Poi Dancing at Brigada Anniversario 5
Fire and Lights
20 Aug 2010. It was Brigada’s 5th Anniversay at B*Side, The Collectib, Malugay St., Makati City. It was a night of visual and aural stimulation, a few beers, good company, and good vibes. There was a momentary blast of torrential rain but it didn’t rain down on the night’s mood. How can it when you’ve got awesome DJ mixes, mesmerizing poi performances and Brigada’s Brazilian drum beats to get your hips sh-sh-sh-shakin!
I want to be a hot poi dancer.
Read MoreMy First Official Run – Century Superbods 2010
For race results, please go to the Century Superbods Run website
It feels ecstatically great to finish my first race! And when I found out my run time, I thought, not bad at all.
I was up at 4:15am to be sure to arrive at Bonifacio Global City by 5am on a Sunday. It’s insanely early, even for a morning person. Plus, Sundays are for waking up slow. But there I was at BGC at about 5am on a Sunday – me, and 9000+ other people.
It’s quite amazing to see the number of people who came to be part of the Century Superbods run. I know that a lot of people have chosen to put on those running shoes and have started getting into the running lifestyle. But it’s quite a sight to see them – literally thousands of runners converging in one area in preparation of their chosen run distance. Whatever drowsiness I felt faded when I felt the energy radiating from everyone and everything that morning.
I met up with my friend Maki and we made our way to the stage and starting line. The closer we got to the stage, the more crowded it got. The starting line was literally jam packed with people. It was like a rock concert/rave party out there. The music was booming and a warm up was being conducted for us. The 21k runners were gearing up for gun start as they were first off into the race. Next up were those doing 10k (which Maki took) followed by the 5k runners and then lastly those like me doing 3k.
As the countdown began for 3k, people started cheering excitedly and shouting, “Let’s do this!” and started jogging in place. If that doesn’t pump you up, then I don’t know what will.
10…9…8…7…6 Jog in place. Earphones on? Check. Hi energy running music? Check. Jog in place.
5…4…3…2…1 The buzzer goes off at 5:38. The crowd cheers again, moves forward, and I’m off to my first official run.
The air was cool, dawn was close to breaking and the streets of BGC are nice and wide. The terrain for 3k was relatively flat and easy to run as opposed to where I train – a lot of inclines. We had some cars honking in encouragement (or was it irritation? I couldn’t tell). There were runners I over took while there were runners running like the wind, zooming past me like graceful gazelles with the long strides of their long legs. I kept my pace.
There were times when I wanted to stop and walk a bit. There always are. I promised myself I wouldn’t and I didn’t. It’s just 3k. I told myself – If I was able to do it before, then I could do it again. If can do this, then I can do 5k. So I pushed on until finally, the finish line was in sight. When I saw it, I sprinted and finally crossed the finish.
I felt totally awesome. I didn’t feel tired at all…in fact I think I could’ve run a little more. I’m pretty confident I’ll be capable of running 5k soon enough.
The race wasn’t the end of the mornings events. The sponsors had a lot of freebies and little gimmiks for the finishers. But before being part of all that, Maki, Judd and I decided to go chill at Krispy Kreme where we met up with Maki’s photographer friend, Lawrence. Thanks Lawrence for being the man behind the lens when Maki and I decided to camwhore at the event area.
We ended the morning raiding the booths and taking pictures of ourselves.
………………………………..
Today, they released the Century Superbods Race results and I was happy with what I saw!
Time : 19 mins and 47 secs
Category : FF (I have no idea what that means)
Category Ranking : 4 (Woah!)
Ranking for the 3k womens division : 77 out of 1072 runners (not bad)
Overall Ranking : 229 (I’m not sure what this mean. Overall of all 3k runners?)
I think I’ll continue training and joining more races!
Patty (me) and Maki hyper after the run
I ran last year and it felt good. I decided, heck, I’ll run some more.
I think there is a new epidemic spreading among Metro Manila denizens… Running Fever.
