team endure

First Long Ride

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After last night’s Xterra Philippines Press Launch, I had to wake up early this morning for the Team Endure long bike ride in Jala Jala, Rizal? Was I excited? Yes and nervous at the same time, this would be my very first long ride, I would be biking for 30 minutes up to an hour, either at UP ACAD Oval or just home using bike trainer. As early as 4AM, I was already awake, had to wake up Erick since he just arrived home past 1AM giving him only 3 hours of sleep.

Meeting place is at Shell Marcos Hway, almost all our teamates have arrived and was waiting for us and 4 more team members. We had to convoy to the designated parking area at DPWH Morong, one by one the parking area was occupied by the team, checked tires, did a little warm, offered prayer to God asking Him to guide each and every one of us, and we’re off to our ride.

Team Endure with friends

 

We would biking a total of 70 kilometers to and fro, good thing my super hubby Erick was with me all the time, I would get nervous when we were approaching a check point area and cross roads, this is my first ride along side with vehicles, large trucks would sometimes overtake me, with its smoke filling my nose. Some areas have bike lane which I took advantage of. It think it was past the 10K mark when I started to get dizzy, experiencing a terrible headache, had to tell Erick for us to stop for a while for I had to throw up, and loosen my helmet, after that I was totally feeling okay except for some stop for hydration and nutrition.

Upon reaching 35K, the team was nowhere to be found, and we had no way of communicating with them, so Erick decided to go and look for them, I had to wait for him/them for a few minutes and I was able to rest.

Solo picture while waiting for the gang

 

And the team was whole again, we ride back to the parking area taking stop to take picture, buy drinks and eat lunch.

Erick, Dennis, Ellen, RJ and Raff

 

Softdrink break with pretty Z

Lunch never tasted so delicious ever since as we stopped for lunch, the team chatted over lunch. There was still 12 kilometers to go before the parking area, I was tempted to hitch at Rico‘s car, since I already felt comfortable, full and relaxed. But I had to fight over this thought, and also thinking that Erick might get angry. With all my might (by God’s grace) I biked the last 12 kilometers, there was already lots of vehicle at this time and the sun was at its hottest. Every kilometer we biked made me glad, I was eager to get to the finish line (parking area) it helped me motivated to biked. But it was also at this time that both my hands felt nothing, it felt numb which made it hard to adjust the bike gear. But praise God that I made it whole, praise God for the strength He gave me and for the rest of the team, praise God for having friends/teamates who’s willing to lend a hand and support each other, praise God for my dearest hubby who biked beside me all the time knowing that my pace was slow for him, praise God for keeping me safe from the little mishap I had during a turn at a sharp curve, praise God for everything! Now, I had to rest my tired legs and ready myself for a test run tomorrow at Corregidor. 😀

 

Enduring the Half Ironman Race

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AUGUST 22 – D DAY

This is it! D-day is almost here, Erick woke up at 1AM, he couldn’t sleep because of the excitement so he decided to watch a movie on the computer, but it’s loud noise woke me up. So Erick and I were awake and waited while watching a movie. I decided to ready the stuffs that we would be bringing, a bag for Erick’s post race and a bag for me and for the kids. I dressed up, dressed the kids while they were sleeping and called the cafe to follow-up on our breakfast.

Erick was a bit anxious, I felt like I was walking on thin ice, I’m careful of what to say for I don’t want to ruin his mood. It was past 4AM when we left the hotel to drive for CWC, it was already filled with participants, cheerer and supporters when we arrived.  One by one the transition area was filled with participants having their body markings, you could feel the excitement from everywhere.


With Jonas of Sunkist

 

A few minutes later, Erick was on his way to the big lake, you could hear applause and cheer from supporters. At this time, I was feeling nervous, I was praying to God to keep everyone safe, that no mishap would happen, and one by one I telephoned Erick’s mom, my mother, my sister and my best friend informing them that in while Erick would start on reaching for his dream and to help me for praying Erick’s safety. 

Waiting for the start of their wave

 

The sound of the horn indicates the start of the Professional and Elite athletes start. Everyone was clapping and shouting, we could see how fast these guys are and have trained so hard for this race. Erick’s wave would start 2 minutes after the pro and elite started, their wave was the biggest, and most of them are competitive. At the sound of the second horn, the louder the cheer, my hands won’t stop shaking while I was taking a video.

