_mizuno_run_club_wowness

i'm so glad my first pair of running shoes is a mizuno. :)

joined the 1st session of the 3rd mizuno run club last night at bonifacio high street and, i must say, it's a fun way to improve your running skills while getting free drinks & other cool freebies.

the club is actually a 12-session training clinic to be held every thursday starting last night (sept. 10) from 7-8:30pm, with the meeting point in front of the mizuno store at bhs. i saw between 30-40 participants there, and i heard it was probably the biggest mizuno group to date.

we started with a 2-round warmup around bhs, which is about 2.5km (others can run around the short loop if they want to, which goes around the street that divides bhs, for a total of 1.7km). did 6 or 7 different kinds of drills, with the 'genuflect' kind of drill really killing my thigh muscles. :P afterwards, time trial for 3 loops around bhs again, followed by a 1-loop cooldown. that's 7.5km total for me! :D

WARMUP = 1.25km
DRILLS
TIME TRIAL = 3.75km @ 5:51/km
COOLDOWN = 1.25km
STRETCHING

by the way, it's not exclusive for mizuno runners. non-mizuno shoe owners can also join, but the only catch is that they don't get the extra gatorade after the session & the coupon with exciting freebies.

here's the coupon with the 1st visit validated for the 15% discount. check out the other freebies on succeeding sessions! :D


with this, i might get myself a new pair of mizuno's soon! :) woohoo! still torn between the wave creation 10 & wave rider 12 though, but i'll figure it out. my current pair is a wave creation 8 that has given me pain-free running.

if you weren't able to join last night, you can still go there next thursday!

_why_see_district_9

talking about the movie, not any other place here in the metro, i think district 9 deserves good blog reviews, with this being just one of the many other posts by other bloggers.

why should you see it? it's not your usual alien flick. unlike starship troopers, knowing, and other films that involve out-of-this-world species, there's actually a good story underneath the semi-action, semi-drama district 9. it makes us think how good/bad we, as the human race, can really be when faced with a particular situation involving money, power, & self-preservation. the good display of special effects & animation is just a bonus.

rotten tomatoes also praised it with a 90% rating. not that their critics are always right, but i have to agree with this one.

a few thoughts that crossed my mind as i was watching it:

- the first scene made me say to myself, "uh oh! is this another cloverfield or blair witch kind of movie where the cameraman gets to be the movie cameraman?" it turns out to be the usual cinematography. :) whew!

- the main character reminded me of borat because of his accent and personality

- thank God they decided to film it OUTSIDE the US! :D somebody must have tipped the writer. :) ...or they really needed the nigerians.

- i would WANT to have a shirt with the logo below! :D ...not that i support it! :P

_pagadian_slanted_trikes_dried_fish

once you get there, you'll instantly agree that what makes pagadian very unique are their tricycles that are built for the uphill & downhill streets of this port city in zamboanga del sur.

my first time in the western part of mindanao has brought me here before my afternoon flight back to manila via ozamiz city.

like i just said...

even the roofs are so slanted that the tricycle ID can be placed on them

the passenger in front is about the same level as the one sitting at the back of the motorcycle

passed the weight test! ...didn't tilt the trike :) the guy texting isn't even making an effort. i had a hard time getting on & off it, fyi.


different kinds of dried fish & squid are also very popular here...



although i settled for my favorite durian. :) this native variety had longer spikes and was super sweet. yummy!


this was literally gone in 60 seconds... :)

_getting_lost_in_maragondon

here right now in ipil, zamboanga sibugay for work. actually my first time in this part of mindanao. wanted to update my blog before retiring for the evening. took us 3 and a half hours to get here from ozamiz city--the nearest airport from this town.

----------

there are times when it's better to shut up than speak your mind.

this is just one of the small things i've picked up during my first orienteering adventure that happened in maragondon, cavite. thoughts of complaining, ranting, and giving up crossed my mind but i decided to keep them to myself to prevent any negative atmosphere from affecting our team, 3 men & a hottie.

imagine going through sharp bamboo branches in an apparently non-existent trail and then going back because it led to nowhere.

think about going down to a steep & muddy slope just to find out that you're going the wrong way.

man, that just...makes you wanna cry out, "what the hell am i doing to myself?!?" :P

there were about 35 teams who participated in the 2nd MIT-MC orienteering competition and i think 14 control points that we had to find in order to finish it. a 1-minute interval between starts of each team was the rule. we started at 10:26am at the gym in front of maragondon city hall went past the hanging bridge for CP1 and then...there. that's when hell broke loose. CP2 was the turning point of the race because NO team could easily find it. that's 36 teams! eventually, of course, it was discovered. took our team 3 hours to find it. even ultrapat almost gave up, would you believe? :P my concern then was our hydration supply which was depleted a little after noon...with CP2 yet to be found.

we finished at around 5:30pm, which makes it a total of 7 hours in the wilderness for our team. i felt sorry for the takbo.ph peeps who decided to go DNF because of the arrangements made with the bus.

despite the ordeal that our team had to face--several scratches from treading through thick bushes, going down slippery mud slopes, crossing rivers waist-high (or even more), sheer FRUSTRATION from not being able to find a particular control point after 3 hours of searching, and not having drinking water in the afternoon heat, i would definitely want to go through the same experience again.

not so many pictures this time because we were too focused on the race... :P hehe

the takbo.ph delegation


team 3 men & a hottie. we unofficially finished 13th place. :) not bad for two 1st timers, i must say.


crossing one of the rivers (this one doesn't compare to the 2 other rivers that we had to face)


trophies at the finish. the only picture showing how messed up i was after the race. i missed the awarding because i had to get my car. congrats to cindy & gab for bagging 2nd runner up! :D