With 14 days left before New Year’s Eve, I reminisce on one of the most electrifying seasons in tennis…..
(Finney/Getty)
Remember Wimbledon 2008? When the world’s top two stared at each other’s eyes from across the net? I wrote a column on this space last July entitled, “The Heavyweight Championship of the World.” It was true. The rivalry of Roger and Rafa is one of the sporting world’s most watched—and one of tennis history’s best, right alongside Borg-McEnroe and Sampras-Agassi.
(Sun.Star Cebu photo)
Macky Michael loves the 1980s. He first drove a car in the ‘80s, enjoys listening to the music of the ‘80s, had his first date during that decade and swung his first few rounds of golf in those 1980s. Fittingly, at the Cebu Country Club last weekend, he’s part of the group called the “80s.” These are a bunch of men who were teenagers during those youthful days of the ‘80s. Apart from Macky, they include Iker Aboitiz, Frederic Chiongbian, Jay-Jay Neri, Gassy Lizares, Tining Martinez, Justin Neri, Toby Florendo, Mars Ugarte, Eric Deen, Pico Sarmiento, Nino Bascon, Carl Almario, Jonji Chiongbian, Jess Garcia, Gilbert and Gabriel Yap, Enrico Solon, Tony San Juan and team captain Jovi Unchuan. They’re the 80s team. The ‘90s?
Three weeks ago, after I had finished my 12th and final laser-and-ultrasound therapy to cure the Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITB) injury I sustained while running, my fear was that the pain would recur when I ran the 2008 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. And so, when I asked a good friend and top Cebu physician what medicine he recommended to help prevent such injury from revisiting during race-day, his answer caught me dumbfounded: Viagra.
SINGAPORE—As much as we wanted to watch Manny Pacquiao, his fight was not shown here. Too bad. But what a victory for the Filipino! Updates on our Singapore Marathon… Millette Chiongbian ran the fastest, but what a story: Staring at her Garmin GPS watch in the early part of the race, Millette’s pace read “6:00 mins./km.” That’s too slow, she told herself, and so she sprinted. The next thing she realized, her speed was 3:45 mins./km.—unbelievably fast.
As I’ve written on this sports box on many occasions, last February 17, I attempted my first 42K run at the Hong Kong Marathon and failed. At the KM. 28 mark, I succumbed to massive cramps then, when the muscle pain subsided, the sides of my knees hurt like they were hammered by a baseball bat. I limped to the 36th km. until the 5-hour mark arrived but couldn’t finish within the allotted 5-hour, 30-minute marathon cutoff time.
Why did I fail? Having trained for six months, I felt confident. Maybe, too confident. Despite experts suggesting that first-timer marathoners “not bring a watch… forget about the time… and just finish,” I neglected to heed that advice. Instead, self-assured and undoubting at the training I had logged, I targeted to finish between 4 hours, 15 minutes to 4:30.
I aimed to have a good time.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afv5jTrC7nM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F_jW4csyeI[/youtube]
It’s not aired on local or cable TV but it’s a must-watch. I’m referring to HBO’s documentary called “24/7,” which features Oscar de la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao. I first heard about this bio-short film from Chris Aldeguer. The youngest son of ALA, Chris is now in the U.S. preparing for two mega-events: he’ll watch the Dec. 6 blockbuster at the MGM Grand and, just hours later, at 6 a.m. the following day (Dec. 7), he’ll run the Las Vegas Marathon—the first-ever 42-K by Chris after training for over 12 months.
Back to HBO’s 24/7 film, what a story! It contrasts DLH’s training at the immaculate confines of his brand-new gym at Big Bear, California with MP sweating amidst the noise and commotion of the Wild Card Gym.
