Wednesday, August 1, 2007

east meets west for virtual run #2

Today's virtual run brought together runners from the Far East, specifically Manila, with runners from the US West Coast (San Diego, OC, and Seattle). The Manila contingency got underway at the unenviable pre-dawn hour of 4:30am (Thur.) to coincide with our 1:30pm (Wed.) start.

I set my alarm clock for 5am today to meet OCTR for a separate 6am run. Funny thing is I woke up at 4:45am and almost in a panic thinking that I missed the 4:30am run. Was I dreaming that I was running in Manila?

Today's local Newport Beach conditions:

77 deg. F
60% humidity

10mph on-shore breeze

sunny with 100% UV exposure

I changed my starting point so that my course will run through the San Joaquin Marsh and Bird Sanctuary. I figure the slight change might help make this a more interesting run. I aimed for 6 miles today–1 mile warm-up, 4 miles at a fast pace, and 1 mile cool down.

Already I could tell it was gonna be a hot run. That's fine, I thought. Mt. Disappointment is the weekend after, and I need to get as much heat acclimation as I can get to prepare for that race. After the warm-up, I picked up my speed, not wanting to get left behind by my virtual training buds. I could only sustain a sub 8-minute mile for so long before the heat and today's early morning run began to take their toll on me. My back was also sore from last night's wall climbing session at the rock gym and was bothering me. But enough with the excuses.

I usually aim for a negative split, so at the 3-mile point, I turned around, and picked up my pace. Luckily no one was around to hear me heaving and gasping for air and crying to the heavens above to give me the strength to persevere at least till I get to mile 5. A few minutes later, my prayers were answered, and I slowed my pace for my cool-down all the way to the finish.

It was a fun day training with my online friends today, none of whom I have met in person yet, though I somehow felt their presence there. Amazing, the power of blogging in bringing people together :)

All you runners who can't seem to find other peeps to train with, don't let geography limit you. The date is not set yet, but you are all invited to our next virtual training run.

Fellow virtual runners' recaps (will update as I see them come up):
Steph
Jaymie
Hitme64
Ben
TRF

********
My splits:
Mile 1 (warm-up)
9:58
9:58 min. mile

Mile 3
27:12
8:36 min. mile

Mile 5 (it was shortly before here that I was crying like a baby)
43:39
8:14 min. mile

Mile 6 (cool down)
53:39
10:03 min. mile

First Virtual Run Recaps:
E-Rod
Hitme64


11 comments:

Stephanie said...

Nope, couldn't hear you gasping that loud! All I could hear was myself, but then again I wore earphones!

Great job out there today! We should get more people together to run with us. Lets advertise some more.

Unknown said...

Hey, it was nice running "with" you today e-rod! Maybe next time we should have a virtual picnic after? :)

Until the next time!

Anonymous said...

waaaah! i'm soooo jealous. andami nyong tumakbo. ang saya! i really wanted to join you guys, but i can't get up! arrrrg!

tell me you're gonna have more of this please...?! :)

Anonymous said...

eric, you cried at mile 5? heck, i cried when i saw you with two hot babes down below...hahaha! this was fun...the fact that you know someone is also running somewhere at the same time and at the same distance makes it even better, even if we were all miles apart...

maybe we should have some kind of progress report among the group next time around so we can see just how we all fared at our own ends...

let's do this again! and vangie, sama ka na!

Unknown said...

steph...you're much too kind. well perhaps you couldn't hear me, coz i was well behind you. good idea--let's advertise this gig next time to get more runners into the fray.

jaymie...i like the idea of a virtual picnic. but do i have to take your kids to their virtual schools first? :)

banggi...hate to say "told you so, but..." :) don't worry there will be a next time.

hitme...a progress report, huh? you must be an analytical sort, aren't you? we can give it a try, why not?

bEnMChAn said...

Hey! It was a great run guys! Without the group i don't think i would be able to drag my sleepy ass away from bed. :)

We should do it again soon!

Anonymous said...

When's the next one?

Anonymous said...

pre, good luck on mt dis. u doing the 50K or 50M? don't matter, it's good times. bring some bukayo with you, i heard they work better than MMs. ingat...

Unknown said...

ben...glad you made it out there, though next time i suggest you try a safer route.

zappo...maybe next week or the week after. stop by again to see the exact when. hope you can join us next time.

jun...i'm sticking with the 50K. my first 50-miler won't be till oct. at the firetrails. bukayo, huh? i'll try that. at the very least i'll get a sugar rush.

Adelyn said...

have fun at mt dissapointment next weekend!

These virtual run are fun to follow. Seems like a good 'goup' to run with :D

Anonymous said...

You should've thought of my voice in your head not letting you slow down lol