Organizers are currently holding a press conference on the Cebu edition of Run United by Unilab and RunRio.

* Organizer says Cebu leg is final leg of nationwide Run United series.
* Lester Castillo, Sports Director of Unilab, says their company wants to promote active lifestyle among Filipino families.
* Castillo says they are targetting 5,000 runners for the Cebu leg.
* All 21Kfinishers will get finishers’ shirts and medals.
* RunRio says they are the first to use an iPad automated registration system for race registration.
*Local organizer Kenneth Casquejo of RunCheck says RunRio will not impose a cutoff on 21K runners.

That phrase got stuck in my mind after I called up Sun.Star reporter Davinci Maru Sunday to tell him that one of the victims of the massacre he was covering was an ultra-runner held in high regard by the local running community.

News had spread of Melinda Ponce’s gruesome killing through a shocked running community early Sunday morning. I woke up to find 18 text messages and seven missed calls – a portent of urgent, breaking news.

Runners have scheduled a run in Cebu and Manila to honor ultra-runner Melinda Ponce, who was killed last Sunday.

The text messages bore the same horrible news: ultra-runner Melinda Ponce was killed with her child.

The reality, however, was even more terrible. Melinda was killed with three of her children and her helper by her husband, who then shot himself. Melinda and the kids were shot in the head, Maru told me.

She wore running clothes, Maru answered when I asked him to check with police what Melinda was wearing. It was, after all, a Sunday – a day that is sure to find Melinda on the road.

Melinda’s running story is a big inspiration for weekend athletes like me. Unlike full-time athletes who do nothing but train and prepare for races, Melinda was a regular working person holding a full-time job and raising a family.

The stories of domestic violence and abuse that have come out in news stories recently provide, in hindsight, context to what turned out to be an even more difficult life. Running, I’m sure, provided her the needed refuge apart from physical well-being.

It’s never too late to start running, Melinda told members of the Ungo Runners, a group that runs on the streets of Cebu City every Friday night, during her talk last Sept. 30. Melinda started running only at 48, a year after undergoing total hysterectomy.

She went through worse things than what regular runners experienced as she pushed herself to her physical limits. “Niagi na ko ana, ni-graduate na ko ana. Collapse, pag abot sa finish line nag-barag barag na. Di na ko (I’ve experienced those things. I once collapsed at the finish line. I don’t want to experience it again),” she said with a chuckle. Runners should learn to take care of their health, she quickly added.

Five years and one mild stroke after she started running, Ponce would emerge the fastest woman ultra-runner in Cebu, winning successive 53K and 60K events.

Ponce had qualified for the national finals of the Milo Marathon and she had intended to run it later this year. She qualified last year but did not run in order to join the first ultra-marathon in Cebu, a 50K run from Mt. Manunggal to Capitol in Cebu City.

Ponce inspired many local runners and the community has come together to run in her honor. On Sunday, the Cebu running community will hold a run in The Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu to honor Melinda and raise funds for her sole surviving child. In Manila, runners will also run in her honor at the Bonifacio Global City. On Friday, Ungo Runners will dedicate their regular Friday Night Run to Melinda and will run from Ayala Center Cebu to St. Peter Chapel on New Imus Road.

Ponce told Ungo Runnners during her talk that her lifetime dream was to run until she is “already a senior citizen.”

Alas, that was not to be.

Last Sunday, Melinda Ponce died with her running clothes on.

Hours before she was killed in a gruesome massacre, Melinda was where she was almost every Sunday — in a run.

At 5:30 a.m. yesterday, the Banco de Oro (BDO) employee fired the starting gun during the fun run that opened her bank’s sports fest. She was happy and enjoyed being with co-workers during the run, said BDO E-mall branch accountant and fellow ultra-runner Virgilio Remo Jr.

MELINDA PONCE started running only at 48. Five years and one mild stroke later, she would win successive ultra-marathons. (PHOTO BY JAMES GO)

Having been featured in newspapers after winning ultra-marathons, races that are at least 50 kilometers, Ponce, 53, was an office celebrity and many of her co-workers had their pictures taken with her. Ponce instructed those manning the water stations and cheered on the bank employees who joined the 3K and 5K events.

“She was very happy,” Remo said.

