On the run in the beautiful island
Posts tagged Kenneth Casquejo
As doctors, we should set good examples on being healthy: Dr. Eleanor Casquejo
Jun 22nd
“Run with me” was Kenneth Casquejo’s wish for his wife in one of the marriage encounter seminars the couple attended.
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.
Ungo runners to hold first Sunday long run
Jun 19th
In last night’s weekly Friday Night Run, the ungo runners of CebuRunning decided to hold its first ever long slow distance (LSD) group run tomorrow passing the three bridges of Metro Cebu: the old Mactan-Mandaue Bridge, Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge and the newly-opened Cansaga Bay Bridge.
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.
Close Osmeña Blvd. early morning Sundays
Jun 16th
It was serial marathoner Joel Garganera who first raised the proposal. In the middle of one of the weekly Friday night runs that start from the Sun.Star Cebu office, he talked about the need for Cebu City Hall to make the city’s streets friendlier to runners.
Garganera pointed out that not only are Cebu City streets not friendly to runners, they are also generally not safe for children. Look, we don’t even have sidewalks, he gesticulated while running sideways.
KAPAMILYA RUNNERS ON THE ROAD. Close to 2,000 runners joined last Sunday’s 10th dyAB KApamilya Run. Above, the runners occupy one lane of Gorordo Ave. near the UP Cebu College. (PHOTO BY TEDDY ESPINUEVA)At the end of the run, he proposed a novel idea to get more people off their couches and running on the street: close Osmeña Blvd. for a few hours every Sunday and limit it to walkers, joggers, runners and bikers.
Garganera had wanted to pursue it as part of his political agenda in his failed City Council bid.
During the post-run breakfast in last Sunday’s Kapamilya Run, Garganera raised the idea again and got the support of ultra-runner Bro. Carlo Bacalla. But Garganera was preaching to the converted. What is needed is for the converted to start preaching to those in power.
10TH DYAB Kapamilya Run interactive virtual race route now out; registration still open
Jun 12th
If you still haven’t registered for the 10th DYAB Kapamilya Run, you can still sign up on site even up to early morning of race day. But instead of the regular registration fee of P250, you will now have to pay a late registration fee of P300 and you will get a free-sized singlet.
Radio station DYAB, the local AM station of broadcasting giant ABS-CBN, is celebrating its 15th year by staging various events, including the 10th edition of its Kapamilya Run. The fun run will have a 1.6K walk, and a 7K and 15K run. The longest distance is 15K in reference to DYAB’s 15th year anniversary.
RACE PACK. My race pack for tomorrow’s Kapamilya Run. If you still haven’t registered, you still have time. Organizers are accepting late registrants until the morning of the run. CLICK TO ENLARGE.Race organizer Kenneth Casquejo, of RunCheck, said the actual distance is 15.15K but the .15K falls within the margin of error in GPS reception as well as slight variations in the route so not all will get that actual precise distance.
DYAB’s Leo Lastimosa said in his radio program that proceeds of the fun run will be used to help fix school buildings that are badly in need of repair.
Assembly time of the run is at 4:45 a.m while gun time is at 5:30 a.m.
SRP Sundown Run interactive virtual race map now out
May 7th
The Cebu City Government is launching the South Road Properties (SRP) with a week-long activity that will culminate tomorrow, May 8, with a fun run and an attempt to break the world record for the number of rockets fired in a fireworks display.
The Cebu City Government is also reported to be spending at least P1 million for free barbecue dinner for 40,000 people on May 8.
The SRP Sundown Run will have 3K, 5K and 10K races. Organizers said one lane of the SRP will be closed for the run.
Wednesday is the new Friday, but only for the Holy Week
Mar 29th
It’s the 7th week of night runs for the ungo runners—a motley group that meets every Friday night to run from the Sun.Star Cebu office to the IT Park.
As I said in my column last week on the ungo runners, we call ourselves ungo 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.
WE OWN THE NIGHT. Ungo runners prepare to run to the IT Park from the Sun.Star Cebu office.Since this week is Holy Week and Holy Thursday and Good Friday are two of the five days in the year when there is no work in the Sun.Star Cebu newsroom, we decided to hold the run on a Wednesday. It will also allow ungo runners to go to their Holy Week break refreshed (we get sick if we don’t run)—not that devotion will stop us from running on Good Friday.
Ungo
Mar 23rd
ON FRIDAY nights, Sun.Star Cebu executive editor Michelle So works in running shorts. At 9 p.m. managing editor for news Isolde Amante and news editor Charmaine Rodriguez go through the last few news stories and prepare to close the remaining news pages before changing to their jogging pants or running shorts.
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.
Pinay in Action Visayas leg on April 11 to have 3K, 5K and 10K races
Mar 18th
The Visayas leg of Pinay In Action, an all women run, will be held in Cebu City this April 11, and will feature the 3-kilometer, 5-kilometer, and 10-kilometer distances.
Men can join the run if they register with a female participant, but they won’t be eligible to win in any category. (Correction race organizer Kenneth Casquejo contacted me to say that male runners can win but only the top 3 spots of the 5K and 10K races)
Registration fee is P250 and is inclusive of a race number, route map, souvenir shirt, and a goodie bag. Runners may register at the Mabolo branch of Leona’s Bakeshop from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
What was left unsaid
Feb 23rd
Old men will be the death of me.
In last Sunday’s 2nd Rotary Run 15K race, I marked as target for overtaking a stocky man who appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties. I spotted him running with a friend in Lahug after I passed a group of about five men whom I have been tailing starting at the old Social Security System building.
PRINCE PAQUIBOT on his way to finishing a 47-minute 7K in last Sunday’s 2nd Rotary Run. (PHOTO BY MARLEN LIMPAG)When I saw him, my secondary goal of finishing 15K in 1 hour and 25 minutes had grown bleaker by the meter. Before I even reached the turning point near the PLDT office on Osmena Blvd., I had given up on trying to finish the distance in 1:20, my main let’s-see-if-I-can-do-it goal for that day. Nearing the UP campus, I was worried I couldn’t even meet my secondary finishing time target.
Until I saw him.
2nd Rotary Run targets at least 1,500 runners; virtual race map now out
Feb 11th
Organizers expect at least 1,500 runners to join the 2nd Rotary Run on Feb. 21 that will kick off the annual celebration of the Rotary Week. The run will feature 3-kilometer, 7K and 15K races.
The run will also have a 200-meter sprint for 7-year-olds and below and 400-meter race for 8-year-olds to 12-year-olds. The races for children will be held inside the SM City Cebu compound.
The Rotary Run will start and end at the old v-hire terminal near the Northwing of SM City Cebu. (Interactive map found at the end of this article)
ROTARY RUN. Rotary PR Chair Lilu Aliño answers a reporter’s question during the press briefing for the 2nd Rotary Run. Among those who attended this afternoon’s press conference are (from right) Jet Neric, Me’Anne Alcordo and Rotary Run chair Kenneth Casquejo. The run is directed by Raffy Uytiepo (extreme left).“On top of promoting Rotary and a healthy lifestyle, joining the race is an opportunity to contribute to the End Polio Now, a program of the Rotary Foundation to eradicate polio worldwide,” said race co-organizer Kenneth Casquejo.
“Running is a good way and a very cheap way to be healthy,” said Casquejo.
Co-organizer Jet Neric said that apart from promoting a healthy lifestyle, running also encourages family bonding. He said organizers hope Rotarians “will develop a running lifestyle.”
