As with regular ungo runs, there are two distances, to accommodate newbies who are still not able to cover the distance of the main route. These are 30K and 12K (but with option to extend a few more kilometers for the latter). Interactive map available at the end of this article.

MACTAN BRIDGE. Tomorrow, ungo runners will run the 3 bridges in Metro Cebu including the Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge (above). (CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE FLICKR PAGE OF STORM CRYPT)

The 30K group will be led by Kenneth Casquejo and will start from the Capitol at exactly 4 a.m. They will head to Mandaue City and the 3 bridges through Escario St., Archbishop Reyes Ave. then to A.S. Fortuna St. If you’re late, try catching up with them at those locations.

The 30K group will end its run at the Asiatown IT Park. If you’re driving, it’s best that you park there.

The 12K group will be led by ungo runners and Sun.Star Running Club muse Mitch So, the Sun.Star Cebu executive editor and Sun.Star Superbalita editor in chief, and company. The assembly area is at the Shell gasoline station on A.C. Cortes Ave., near the University of Cebu campus. We will start and end at the Shell station. Assembly time is at 4:30 a.m.

The 30K group will rendezvous with the 12K group at the Shell station.

12K runners who want to drive to the assembly might be able to park at Shell. I did not ask the gas attendants ahead but they seem to have ample parking space and we’ll be buying a lot of snack items from them anyway.

If you want to run a longer route, you have the option of extending your run to 15K by going to the old Mactan-Mandaue bridge all the way to the Lapu-Lapu side a second time and then coming back to finish at the Shell station.

Here are a few reminders on the first-ever Sunday long run of the ungo runners:

1.) Keep road safety in mind. Run on the lane opposing vehicle traffic so that you can see vehicles approaching you. Always be aware of your surroundings.

2.) Leave your music players at home. Listening to music while running on the road, especially Philippine roads, is dangerous.

3.) Bring money and change for a.) water and sports drinks, b.) snacks, c.) taxi fare in case you’re not able to complete the run, d.) the highlight of the run—-breakfast.

4.) Bring identification. If you have a RoadID or sports band, wear it.

5.) Run or walk at your own pace. You can find a pace partner at the assembly area.

6.) Put on sunscreen.

7.) If you have a portable point-and-shoot camera, bring it with you. Ungo runs are known for its extensive “documentation.”

Here’s an interactive virtual map of the route. The route I plotted here is only for the shorter 12K run. Kenneth will be briefing 30K runners on the route at the assembly area. Click on the markers on the map for more information.

John Pages, the person responsible for my addiction to running, sent me a coffee brewing set because he wanted me to try preparing one using a French Press. I brewed one cup as soon as I woke up yesterday morning and proceeded to suit up to run for work.

My day had already been planned: I was to run to work, write my column piece on Joel Garganera, perform my news desk duties, meet with the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) staff for lunch to discuss a fun run they were planning, and run back home at night.

I had formulated my lead for the Garganera column piece in my head but I felt something was amiss. I felt I knew Garganera based on the several occasions that I interviewed him, many times while on the run, but I was anxious I was incapable of doing justice to his story.

I had suspected Joel to be a kindred spirit—that, like me, he was, as author Christopher Solomon put it, running his demons hard until he “left them heaving by the roadside.”

There is a mystical air when Joel talks about the marathon. He seemed to be a changed man. Sun.Star Running Club muse Michelle So, in our talks, kept saying fondly, “santos na gyud ka, Joel. Dili na ko kaila nimo.” (You’ve become a saint, Joel. I no longer know you.)

IN LILOAN. I finally arrive at the Liloan municipal hall in the first half of my unplanned marathon this morning.

Joel, in our talks, credited all these changes to running.

To tell his story, I felt I needed nothing less than to grok Joel Garganera.

I kissed my wife—and injured running partner—Marlen and left our house intending to run about 15 kilometers—20 kilometers at most, depending on the route—to work.

But while walking toward our subdivision’s gate, I realized I wasn’t ready to write my column piece. I needed a long run to think. I decided, on a whim, to attempt running a full marathon. I knew I’d suffer through it. It was fool-hardy because I did a 21-kilometer long run just last Sunday.

But I told myself, at least I’d know, by experience, what Joel meant when he talked about his marathon experiences.

Still, while I kept saying to myself I would attempt the full 42-kilometer distance, I was still vacillating until I passed the beautiful Cansaga Bay Bridge.

“Free your mind,” Kevin Nelson said in The Runner’s Book of Daily Inspiration, “and your feet will follow.”

On Cansaga Bay Bridge, I decided, what the hell, I would run all the way to the Liloan municipal hall. It was spontaneous and crazy but exciting.

While running, I kept asking people, “noy, asa na man ko? Asa ang padung munisipyo?” (Where am I? How do I get to the town hall?)

There’s a certain satisfaction with unplanned runs, with not knowing where you’d end up or how you’d get there.

When I reached the Liloan town hall, I rested for a while and checked how I felt. At that point, I felt I still had enough in me to run to the Sun.Star office and complete my first marathon.

The way back was hell. It was hot because I started late, at 6 a.m. I kept telling myself, “you should have started at 4 a.m.”

Here’s the GPS record of my run.

But on the way, I was rewarded by the kindness of strangers—the Consolacion carenderia store owner who allowed me in her house so that I could splash myself with water. “Dili ka mapasmo ana dong?” she said with genuine concern; the store owner in Mandaue who did the same thing.

On kilometer 38, I fully understood Michelle So and started speaking Spanish, “No mas, no mas.” I had to force myself to complete the last two kilometers (if I didn’t, I’d have to prematurely submit my Garganera column.)

Did my long run work?

No.

If only it were as simple as that, no? I still wasn’t satisfied with my column piece. But at least I got another week’s reprieve.

I ran, unplanned and unprepared, 42.2 kilometers this morning. This time last year, the idea would have been absurd to someone like me, who couldn’t run 1 kilometer then. As I wrote this column, I felt I could run forever. Believe me, we are born to run.

See you on the road.