Big shock

Hours later, Remo and members of the local running community would learn that Melinda, three of her children and their helper would be shot dead by her husband, who then killed himself. Melinda and three of the children were all shot in the head. Her husband spared one child, the youngest, whom he asked to leave and call the police before he started killing everyone.

“The news of her tragic death was a big shock to me,” said Don Bosco brother and ultra-runner Carlo Bacalla, “She is really an inspiration to so many runners, an example of hard work, dedication and determination. We in the running community will miss her. It’s sad that she has gone so soon.”

Ponce started running only at 48, a year after undergoing total hysterectomy. She suffered a mild stroke in 2009, which she blamed on her failure to look after her health and pushing herself physically despite the lack of rest.

Ponce ran every morning from her house in Bulacao, Talisay City to the IT Park on her way to work. She was still considering joining the 100-kilometer race from Bogo City to Cebu City in November.

“Dili nato ni undangon, makaayo man ni sa atong lawas (Let’s not stop running because this is good for our health),” Ponce told runners gathered in Ayala Center Cebu last Sept. 30.

Ultra-marathon wins

Ponce won the women’s category in the last two ultra-marathons she joined – the Be Resorts Warrior 53K that started and ended in Mactan Island and the Summit 60K in Talisay City last Oct. 9.

Ponce had qualified for this year’s national finals of the Milo Marathon in her age category after running 21K in 1 hour and 52 minutes. She said running in the national finals was her dream. She also qualified last year but chose not to run so that she could join the first ultra-marathon in Cebu – a 50-kilometer run from Mt. Manunggal to the Capitol.

But while she was looked up to as an inspiration in the local running community, she was battered at home, friends and relatives told Sun.Star Cebu.

Emmanuel would repeatedly beat up Melinda and her children, a neighbor who asked not to be named told Sun.Star Cebu. At one time, Emmanuel held a knife at Melinda.

SUSAN Militante's friends carried this poster to motivate the first-time ultramarathoner to finish last Sunday's 53K run.

“Is he nuts?” Susan Militante said in a Facebook interview. I could almost hear Susan saying “Wa siya mabuang (has he gone mad)?” Susan quickly told Jojo to go ahead and prepare her slippers at the finish line. The 42-year-old mother of two boys was running her first ultramarathon two years after getting hooked on running.

Her close friend Abby Ponce, an ultra-runner, led her support crew, Team Abbylicious, and saw her through to the end. The team was named thus because it was the same group, Susan among them, that supported Abby during her first ultra last May 1. The team carried a poster of Susan running with a statement that’s truly her: “50K? Ayaw ko hadloka!”

“I feel like I achieved a very enormous feat when I stepped on the finish line. I’m an average runner so having done an ultra seems unbelievable,” she said. She finished 76th with a time of 7:15:03.

“My husband told me that would be my last ultra. I answered, ‘yes that will be my last ultra….. in Cebu.’ I really like to go to different places just to run. I haven’t decided yet if I will run the 100K this November. I hope Dr. Stephanie Sy will allow me because I’m hypertensive and I maintain two medicines to control my blood pressure. I know that if it were not for running, I would be dead.”

Something magical

When she completed her first full marathon last January, bank employee Linaflor Chan cried long before she reached the finish line and vowed never to run 42 kilometers again. Last Sunday, she ran 53 kilometers in 8:26:42.

She completed the distance with her husband, ultrarunner Victor Chan, who convinced her to level up.

“Last Sunday’s run was so magical that I too cannot imagine until I crossed the finish line. But one thing is for sure, I couldn’t have done it without my loving and supportive husband who was with me all the way from start to finish. His cheerful disposition, optimistic outlook, encouraging words and our bonding together truly kept me going,” she said.

Linaflor said the intense heat of the sun made her weak and exhausted but she pushed herself to finish. She crossed the finish line with her husband and to the cheers of her friends and fellow Ungo Runners and members of Team Pinay (Jinky Yray, a frequent ultrarunner, and Michelle So, an upcoming ultrarunner).

150 singlets

After eight hours on the road, Lowaii Cebu Marine Beach Resort operations manager Lucrecia “Lulu” Valiente felt dehydrated and bloated. She felt dry and her hands were swollen and she thought she could no longer finish the distance.