I’ve got more and more friends and family getting into their running shoes and working those strides for all sorts of reasons : to lose weight, to maintain their weight, to build endurance, to start a healthy lifestyle etc. The bottom line is, they’re runnin’. Its gotten me running too.
I remember my first – the Ateneo Fun Run July last year. I got up at 5am to make sure I’m at starting line before 6am. When I arrived at Ateneo, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of people there – hardcore runners doing the 10km, the regular runners doing the 5-km, and fun-runners like me. The energy in the air perked me up.
For that run, I did 2.5 km with a combination of walking and running in between because I was simply out of shape. I ran with no prior training. No jogging..not even walking. I finished the 2.5 km with my legs aching and me gasping for breath. (My hardcore runner friends will probably be snickering at this). Despite that, I felt darn great. Was it the endorphins? Was it the morning air? What it the excitement coming from other runners? Whatever it was, I felt awesome.
I thought, maybe I SHOULD start doing this more seriously.
Fast-forward a couple of months later..
January. My colleagues Maki and Carlos have been excitedly talking about using GPS on their Blackberrys to monitor their runs. At that time, I sorely needed exercise. All the talk about marathons and GPS systems reminded me about that Ateneo run. I decided, “Ok, you know what? Let’s do this. At least one run.. even if i pick the shortest distance. Let’s get it started. The Century Tuna Superbods Run is coming up. Maybe I’ll join that. I’ll do 5km. And oh yah.. Derek Ramsy’s going to be running too. Ok, I gotta be there. Muhahaha”.
Since July, I’ve been jogging on and off. I didn’t really monitor my time nor did I care about my distance. I was after the exercise and feeling great after. But sometime around mid-January when my colleague Carlos began to seriously run and when Maki, a serious runner, joined our team in the office, I got inspired and decided to take it up another notch.
So began “Operation train myself”…
1) Run every weekend
2) Run at least once a week
3) Start sleeping early
4) Drink lots of water and eat a balanced diet (fresh fruits and veggies first!)
4) Monitor running time
5) Monitor distance.
The results so far? Pretty good I must say for someone who just started. In my last run did 2.5 km in 13 mins non-stop with energy to spare after. I think I can do 3km in 15 mins.
Its a simple start for my first real run… 3km. As mentioned, I originally wanted to do 5km. Unfortunately, I got sick earlier this week and wasn’t able to train. I know its nothing compared to the 21km run which I know some friends are planning to do. But hey, its a start. I’ve been following my simple program consistently since January..except for this week as I was sick. I’m fine now. Tomorrow morning, I run.
I feel great. I’ve lost weight and toned up a bit. On days that I run, my energy level is pretty good from morning to evening. The best part is, it really helps with work-related stress.
The Century Tuna Superbods is next weekend -
21 Feb 2010 at Bonifacio Globa City. Must I add, Derek Ramsy is running.
One week remains and I think thats more than enough. After this 3km run, I go the next level… I hear that it gets quite addicting.
World Pyrolympics Day 1
Do you remember what it was like being a kid in a candy store? Or if you had the chance to step into Toys ‘R Us when you were a kid, do you remember what it felt like? Two words : child-like wonder (was that three?). That “woooaah” moment with your mouth hanging open as you just stare in amazement.
That’s how it is for me when i see fireworks. I become eight years old again.
Last Saturday, 21 Nov 2009, was the first Saturday of the World Pyrolympics. And of course, this pyrotechnics fanatic didn’t allow herself to miss out!
For those who don’t know what the World Pyrolympics is, its where the world’s best pyrotechnics teams come together and compete by showcasing awesomely dazzling fireworks displays. If I’m right, this is the 4th World Pyrolympics but the first time for it to be “pyromusical”. Think colorful explosions in the sky synchronized with music.
And yes, this happened and is going to be happening for the next couple of Saturdays in Bonifacio Global City, PHILIPPINES. You don’t get this just anywhere folks.
Last Saturday, Germany and China took the stage. This Saturday, it’ll be Canada and Australia. 5 Dec will be Japan and Italy. For 12 December, it’ll be South Korea and US. The last Saturday, 19 Dec will be the fellowship of fire where the Philippines will be participating.
