said I had too many pairs at the moment. Can one really have too many pairs of Havaianas?

To appease myself, I ended up buying A his very own Havaianas World Cup flip flops. England, size 12. Next month, I'm getting more High ones for my sisters and me. Money can buy you happiness sometimes, you know.

Hello, I'm Gina, and I'm showing early signs of a severe Havaianas addiction.