But after being attended to by volunteer support crew members, she regained her strength and finished the distance, although beyond the official cutoff time.

Valiente is from Bilar, Bohol but she has been in Cebu for 30 years, actively involved in the tourism industry. She got into running in 2005, joining fun runs every Sunday when registration was only at P150. “In fact, I have a collection of over 150 singlets.”

To train for Sunday’s race, Lulu joined LSD (long, slow distance) runs and cross-trained on a bike. She ran like an ultra hamster at night in Mactan Memorial Garden. She also cut her intake of rice and meat.

When she received her medal, Lulu said she felt like she was in heaven. “It was one great accomplishment for me in my running career. I was so proud of myself that even in my late 40s, I could still compete with the younger ones.”

Virgins no more, and it’s Jonel’s fault

Last Sunday’s race by Jonel Mendoza, who is responsible for the rise of ultrarunning in Cebu, was well-attended by ultranewbies because of its relatively flat route. Other first timers who finished last Sunday are (this list was compiled through the help of FB contacts) Juliet Amazona, Francis Rosos, Martin Daiz Jr. , Mikur Ombos, Francis Cabanban, Gerald Anthony Laput, Lloyd Benjie Lumapat, Neil Nacario, Aquiles Ymbong, Mazil Rubic, Jing Sente, Aeda Mae Siao, Pam Ampuhin, Rowena Duarte, Brandon Bon, Toto Ric Lacro, James Jason Rodriguez, Jofre Nastor, Dindo Santos, Brian Gonzales, Loven Macario, Anastacio Cavan, John Paul Ong Villanueva, Bonnie Pusta, Jr., Edgar Sanchez, Earl Anthony Alas, Randy Laroa, Jojo Santiago, Arnold Lorenzo, and Jigs Bulawan.

All of a sudden, he felt dizzy, weak and nauseous. He also started feeling tingling pains on his neck. A friend saw him nearly fall from the bench and quickly brought him to the hospital, which was located just a few blocks away. Estepa said he was too weak to respond and thank the friend.

Estepa had suffered a mild stroke, his years of excesses finally catching up with him.

Peer pressure

Decades ago, Estepa lit his first cigarette as an 18-year-old sophomore vet student. All his college friends were smokers and pretty soon, he was smoking regularly. His smoking worsened because he lived in a convent where the priest was a heavy smoker. He was a working scholar and served as parish secretary and sacristan mayor for six years.

From that first stick, Estepa was addicted to nicotine and soon, he was smoking two to four packs a day.

Estepa said he tried quitting a hundred times, to no avail. It was his son’s intermittent asthma due to secondary smoke that made him decide to quit smoking permanently in October 2005.

Quitting smoking

“It took me a full week to quit from two to four packs a day to zero stick. It was a slow, painful and difficult process. I tried several alternatives like gums, coffee, candies just to keep my mouth and lips busy. I got sick for almost a month probably due to my body adjusting to the slow removal of nicotine from my system,” he said.

Dr. Wilfredo Estepa at the finish line of the May 1 65K Coast-to-Coast ultramarathon. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

He quit smoking in 2005 but not drinking. He was, he confessed, an alcoholic with an active nightlife, drinking with his friends in videoke joints almost every day.

His mild stroke was a wake-up call.

The emergency room nurse took his blood pressure and the reading was grave, 180/145. His blood sugar level was a stratospheric 392 mg/dl. He was given medications and IV fluids and told to rest. Estepa said he only stayed overnight because he felt strong enough to go home.

But finding out he was hypertensive and a diabetic caused him to plunge into depression.

A week after that mild stroke, he decided to quit drinking alcohol and stayed away from his drinking buddies. In November 2009, he started walking for 30 minutes in the morning before going to work and then 30 minutes after leaving his office.

When he found that his close friend and drinking buddy, fiscal Raul Bajarias, ran on the oval in Ilihan Vocational School thrice a week, Estepa decided to join him.

“I decided to join him on Feb. 20, 2010 and that was my first ever run. I remember running four loops non-stop on that day and bragged that I already ran four kilometers straight only to find out that four loops in an oval was only 1.6 km. And that was the beginning of my passion called running. Today, I can say that I’m no longer hypertensive and diabetic. My BP and blood sugar levels are now normal. It is thanks to the medicine called running.”

