Thanks to Cherry and Carlos for experimenting with us! We will not fail you guys! We will put them to good use! I’ll try to come up with a review as well in the coming weeks!

If you aren’t busy this Sunday, come over to BHS for a VFF run. It will be a lot of F-U-N fun!!

More photos of the fitting after the jump!

I had a little bit of trouble shooting with the short range. The 17-40 is not long enough for events like these. It was a good thing my cam went up to 21 megapixels. I was able to crop like crazy.

I wish the Eastwood Central Plaza had more staple lights. It would make the mini concerts they have look even more awesome.

More lights with equate to more awesomeness and better shots! I was glad to have live view on my cam, it made dialing in the exposure so much easier.

I need to get back into training. Without a close race in the horizon, I am stuck without a good motivator for me to train. My Ironman dream is still in the distance and if I stay true to my regimen of training less, I will surely end up as fat as this kid. Without a close race in the distance, I am left with very little motivation to train. The past two weeks have been very mediocre for me. I would barely get up early for a long bike ride. I would rarely run. I would barely even swim 200 meters straight.

I was brushing my teeth this morning and I think I have found my motivation.  I saw a fat me. I saw myself overweight again. I HAVE been eating a lot lately and I have nobody else to blame but myself. I could already feel my weight pulling me down. I could barely see my toes when I look down because my big round stomach is blocking the way. If I want to join my first half ironman triathlon next year, I should really put in the training now. I need to build up more base and core. I could feel my flexibility dwindling. I can’t even touch my toes anymore. I don’t want to make my debut in CamSur next year looking like a tub of lard. I want to be fit and ready for the task.

Back to a weekly run mileage of 30 kilometers for me.

Back to biking at least 3 times a week.

Back to swimming in the pool at least 2 times a week and doing at least 1500 meters.

There there. It’s going to be alright. It’s OK Fatboy.

Back to training. Back to getting fit. I don’t want to see myself fat and full of lard all over again.

I dread the day I will be this fat tub of lard again. I dread the day that I will be back to my fat 2008 self.

Back to training if I want to be a real Ironman. I think I’m back in the groove.

After a good month long break from running, I ran again last night but that same euphoric feeling that I experience every time I run wasn’t there anymore.

I planned to run my normal 11 kilometer route last night. It was quite ambitious given the fact that my last run was a measly 5 kilometers more than 2 weeks ago at Dean’s Cup but I still aimed to do it. It started off pretty good and it felt really really relaxing to be running again.

Feeling the breeze flowing through my ears was always a sensation I yearned for when I ran. I was happy I still got felt that. It was relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. It was a blast feeling the strong gust of winds along Esensa. It was a joy running along the side walk of Lawton Road. The occasional game of patintero between road deformities, pedestrians and jeeps were always a good way to break to monotony. The rush going down Mckinley always proves to be what I enjoy most from the route; fast, weaving and certainly the easiest stretch that I will run through.

Things started going down hill when I was on my way out of Mckinley. My lungs and body could handle the effort but my feet can’t. My long break from running was rearing it’s ugly head to haunt me. The long break has apparently thinned the calluses on my feet. I started to feel a burning sensation on my left foot and I could really feel the need to slow down. With every step I took, I could feel the blister getting bigger and squishier. I slowed down considerably. I had to stop at 9 kilometers because pain was beginning to be unbearable. I need to run more regularly to get those calluses back.

I finished off the run with one loop around BHS and I could never have been so relieved to stop. Has the love for running faded? Has the joy of pounding my feet on the ground proved to be too stressful for me? Have I unlearned running? I think I just need to run more often. Got to get back into the groove.

She was extremely pleased to see the finish.

Tessa Prieto finished with smiles on her face.

Elite women’s champ finished with flowers around her neck.

Coach Rio ran a blistering 21k.

Bozzone had everybody eating his dust when he crossed the finish line.

Yoda and I at the finish line just before the race. Yoda is the Endure Mascot.

With the team and our patented Triangle Formation. Ellen, Pio, Rj, Me, and Tiff. I was glad they were there.

Me and my ugleh swim form. Bent knees and all.

Coming out of the pool for the first time. I look like a sea monster. I wish it was more than just looks and that I also swam like one. :( Getting out of the pool was the hardest. Had to do that a total of three times.

It was quite a run from the pool to transition area. I was lucky enough to bring a pair good fitting slippers.

I was out of T1 in a couple of minutes. I made sure I had my shades on so that I’ll look like a PRO. Oh yeah. That my friends is how you properly mount up to a bicycle.

I look happy. I finished the 20k bike at around 51 minutes. I am still slow. Thanks to the humps though, I have a reason for being slow.

Oh yeah. My second Triathlon is complete and here’s to hoping that I do more.

Thank you Tricia for coming! I love you! With out your support, I wouldn’t have finished the race.

