Tag Archives: Cebu City Marathon

“Chariots of Fire” syndrome

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I saw him just as I was bracing for the steep incline to the bridge at the South Road Properties in the 21-kilometer race in last January’s Cebu City Marathon.

He was wearing a white running shirt—not the singlet issued by race organizers—and listening to music through earbud earphones.

INNER RHYTHM. Music not only takes runners away to a different place in their mind's eye but also provides them rhythm for their cadence. (CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO FROM THE FLICKR PAGE OF ZAPHGOD)INNER RHYTHM. Music not only takes runners away to a different place in their mind’s eye but also provides them rhythm for their cadence. (CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO FROM THE FLICKR PAGE OF ZAPHGOD)

I made a move to pass him when, inexplicably, he suddenly raised his arms in seeming triumph.

I looked back after passing him and saw his eyes closed. He had an expression of someone who just won a race, in his mind’s eye.

I was tempted to bring him back to half-marathon reality, “Dude! We’re not even half-way yet!” but I was too preoccupied computing whether I could break two hours in my first 21K to bother.

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Dailymile now has Garmin GPS watch support

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Social training log dailymile has started rolling out its support for Garmin devices and can now retrieve total distance, time and map coordinates from your Forerunner GPS devices.

Dailymile is a website that serves as training log for runners, cyclists and triathletes. What differentiates it from sites like Garmin Connect is that it has a social networking component. It allows you to connect with other runners, cyclists or triathletes. You can view your workouts as well as that of your contacts and people near your location in a Twitter-like stream of entries.

MY DAILYMILE PROFILE PAGE. Dailymile is a cool social training log for runners, cyclists and triathletes. It now supports both Nike+ and Garmin devices. CLICK TO ENLARGE.

I used the site for a while in July but stopped visiting it when I discovered Garmin Connect. The site supported Nike+ but didn’t work with the Garmin Forerunner. Since I use a Forerunner 305 to track my runs, I had to manually enter records in dailymile and it was tedious. Without Garmin support, I didn’t have the incentive to continue maintaining my dailymile account. But for so long, the site indicated that Garmin support was “coming soon” so I didn’t delete my account.

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A runner’s heart

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In front of the traffic sign that announced a 20 kilometers per hour (kph) speed limit inside the Asiatown IT Park, Aileen Tolentino gave her all.

She covered the last 300 meters to the finish line within the automotive speed limit but at a combustive endgame 18 kph before collapsing at the finish line in a guttural scream.

“Aaahhh!!!” her victory cry a shriek of pain. Tolentino snatched the Cebu City Marathon Women’s 42K crown from Mary Grace delos Santos in the final minute and paid for it with a body racked by cramps.

SHE GAVE HER ALL. Aileen Tolentino collapses after winning the Cebu City Marathon 42K Women’s event. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. (PHOTO BY IGI MAXIMO OF PabolFC.com)

The celebration would come later.

Three hours, 15 minutes and 30 seconds from starting her run, Tolentino lay screaming in agony, her head saved from slamming into the pavement by race organizer Meyrick Jacalan. Thirteen seconds later, delos Santos crossed the finish line, buried her face in her hands, and leaned slightly on pacer Elmer Bartolo.

Until that 20 kph traffic sign, you’d have thought the race was delos Santos’s to take.

Delos Santos, the top female runner in Cebu, built an early lead at the South Road Properties, running at least a minute ahead of her long-standing rival. Someone who saw the two runners there said he thought Tolentino was done for, lagging behind a still fresh-looking delos Santos.

But near the Bureau of Internal Revenue office in Banilad, Tolentino already caught up with delos Santos. With their teammates and pacers, the two ran in a pack.

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Cebu City Marathon 42K and 21K results now out

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Official race times for the very successful Cebu City Marathon 2010 are now out. The times are based on ChampionChip data.

Kenyan Willy Tanui dominated the 42K race by finishing the race in 2 hours 30 minutes and 57 seconds. Kenyan missionary Simon Losiaboi, who is currently based in Cebu, placed second with a time of 02:30:57. Eric Panique finished as the fastest Filipino by placing third with his time of 02:32:23.

Kenyan David Kipsang was fourth with his time of 02:35:41 while Elmer Sabal placed fifth with a time of 02:37:23.

On a personal note, I finished my first 21K in 02:04:59. I aimed for a sub-2 finish but couldn’t pass up witnessing the drama in the race between Aileen Tolentino and Mary Grace delos Santos in the last few kilometers.

Here are the official race times:

The results are searchable, to get your time, go to your category and use the search bar at the lower right portion.

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Simon Losiaboi to run first 42K in Cebu City Marathon

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Cebu runners will see a familiar face wearing race bib no. 1 in this Sunday’s Cebu City Marathon—Kenyan missionary Simon Losiaboi.

Losiaboi, who has won all the races in Cebu that he joined since he arrived here late last year, will be running his first full marathon this Sunday. Being the only Cebu-based top Kenyan runner, organizer Meyrick Jacalan of the Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC) said they will be assigning race bib no. 1 to Losiaboi.

CEBU CITY MARATHON organizers with Cebu’s top runners (from left): Perl Jacalan, Meyrick Jacalan, Mary Grace delos Santos, Simon Losiaboi, John Pages and CERC president Jesse Taborada. (PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARLEN LIMPAG)

Losiaboi told reporters gathered in Mooon Cafe in Ayala Center Cebu yesterday that he is “not really confident” with winning the race because he is not used to the distance. He said he has no target time to finish the race.

Losiaboi said he only trained for the distance in just one month—running on the roads in Cebu and the two Mandaue-Mactan bridges and doing speed work in the Cebu City Sports Center track oval.

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