From walking and jogging, Estepa is now ultra-running. He finished the first Cebu ultramarathon 50K in November 2010 and the 65K May 1 Coast-to-Coast Ultramarathon.

On his third full try, Estepa recorded a sub-4 finish (with a time of 3:54) during the Aboitiz Race To Reduce Challenge 42K category last Aug. 14. He missed the sub4 finish by a hairline during the Kawasan Falls Marathon, which he ran in 4:02.

Estepa said his goal is to run while his age and legs allow it. His running bucket list includes Milo National Finals, Bataan Death March (BDM) 102, BDM160 (or any 160k race), TNF100 and the Boston Marathon.

Estepa is also a hardcore member of the Ungo Runners, a group that runs every Friday Night. Estepa, Bajarias and a few running groups organized the TAD (Toledo Adik og Dagan) and held Wednesday night runs patterned after the Ungo Friday night runs. Estepa said the group is growing exponentially.

“We have decided to forget everything. For those who threatened to boycott (the Aboitiz Run), it is their right to join or not. I am closing the issue already,” Uytiepo told Sun.Star Cebu.

Two organizers also clarified that they are not implementing a ban on runners.

“Raffy is entitled to his own opinion but he can’t threaten to reject any runner to join our event because firstly, he is not part of the organizing team of Milo. Precing (Capampangan) is,” said Milo Marathon local organizer Ricky Ballesteros.

Ballesteros is the organizer of both the Milo Marathon in October and The Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. (DSOS) Run on Sept. 9.

Raffy said in his column in The Freeman last Monday that his team, including technical lead Precing Capampangan, will reject those who threatened to boycott the Aboitiz run next year from all their races.

Capampangan has been handling the technical aspect of the Milo Marathon since 2002.

“I have worked with Capampangan since 2002 and we haven’t encountered any problems with him and his group and they are in the technical aspect, not in accepting the registration,” said Ballesteros.

Warrior 50K organizer Jonel Mendoza also said he will not ban anyone from his races.
Uytiepo is the race director of Mendoza’s ultra-marathon, a post he served in the first two ultramarathons in Cebu.

“I won’t ban runners from my event. I don’t see any reason why I should ban runners who are voicing legitimate views,” Mendoza was quoted as saying by Sun.Star Cebu.

“Although it’s a person’s right to join or not, I really don’t care. In fact we have noted the names and will see to it that we will reject their entry forms next time around,” Uytiepo wrote in his column in The Freeman.

“We will remember the names of these guys who called for boycott. You might not even get to run in the other big races we will officiate.” He then listed the races he is organizing, including upcoming ultra-marathons The Warrior 50K Ultramarathon on Sept. 10 and the first ever 100-kilometer run in Cebu on Nov. 18.

It’s quite a turn of events from last week’s apology and pledge to do better next year by Sebastian Lacson, the chief reputation officer of Aboitiz Equity Ventures.

I disagree with Raffy’s response and hope he changes his mind, for the benefit of the local running community—a community he helped start and where he is one of the pillars.

That there were problems during the race is no longer a question, with organizers already admitting it and pledging to improve next year. What is important is to look into how the local running community can move on from the debacle.

I don’t think banning runners is the best way to move on and deal with the issue. I also don’t think people can blame runners who felt bad after the race and expressed their disappointment in online social networks, among friends and with the media.

Instead of banning them, I think it would be best for organizers to engage with and listen to them. Some of the most vocal critics of races are also among the most passionate advocates of the sport.

It is a fact that a lot of dreaded diseases like cancer, chronic lung disease, asthma, cardiovascular disease are caused by tobacco smoke. It is time for smokers to kick the habit and for non-smokers to help in the campaign against the killer vice.

Tobacco kills more than five million people a year -- more than HIV, TB and malaria combined, and will kill more unless urgent action is taken. (IMAGE*AFTER photo)

The Talisay District Hospital, as one of the primary providers of health services in the community, aims not only to treat but to protect its clientele from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. The hospital has therefore embarked on the promotion of tobacco cessation in its institution and nearby communities.

To gain a city-wide awareness of this program, the Talisay District Hospital Committee on Tobacco Cessation, in cooperation with the Talisay City Runners Club, will launch on August 28 the “Run for a 100% Smoke-Free Environment.”

