Category: Cebu Marathon

Cebu City Marathon: Deadline of Registration

The date “January 8, 2012” is near. That’s the Sunday when thousands of runners — from all over the globe, including dozens and dozens of foreign visitors, some Kenyans and Ethiopians — will be participating in the all-awaited CCM.

Today, after over two months since the registration doors have opened, the booth at the Active Zone of Ayala Center Cebu will open for the last time. Today, December 15th, is the last day for registration.

www.cebumarathon.com

Hurry! In the same way that you hurry to the finish line, you’ve got to make sure to join this once-every-365-days event. The Cebu Marathon — jointly organized by the Cebu City government, ASAP Advertising, and the Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC) — promises to be one of the most festive marathons in Cebu and our entire Philippine archipelago.

Timed exactly seven days prior to Sinulog, you run not alone but amidst a sea of Pit Señor paraphernalia: buntings flying above your head, drum beats deafening your ears, the images of the Señor Sto. Niño crowding the streets of Sugbo.

The Cebu Marathon is the Sinulog Marathon. It’s our very own. Plenty of freebies await the participants. For the brave 42K runners, a Suarez-made finisher’s medal with three mangoes will be laced around your neck once you reach the finish line. Why three mangoes? Because mangoes, obviously, are Cebu’s native and most popular fruit; and three mangoes because this is the third 42K CCM.

“This will be the last of the mango-medal series,” says race organizer Meyrick “Jacs” Jacalan, who personally designed the popular medals. Next year? The lechon medal? The otap design? Let’s see. But, for next month, it will be three mangoes.

All participants — 5K, 21K and 42K — will receive a New Balance sleeveless singlet. These can all be claimed during the Race Expo from January 4 to 6.

As bonus to the 21K and 42K participants, all who cross the finish line will be get Finishers Shirts. All for free. With the 5K run, this will have a brand-new route for 2012. Instead of the JY Square to UP Lahug route, thousands of runners will turn left from the Cebu I.T. Park then proceed to the Cebu Business Park. From there, they’ll run up Parklane Hotel, climb up Escario St., turn right towards Lahug then back to the Cebu I.T. Park. Register today!

To all those who have already enlisted themselves, visit the website, www.cebumarathon.com. Check if your name is officially on the list. It’s also a good opportunity to be reminded of the activities leading to the Sunday big event.

On January 6 — that’s two nights before — it’s the Pre-Race or Carbo-Loading Party. This will be held at the same sprawling and refreshing venue as the past two years: The Terraces of Ayala Center Cebu.

Speakers will provide last-minute tips. A band will perform. Final instructions will be explained. It’s also that all-exciting 36 hours prior to race day when fellow runners will converge to talk and swap stories.

From my own experience, having joined three 42K races (Hong Kong, Singapore and Quezon City), few moments in life are as bone-tingling and heart-pumping as the 48 hours leading to the race. You eat pasta. You relax your legs. You quiver with a mixture of anxiety and excitement. You prepare your gear. Your shoes are sleeping, ready for the 40,000 steps on the asphalt and cement roads.

I once asked Jesse Taborada, the former president of our organizing group, CERC, which was more difficult, the 42K marathon or the 50K/65K ultramarathon? “The 42K,” answered Jesse, a veteran of 11 marathons/ultramarathons, the most recent of which was the other Sunday’s Singapore Marathon. “With the ultramarathon, unless you’re an elite or competitive runner, there’s a lot of walking. There’s no time pressure. Not in the 42K. You’re pushing yourself. If you’ve got a previous 5:15 PR (personal record), you’re targeting a sub-5. That’s added pressure.”

To all who have registered… Godspeed. To all who have yet to enlist… hurry!

CCM: ‘Feel the beat, get on your feet’

While the Spooktacular (Run For Your Life!) Race this Friday night will have runners, literally, running scared, and while the annual Citigym Half Marathon is popular because of the 21K, a much bigger event looms just barely two months away: The 2012 Cebu City Marathon.

The reason? The 42.195 km. distance. “I’ll run a 5K marathon this Sunday,” many often say. But that’s incorrect. Because a 5K Run, though enjoyable (like the Tribute Run for Melinda) is not a marathon. There is only one marathon distance and that’s 42,195 meters.

That event is happening on Jan. 8, 2012. New Balance singlets await the participants. Live, Sinulog-type entertainment will excite the runners. Water stations will flood the streets every 1.5 kms. Cheerers will shout. CITOM personnel will close the South Road Properties. A Carbo-loading Party will provide a feast for all at the Ayala Center Cebu.

Register now. If you’re got a credit card and can get online, enlist now. The rates are less expensive (compared to Nov. 20, when the “Late Registration Fees” begin). The distances are similar to the past two years: 5K, 21K, and 42K. The routes for the half-marathon and marathon will be the same as last Jan. 2011. Start and finish at the Cebu IT Park. Runners pass through Osmeña Blvd. en route to the SRP. The 5K route will be new—and to be announced at the press conference on Thursday.

What makes this race different is the timing. It’s held seven mornings before one of Asia’s loudest of parties: the Sinulog. Thus, the air is littered with confetti, the streets are lined with buntings; drum-beating music will deafen our eardrums. Our theme: “Feel The Beat. Get On Your Feet!” Find out more at www.CebuMarathon.com.

CITCI. Ken Salimbangon and Nestor Toledo comprise the one-two doubles tandem who organized the Cebu International Tennis Centre Inc.

