Last week I posted that I had had little sleep and that my runs suffered for it. I have slept for at least 7 hours a night since Sunday until Thursday night when I joined some friends to celebrate Ateneo winning the UAAP championship. However, I was not used to sleeping late anymore and it had been a long day that by 11 p.m. I called it a night and headed home. I was not going to work the next day so that I could attend the my son’s Feast of the Guardian Angels party at the Ateneo Grade School fair at 9 a.m. which meant I could run a little later than usual. Friday and Saturday nights were quiet too which meant more sleep for me. Looking back at the week, my runs had been fresher and more relaxed.

Tuesday

I was pretty excited about running this morning that I left the house for ULTRA around 4:45a.m.. While doing my loops in the dark, I could make out another runner on the side doing some stretches. He was wearing a really nice orange technical shirt that stood out in the lightless oval. It wasn’t until he was running beside me that I recognized him….it was the Bald Runner! I managed to chat with him for a while but I knew that his pace was faster than I wanted to do for the day and I told him to just keep going.

Thursday

I did 4×800s today. I think I could have done 1 more set but I think I ran too much during my warm up.

Friday

I got to ULTRA by 6 a.m. and Coach Rio and Jun C were surprised to catch me there at that hour. During my run, Jun C joined me and I noted how my heart rate drops whenever I run with other people. Instead of my usual routine of running home, I finished my workout at the track and spent some time chatting with them.

Sunday

I finally decided to run from BHS to MOA. A group of runners I had bumped into at BHS had done it and that got me interested and Joe’s last long run made me want to do it already. Besides, a part of the Milo 42k route passed through there so it should be familiar territory. I told Jonel about my plan and he said he would join me. We met up at the ROX parking lot at 5 a.m. where he told me he would run with me up to the corner of Mckinley and EDSA only due to his tight schedule. I did not want to take the pedestrian overpass as I felt it could be dangerous at this hour so I zipped through EDSA amidst the buses and jeeps! I ran through Ayala then turned left on Sen. Gil Puyat. I ran against the traffic so that I could see the incoming traffic but running the stretch of Sen. Gil Puyat after SLEX is like playing chicken with the jeepney’s. Another tough intersection was Taft Avenue. Instead of taking the overpass I just crossed the intersection. I was worried that the police would catch me but no one paid me any attention.

On Roxas Boulevard, I made a left and ran on the sidewalk until i came to HK Plaza where I cut through to Macapagal Avenue. From there I made my way to Seaside. Success! I continued running all the way past the church until I hit the corner of Coral Drive and Macapagal Avenue which was the 13th km I had run. I took a leak break at the Jetti gas station before turning around and heading back to BHS.

On the way back, I wanted to run the last 10km at a 5:30 / km pace. I managed to hold this pace until I hit the corner of Sen. Gil Puyat and EDSA. Before this juncture I already knew zipping thru EDSA would be out of the question as there would be more buses, cars, and traffic enforcers now. I also did not relish the thought of going up the pedestrian overpass so I decided to run up the Kalayaan flyover (against the traffic of course). During this part of the run, the sun was beating down on me already. My pace had also slowed due to the long uphill climb. I had to keep my wits about me to make sure I did not get sideswiped until i finally made it to the end of the flyover. It was easy running the rest of the way back but I needed to do a loop around BHS to complete 16 miles.

While doing my stretches, I saw Mesh coming up. Whoa! I guess not running is worse than being down with a virus! We are a crazy lot! We chat for a while until it’s time to go.

Tuesday

Distance : 6.05 miles   Time : 58:58   Ave. Pace : 9:44/mi   Ave. HR : 133 bpm

Thursday (forgot to set my watch to time my intervals here)

Distance : 6.0 miles   Time : 59:24   Ave. Pace : 9:54/mi   Ave. HR : 136 bpm

Friday

Distance : 6.01 miles   Time : 58:28   Ave. Pace : 9:44/mi   Ave. HR : 134 bpm

Sunday

Distance : 16.0 miles   Time : 2:35:18   Ave. Pace : 9:44/mi Ave. HR : 147 bpm

Total Distance for the Week : 34 miles