Wave 2 (Photo from Doc Marvin)

After taking a video, I immediately went to on to the small lake to wait for Erick’s transition from Lago del Rey to the small lake. One by one, pro and elite athletes came running to swim for another 300m. 

NZ’s Terenzo Bozzone who won 1st last year 😀

Noy Jopson who won 1st last year

Finally! Erick made it out of the big lake

 

Erick finished his 1.9K swim in 41minutes and 0.2 seconds which is fast, at this point I was worried thinking that he might have pushed himself so hard at the swim that his run might suffer.  I was even more excited when I saw him off to the transition area.

Running to T1

 

I had no way of watching Erick in the bike leg except from his exit to the highway, so we just patiently waited for him at the run course. And that is the reason why I don’t have a picture of him on the bike leg. It was a hot day, and it was almost everyone’s comment on the weather that day, the last year result is faster than that day. 

 

He finished the 90K bike route in 2hours and 35minutes and was on his way to T2. WHAT?!!! he has a fast bike time, so what happens now to his run? would he be walking and crawling his way to the finish line? this are my thoughts when I was calculating his time, I just hope that he had done his proper nutrition so that his run wouldn’t suffer. Then he was off to his first loop at the 21K run.

But why would I be worried if he looks like this? All smile pa rin. 🙂

Or maybe because he saw my “hakot cheerer”  NOTE: pumayag po sila na walang bayad basta pakainin ko lang daw po sila. 🙂

 

We have agreed that his estimate time of finish would be 5hours 50minutes or up to 6hours. But with his performance I predicted that he could finish in 5hours 30minutes considering that he won’t walk at the run leg. But once a runner always a runner.

Nearing his way to the finish line (Photo courtesy of Doc Marvin)

My calculations were wrong, he could do a sub 5hours 30minutes. He clocked his finish time at 5hours 25minutes, which is a decent time for a first time half Ironman participant. He did it! He reached for his dream and made me proud. All glory and praises belong to the Lord alone! His love ENDURES forever and His mercy never ends.

Almost there

Victory is yours!

Here is his time according to Ironmanlive

Congratulations to the member of Team Endure who are also an Ironman James, Rico, Ziggy, Ronald, Melvin, Jason. Hats off to all of you! You rocked CamSur! And to the unequaled supporter/cheerer Taty, Marga, Ellen, Carina, Doc Marvin, RJ and Emil, I salute you. Money can’t buy your efforts, for giving the time just to be there for the team. God bless you all even more and God bless Team Endure!

I Swam! I Biked! I Ran! I TR(I/ied)!

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Flashback to a year ago, it never crossed my mind that I would be venturing the world of multi-sport. I was happy with running (and still is), why would I get out of my comfort zone? I’m afraid to swim, I’m afraid that I would drown, and this was the scenario since then. But thanks to Erick for convincing me to enroll in swimming lessons last year. (Click here for my story) And ever since then I have enjoyed swimming, but there’s still a part of me that is afraid especially of deep water, but there is no fear that one cannot overcome. 

I have high regards to triathletes, and it’s been my dream of being one. That’s why when a Tri Simulations was announced in Takbo.ph forum, I eagerly signed up for it. Even though I wouldn’t be joining Animo Triathlon this coming weekend yet, I decided to participate in the simulation. I have done duathlon, and it’s my first time to transition from swimming to biking.

Tri Simulation Participants

 

It was a nice day for a swim, a nice day to tri and all of us were excited for the race, Ellen briefed us and Pepsi took pictures of us, thanks guys. Some did the sprint distance while I did the mini-sprint. Most of the participants are members of Team Endure, a team that was formed by multi-sport athletes, and the honor was mine sharing the pool and the road with all of you. 🙂

Getting ready to start

I was excited to start and get this over with. Let me just share this picture of one of the my most memorable day, you can see my big smile at the run portion that I really enjoyed the simulations. I just hope that I would get comfortable soon with road bike so that I can race using one. I have lots of training to do, I must have the discipline that a triathlete has, but for now let me just say:

I SWAM! I BIKED! I RAN! I TR(I/ied)! 😀

Swim — Bike — Run

I enjoyed my first “tri”, enjoyed the company of friends. Next post on tri would be a race triathlon. 🙂