For someone new to running and just realizing you need appropriate gear for the sport, I looked forward to ransacking the factory outlets of the two top sports brands at Subic Bay Freeport Zone for some necessary shopping.

But after hours of going through racks of women’s running gear at several stores in the freeport, I’ve come to the conclusion that I could buy them cheaper during sale season in Cebu City.

NikeFitDry racerback shirts and running singlets are priced at 900 pesos and over at the company’s factory outlet and even in several other shops that carry the Nike line in Subic. But at the Nike outlet in Robinson’s Cebu, I bought two such shirts for much cheaper, at 600 or 700 plus pesos. Nike shops in SM and Ayala, also in Cebu, sell the same items at similar prices.

It was even worse at the Adidas shop in the freeport; running singlets cost upward of 1,000 pesos and there were only a few styles and sizes to choose from. That’s expensive, considering that at the Adidas outlets in Ayala and SM in Cebu, I saw a running t-shirt (not on sale) priced at 800 plus. They have my size, too.

I was really looking for running shorts but they ran out of stocks for women at most of the shops we went to in Subic. Thankfully, at a small store called “Pay Less for U.S.,” I chanced upon a pair of Old Navy running shorts for only 250 pesos. It fitted me perfectly, so not all was lost.

Max was luckier because at a rundown store called “Best & Less,” he was able to buy a Nike hydration belt with provision for three water bottles, energy gel or bar, small cellfone, and money. Since he has been scouring sports shops in Cebu for such a belt for some time now, the find was timely.

In the same shop, The Northface caps are sold at only 350 pesos each and Ipanema slippers range in prices from 600 to over a thousand pesos.