GTUGPH May 21 Mapping Party

Cross posted from the blog of GTUG Philippines.

To help out the Philippine Red Cross and the community, in general; GTUG Philippines will be sponsoring a mapping party. It will be held on May 21, 2011 (1:00 to 5:00 PM) at Redfox Innovative Technologies Center, 26 Dona Hemady Ave., Barangay Marianas, New Manila, Quezon City (right across Jubbilee Christian Academy) [Map]

The venue will only be able to accommodate a maximum of 35 attendees. Sign-up now here. We will notify via e-mail to confirm if you will be part of the participants. If you will not be selected, don't fret, you can still help in the efforts by going to http://www.google.com/mapmaker.

For more information, visit the project site here.

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Takbo.ph NightFest 2011

Last April 9, 2011, I participated in Takbo.ph NightFest 2011. It was a night run at Filinvest, Alabang sponsored by Takbo.ph, Skechers Resistance Runner and Magnolia Purewater. There were 2 categories, 5k and 10k (two loops of 5k) and was said to be limited to 2, 000 runners. I challenged myself and registered in the 10k run.

After registering for the run, I tried my best to run every Tuesday and Thursday to prepare for my first 10k run. On the run date, I almost had a hard time going to the assembly area because I am not that familiar with the venue. The route was also new to me so I just followed the runners who are ahead of me and the marshals who are friendly and cheerful. There were some uphill/downhill and I am not that prepared for it. There were enough hydration along the route. What I just observed is that there were no trash cans near the Magnolia Pure Water hydration station, unlike in the Pocari Sweat station, so some runners are just throwing the plastic cups anywhere.

At the finish line, they were giving finisher's certificate. There were also a lot of freebies from the sponsors. Because I was one of the early registrants, I was also able to get a free Skechers SRR T-Shirt. According to the official results, I finished the run in 62 minutes and 48 seconds. I was 174th out of the 498 participants in the 10k category. Since the 10k was two loops of the 5k route, I checked my time after the first loop. I was able to beat my previous 5k record of 39:50 with 30:54.

Over all, it was a nice running event and I enjoyed it. I'll continue running and try to maintain or beat my record. Now, I'm thinking of challenging myself to a 16k run this July.

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Running

Early last year, I started some running/jogging but I wasn't able to make it a habit. Maybe because, we used to run early in the morning and I am not yet that serious in running. That time, we run/jog in Legaspi Active Park in Legaspi Village, Makati. We planned to join a run but that did not happen due to a lot of circumstances.

I started running on Cavite State University Naic's Unang Takbo para sa Ginintuang Anibersaryo (First Run for the Golden Anniversary). It was a 5k run to kick off the 50^th anniversary of the school. To prepare for the event, I started reading about running and watching some videos. I also asked a friend, Brian, to give me tips and techniques. He is now my running mentor/buddy. It took me 39 minutes and 50 seconds to finish running the 5 kilometer distance. This started my "running career." After the run, I became serious in running. I wanted to continue running and join other running events. I even dreamt of running a full marathon someday.

I'm recording my runs in my DailyMile account. I also registered for an account in the Takbo.ph forum and started to read forum posts there. I have been trying to make running at least twice a week (preferably Tuesday and Thursday) a habit.

I have also registered in Takbo.ph NightFest 2011. It will be on April 9, 2011. This will be my first 10k run, first night run, and first time to run in Filinvest Alabang. If it goes well, I'll be challenging myself (again) on a 16k run by July.

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