Prepare your gear before you go to sleep. This includes race kits, goggles, swim cap, the clothes the you will wear. This even includes your bike. Make sure everything is rolling OK. Pump up your tires to 100 PSI. Don’t forget your water bottles. Don’t forget your bike tools. Don’t forget your shades and your helmet. Put them in a transition bag (I keep mine in a transition bag. Its a bag where I keep my shoes, bike shoes, some clothes, and everything else. I got mine at Secondwind. Cheap too!) or a basket.

The blue bag there is my transition bag. I always keep everything in that bag so there’s no chance of me leaving something at home.

Set up well at transition. As soon as you get body marked, head on over to transition and hook up your bike to the bike rack. Take out your shoes and open them up. That way, it will be a snap to put them on later in the race. Put a little powder as well around the ankle area so that your foot will just slide in even if they are wet. Set up everything in a way that once you get there you won’t forget anything. Put your helmet on top of the bike to make sure that it will be the first thing you’ll grab! Safety first!

Take it easy in the swim. Nobody wins a triathlon by blazing through everybody in the swim. Take it easy and slow. Don’t get too caught up in the crowd because all you’ll get are lungs full of water. Be prepared to get kicked but don’t let that put you out of your groove. Zone out and just swim! An average of 2.5 – 3 minutes per 100 meters is good enough and you’ll still be able to get a good and decent finish.

T1: Top to bottom. In transition 1, coming from swim to bike, wear everything from top to bottom. Helmet, Shades, race belt, shoes. Make it systematic so you won’t forget anything. Make sure you wear you’re helmet the right way and not the other way around.

Attack with your strengths. If you’re strong on the bike, give them hell on the road. If you’re a good runner, give them hell on the pavement.A lot of my friends have finished this way. Gingerbreadman Luis on his first duathlon blazed through his run to overtake and finish ahead of most of the guys.

T2: Drop everything and run like hell. I heard of many horror stories of people crashing in the run portion of at triathlon. Make sure you still have some energy left and that you can still run easy. Spin easy on your last kilometer on the bike to give you legs some sort of breathing space. Don’t go out running with your helmet on!

Dance to the finish. It’s your first triathlon so you might as well make your finish memorable. Do a cartwheel. Scream out loud like a Spartan. Crawl to the finish. Do anything. Just make sure you finish the race happy and enraged and fueled to join your next triathlon.

I upgraded my old Heavy Profile Design Fast Forward Seat Post to a Carbon Profile Design Fast Forward Seat Post. Haven’t been able to take it out on the road since I got it so I can’t really tell the difference. I don’t think I’ll really be able to tell the difference with the little weight I shaved off but less is always better on the bike. There was a substantial weight difference when I was holding both seat posts. This Upgrade cost me 3000 pesos. Ouch.

Maybe I could just try losing more weight. I am back to 140 pounds. I am heavy and fat again.

That is how I felt after I crossed the finish line last Sunday as the 2nd Powerade Duathlon. I trained for it. I sweated blood and tears for it. But I still came short. I was targeting a finish below two hours but I was 3 minutes over the mark.

Aside from the fact that I did not reach my target, it sucks even more because my legs hurt and are still sore. I still can’t walk properly even after 3 days. And to top it all off, I am feeling all this all for nothing. My body hurts, my shoulders are sore, when I wake up I don’t feel rested, I am over trained, I can’t walk properly; all for nothing. I put in so much time into this and I still didn’t reach my goal. I did everything right and I still missed the mark.

I hope I have better luck next time.

What you see is a collection of most of my running singlets. That’s only 24 of what I was able to get last night from all the others I could not find anymore. I know it’s a lot and I think I have more. I think I am missing 3 or 4 more singlets.

I love my black Takbo.ph singlet. It is iconic. It is a collectors item. But above all that, it has been a gateway for me to get to know other people in running. When I was just starting out with running, I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any friends. Every time I wore the Takbo.ph singlet, other people from Takbo.ph approached me and made friends with me. Thanks Argo for introducing yourself at Milo Marathon 2009. It was great meeting you Doc Topher at the AutoReview Run 10k. We had a good easy run that day.

The Rota run singlet is my constant reminder that I should strive to do better. I ran a sub 1:45 21k that day and so did everyone else. Everybody was surprised that the course was short. Everybody was disappointed and everybody felt deceived. Instead of riding on the bandwagon, I saw it on a different light. It chiseled in my mind that if I train hard enough and run hard enough, I could someday complete a sub 1:45 21k for real. Up to this day, the Rota run singlet is my reminder and inspiration of what could be.

The Ateneo Sesquicentenial run singlet at the right bottom corner is a proof of my hard work. I ran a 23:50 5 kilometer run that day and it is true that if I train hard enough and run hard enough I can get better and faster.

I love my Botak singlets. They may not be the most comfortable ones but I love them because they make me look like a seasoned runner even though I’m just a newbie.

I have a story for each of those singlets but I am sure this entry would get too long. How many runs have you joined? How many singlets do you have already? Tell me about in the comments!