Here are the videos of the displays for Germany (courtesy of Vince of WhenInManila and Anton of Our Awesome Planet):
Germany (part 1)
Germany Part 2
The next one is part 2 of China’s display. When part 1 is posted by When In Manila, I’ll post it as well.
Between the two, I think China owned it! I wish you were there to see it. The video doesn’t do justice. Its just too bad that it rained during China’s set. I thin thats the reason why it became very smokey.
What do you think of the view from which the videos were taken? Best seats in the ENTIRE house ain’t it? That’s where I will be the coming Saturdays. Wooh! Ask me where. Maybe I’ll tell you.
By the way, general admission also has a GREAT GREAT view. Its only 200 pesos for a ticket. Its well worth it. My friend and I watched from the SVA (special viewing area) which is right in front of the launching point. The view was great as well.
I’m very excited to see what tricks in the bag the other countries have. I’m looking forward to Japan and Italy. I hear they are countries to watch out for. Italy won in the last World Pyrolypmics. Japan is very secretive about their fireworks shells. They refuse to see to foreigners. That’ll be a very interesting night. We’ll see.
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After the fireworks … chill time
Chika sessions with Nikki
Apple Martinis and Margaritas at New Orleans after the Pyrolympics
Read MoreWordCamp 2009 and My Lovely Bowl of Pho
(Pictures from Carlos a.k.a Existential Walker and Judd) Thanks guys. I will use my own pictures once I get my own camera. ‘Til then, I’ll have to contend with my crappy P&S cam, and leeching.
WordCamp 2009
Last Saturday, I attended my first WordCamp seminar.WordCamp is a conference/seminar focused on WordPress. It was co-presented by Mozilla and hosted by the Mindanao Bloggers Group at AIM, Makati. It was ….. interesting. First thing’s first. Sorry blogger but it seems that I may want to migrate to wordpress (oh no, bots crawling my system now. Don’t suspend my account!). That’s as much as I can say since the rest of the info was basically technical. No matter how much I tried to focus and understand, it all seemed like a blur to me. *bleary eyed* I’ll probably just ask Judd and Carlos to help me out. lol. I know, I know. I should at least have a surface understanding of it all since I work in the internet industry for crying out loud.
That’s me smiling in a supposedly candid picture. Beside me are Judd and Marcelle who’s happily plurking on my netbook since his laptop won’t pick up the wifi signal
My favorite parts were the segments on vlogging and bloggers’ roles in the coming National Philippine Elections 2010. That’ll be a whole separate post but I really liked the points of the speaker. For those who think bloggers are just a bunch of lazy bums with nothing to do with their lives, you are starkly wrong. There is much the blogsphere can do. It gives a voice to regular people like you and me. It can be a really powerful tool.
As for vlogging (video blogs), its still at its infancy stage. Think Happy Slip and Moymoy Palaboy . Right now, most of the vlogs I’ve encountered are just about random crazy stuff that people come up with. “Productive Boredom” is what I’d call it. I’m just real curious as to how its going to evolve. Definitely, someone will come up with a socio-political vlog. That I’m very excited to see. I’d make one if I could but I just don’t have the time and resources.
What would I vlog about if I had time to vlog?
1) I’d vlog about different positive things that are happening around the metro – like GK, or concerts for a cause, organic Philippine-made products (or Philippine made products in general),some cool youth initiatives like
Ako Mismo. I think the Ako Mismo people and the Juan Tama people should come up with vlogs.I think the best part of it all was meeting new people (I always like meeting people) – the Mozilla people, the Mindanao Bloggers,
Jehz Lau, and the other bloggers (you know who you are). There are so many cool ideas out there. Hope to see ‘em all emerge into reality.
The speakers
My Lovely Pho
I’ve been craving for Pho since Friday night. After WordCamp, the Nuffies were nice enough to agree and eat at Pho Hoa.
Pho is my ultimate comfort and happy food. I like it with LOTS of chopped chilli and the red hot sauce you see in the picture. Extra Spicy is the way to go baby