And with that, Dr. Eleanor “Tata” Casquejo laced up and started running. When before she couldn’t understand why her husband woke up at such ungodly hours to hit the road, now she was plotting her own training program.

“I told myself that there must be something in this sport that he’s so passionate about,” Eleanor told a group of runners last Friday night. Kenneth started running in college and, after years away from the sport, took it up with such passion that he wears a shirt saying he eats asphalt for breakfast.

DR. ELEANOR CASQUEJO talks on the reasons she run in last week’s Friday Night Run with the ungo runners of CebuRunning.com. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. (SUN.STAR CEBU PHOTO BY ALEX BADAYOS used with permission)

“As doctors, we should set good examples for our patients on being healthy,” said Eleanor, an obstetrician and gynecologist.

She first ran in the fun run organized by the Lions Club Lakandula last year.

“I’m a slow runner,” she said. She said it was discouraging to hear race marshals say, “Here comes the last runner” whenever she passes by and then see them pack up the road signs and other race materials.

She was the last runner to finish the Lions Club charity run that when she crossed the finish line, workers had disassembled and packed up the finish line arch.

Nevertheless, she keeps on running.

Eleanor said running helped her deal with the increase in her cholesterol levels, which went up partly because of her sedentary lifestyle. She said she’d do nothing but eat when going on labor watch.

But through running, Eleanor said she lost 20 pounds, weight she wasn’t able to lose even while on diet or taking diet pills. “I have never lost weight this much,” she told the runners.

And just a year after starting to run, Eleanor will join the Chicago marathon in October with Kenneth.

At that time, reporters Justin Vestil, Linette Ramos and Rene Martel have finished writing their stories and are now in running attire. Graphic artist Kent Ynot and Ariel Catubig of the Sun.Star Network Exchange are also ready to go.

WE OWN THE NIGHT. Ungo runners in front of the Sun.Star Cebu office before running to the It Park in Lahug, Cebu City. CLICK TO VIEW LARGER IMAGE.

Outside the newsroom, men in tights sit on the steps of the stairs talking to one another. Dr. Raymund “Reel Runner” Bontol accompanies a large group of runners, among them Jefferey Chua and Ralph Noval, from the Cebu Velez General Hospital, and gives tips on running. Aeda Mae Siao, meanwhile, accompanies a friend who is on her first night run.

Higher up the stairs, Eric Agaton of Nike Banilad Town Center leads a group of three men all wearing Nike running shoes.

In the newsroom, Teddy Espinueva and his wife Belle and cousin Bikik Besavilla stand waiting, the reflective patches stitched to their clothes and caps shimmering.

Cebu City Council candidate Joel Garganera, meanwhile, cracks jokes with So and The Freeman community editor Divine Ngujo near the central newsroom library.

On Fridays, you’d have gynecologists Eleanor Casquejo, Humility Igaña and Vilma Pesa fidgeting, waiting for the run to start while praying none of their patients suddenly go into labor.

Joe France Cañizares and Cadjing Pelicano of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel tower above everyone else while mingling with the runners. Rounding up the group are veteran runner and now race organizer Kenneth Casquejo, Ramie Igaña, Charles Su and 17-year-old student Anthony Gabriel Tuldanes.

A few minutes after 10 p.m., the group goes down to the Don Pedro Cui St. exit of the Sun.Star Cebu office and hams it up for the night’s designated photographer, usually Sun.Star Cebu chief of photographers Alex Badayos. Last week, we had Philippine Blog Awards winner Estan Cabigas, a newbie runner himself.

At the word “go,” the runners group themselves according to their running paces. Bontol, Igaña and Abby Ponce are typically in the lead pack. My wife, Marlen, would be in the middle and I’d typically run with her. But I usually sneak in a speed training by serving as running marshal, going from lead pack to the middle pack to the runners who choose to enjoy the scenery and go at a leisurely pace.

FRIDAY NIGHT ROAD PARTY. Runners gather at the Sun.Star Cebu office on P. del Rosario St. for the weekly Friday night run to the IT Park in Lahug. CLICK TO VIEW LARGER IMAGE.

Like most people, we look forward to party on a Friday night, only ours is on the road.

Instead of laser lights setting the mood, we’d have the monotonous blinking of bicycle lights clipped to our waistbands. Instead of tequila, we down coffee.

We run in the rain.

We call ourselves ungo runners after that Bisaya word and its double meaning—the noun for that creature of superstition that comes out in the dark and the adjective to mean addict. We are running addicts who run at night.

The group started with just Marlen and me on our Friday night road dates. We later invited newsroom colleagues. The group later grew larger.

This Friday, we’ll take to the streets again.

See you on the road.