The run will be in 3k, 5k, 10k and 21k categories. It will start and end at the Talisay City Hall by way of the SRP. For more information and details about how you can join the run and/or help in the smoke-free campaign, please call 273-3225. (PR)

Lopez will leave for Singapore tomorrow, Thursday. He will compete in the 5K and 10K events in the hopes of qualifying for the Southeast Asian Games or SEA Games. Lopez said his best 5K is 15:15 and to qualify, he will have to run at least a 14:50. He said his best 10K is 33 minutes and to qualify he has to run at least 30:59.

OFF TO SINGAPORE. Mendel Lopez (3rd from right) is competing in Singapore over the weekend with the support of the Cebu Executive Runners Club. With Lopez during the press conference in Mooon Cafe are (from left) Dr. Raymund Bontol, CERC president Roy Trani, Jesse Taborada, Kenneth Casquejo and Michelle So. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Lopez said during a press conference in Mooon Cafe in Ayala Center Cebu just this noon that he is confident on qualifying for the 5K but not so much in 10K.

New CERC president Roy Trani said supporting runners is part of his group’s advocacy.

“CERC is a group formed because of running and we want to support Cebu-based runners who deserve the support of the community,” Trani said.

He said the support for Mendel’s plane fare and accommodation came from the personal funds of CERC members. Trani said he hopes to make the support of deserving Cebuano runners part of the CERC mandate next year.

“Not many runners know this but part of our CERC constitution and by-laws calls for the support of running and the support of runners,” Trani said.

Trani said he hopes Lopez will do well over the weekend and inspire other local runners.

He told CebuRunning that he is thinking of holding qualifications for elite Cebu runners so that they can choose whom to support in runs outside Cebu and the country. He said he hopes CERC can support more runners next year.

Lopez said he is very thankful of the support offered by the CERC.

“In light of the feedback we have been getting after last Sunday’s Race to Reduce Challenge, we acknowledge that indeed there were problems during the race and things could have been done better. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience experienced by some of the runners,” Aboitiz Equity Ventures chief reputation officer Sebastian “Basti” Lacson said in an email.

“We assure everyone that we have noted all comments and will use these as bases to improve next year’s event.”

“We would like to thank everyone who joined this year’s race and we look forward to having them join us in the Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge in the coming years. Our commitment to protect the environment remains; we will plant a tree on behalf of every runner who registered for the race,” he said.

Mr. Lacson’s humility and taking of responsibility is admirable and speaks well of the company he serves.

Race director Raffy Uytiepo begged off from giving a comment and gave way to Basti. He said they were still having a meeting yesterday to assess what went wrong last Sunday.

The main complaints against Sunday’s race were the lack of water stations, absence of race marshals and a route that was short by more than half a kilometer.

At a time when many runners wear global positioning system (GPS) watches and there are free tools such as Google Maps that allow you to accurately measure distance by tracing a line on a map, it is difficult to fathom mistakes in route distances.

The lack of water stations and race marshals is also puzzling for a race co-organized by a top company like Aboitiz and various local government units. But I’ve had reports that Mr. Lacson and other Aboitiz officials were manning the routes themselves and doing what they could to help runners. The question is—where were the other race personnel?

A colleague said one runner was nearly hit by a speeding bus that went out of its lane. Several runners told me they had to fend for themselves on the road. While we should be thankful that nothing untoward happened to runners last Sunday, local government units should realize that they risked a major disaster by failing to field traffic personnel and talk to drivers of buses and jeepneys to be mindful of runners last Sunday.

A source said teams from local governments were present on the route very early on race day but they disappeared by 8 a.m. The source also said only Compostela had some people staying behind to help runners. Liloan, a town headed by a triathlete and runner, also had a medical team deployed until the last runner passed the town.

While Sunday’s run may have been a setback for Aboitiz, I am confident they will stage an infinitely better event next year. I hope that organizers can reconsider holding the marathon the day after Pasigarbo so that local government officials and workers can focus on specific events. I think the marathon would make a great kickoff event for Capitol’s month-long Charter anniversary.

I hope organizers can also focus more on making the marathon a great experience for regular runners than on the escalating contest of which event can offer the richest bounty for elite runners. Cut the prizes and spend more for regular runners — that’s one formula for race success.