Nicknamed CITCI and located in Laray, Consolacion, it is the only facility in this island that is home to 10 tennis courts. Yes, you read it right. Not two or four or six—but five clay-courts plus five hard-courts.

This Friday to Sunday, Oct. 28 to 30, Ken and Nestor are helping organize the 18th leg of the Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Championship at CITCI. Open to players aged 18 years old and younger (some as young as six years old!), the event is Philta-sanctioned and many prizes await the winners. Registration fee is P300 and the deadline is this Thursday. Call now: 0922358845, 5144379 or 09229488739.

PACMAN. The Nonito Donaire fight was boring? Who said so? Not when “Manuel” Pacquiao entered the arena three nights ago. Yes. That’s “Manuel,” not Manny. The Pacquiao lookalike, who’s reportedly an airport worker from Houston, Texas, entered the stadium and had everyone snapping their flash photos.

Who was he? His name is Allan Rivera Manuel.

Wrote Larry Brown of Larry Brown Sports: “He fooled fans, security, and ushers as he walked through Madison Square Garden. It’s easy to see why—he looks exactly like Manny Pacquiao…

“Manuel is such a big fan of Manny, that he decided to make a second career of impersonating the boxer. He got a similar tattoo on his left pectoral muscle, got the same earrings, the same hair, and the same mustache and goatee. He began working out so he would have a similar build to the boxer, and he can even talk and sing like Pac Man. Manuel Pacquiao causes a scene wherever he goes, and he even had to bring bodyguards when he traveled to Las Vegas for Manny’s May fight against Shane Mosley. He really seems to enjoy all the attention, even though he makes it clear to fans that he is not the real Pacquiao.”

HOOPS DOME. I spoke to Councilor Harry Radaza two nights ago. In preparation for the Nov. 5 PBA game (not the usual exhibition but a ‘bearing’ game) between Petron and Alaska, the City of Lapu-Lapu has installed more ceiling lights. This NBA-like arena, the only one in our province, has become even more NBA-like. Looking forward to next Saturday’s Blaze Boosters vs. Aces contest at the Hoops Dome.

The 42K: An incredible, life-changing moment

(Photo by Erwin T. Lim)

How to explain the satisfaction — and pain — of running 42,195 meters on foot? Here are a few explanations…

“To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who’s never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind.” – Jerome Drayton.

“The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop, but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy. It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.” – Jacqueline Gareau.

“If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.” – Emil Zatopek.

Yes. Emil Zatopek, the Czech runner who won three gold medals at the 1952 Olympic Games (including the marathon, deciding to join the event in the last minute – and in his first-ever 42K distance!) is correct. Running the marathon will change your life. From now on, you can achieve anything. A difficulty or challenge or problem that’s too tough to overcome? Prior to the 42K race, “That’s too hard,” you’d say; after, it’s this proclamation: “I CAN DO IT!”

Triumph. That’s what the marathon is. It’s about the word “impossible” and removing its first two letters. Possible. Yes. After last Sunday, to the one thousand-plus who ran from the Asiatown I.T. Park to the tip of the South Road Properties in Talisay City then back to Lahug…. anything is possible. “A marathon is like life with its ups and downs,” someone once said, “but once you’ve done it you feel that you can do anything.”

Take Raul Cepeda. He’s 77. He’ll celebrate his 78th birthday one week from today, on Jan. 18. This means that he was born in 1933. Two days ago, Raul ran his first marathon. When I saw him running towards the finish line, I almost cried. Here’s a grandfather of many, accomplishing what senior citizens are not supposed to do. Raul is one of the most amazing people I know. And, to top it all, last week I got a call from him saying that he’s in pain, nursing a plantar fasciitis injury. I suggested that, maybe, he not join or do the 21K instead. He braved on. And for that, he has the 42K finisher’s medal to proudly show to his grandchildren.

(Photo by Sydney de los Reyes)

How about Atan Guardo and Joel Garganera? These best friends finished their 12th marathon (yes, no misprint: one dozen) last Sunday. Their first? Exactly 23 months ago. Now, it’s No. 12.

Or SunStar’s very own Michelle So. In the Press Freedom Run two years ago, Michelle hobbled towards the 3K finish line. In CCM 2010, she did the 5K. Last Sunday? She traveled 42,195 meters—the distance from the Provincial Capitol all the way to Carcar.

Same with Joy Polloso, the general manager of Ayala Center. She completed her first two marathons — in Singapore and Cebu — in a span of just one month!

There are hundreds more of similar inspiring stories–many recounted in Facebook postings and photos. In all… What a celebration. What a sense of fulfillment. What a festive moment during this Sinulog.

As to the hot weather last Sunday morning? That’s another one of those unexplainable moments. The entire week last week until Saturday night, it was gloomy. Rainy. It drizzled. Same with the whole of yesterday, right? It rained. But on the solitary morning of last Sunday, it was all sunny and hot… Many runners got burned. Explains marathon guru Hal Higdon: “The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals.” How to explain the slow roasting at the SRP? Only God can do that but, to me, it meant two things: One, it reemphasizes the difficulty and torment of the 42K and, two, it makes the agonizing victory all the more gratifying.    Finally, to all those still grimacing with aches and sore muscles, consider this…

“I’m never going to run this again!!!” said Grete Waitz after winning her first of nine New York City marathons.

See you at the starting line of CCM 2012!