36th Milo Marathon Finals: A Not-So-Newbie Runner's Musings

Milo Logo

Back in July of this year, I had my first ever 5K fun run with Milo Marathon. I would say that the experience with the Milo Marathon propelled me to join other fun runs in the succeeding months.  Not just one person said that I was on a roll, and indeed, I am.  I enjoy the freedom of running, and I figured that I will enjoy running while I still can do it.  Time will come when these knees would give out, bones would already be rickety and they wouldn't be able to tolerate the abuse anymore.  But I plan to prolong my running stint as long as I can, hopefully, well over my 70's.  That gives me a few more decades hahaha! 

Next Running Agenda: 7-Eleven Run 800

I enjoyed my first fun run so much that I went scouting for another event I can participate in.  In fact, in my current goals, I included running activities to my list.  My running buddy, Ate S. even wanted to upgrade already to 10K. She was probably caught up in the excitement of our first run.  So am I, but I'm not yet delirious lol!  After all,  I have a heart to protect.  I said it's too soon for me to upgrade to that category.  She agreed, so we're still on the 5K level, but now that I have a personal record, I'd try to beat that first.  My record time for the recent Milo Marathon is 45 minutes and 21 seconds.  Slow, right?  I don't mind, as long as I finished the race still standing up, no sustained injuries and still able to smile at the finish line.  I was expecting my legs to hurt days after but there was only slight pain, the kind of good pain you have when you exercise.

For running enthusiasts, I am most sure they have come across Takbo.ph.  They've got a list of running events there.  My running buddies and I chose this particular event:

Image from 7-Eleven Run 800

36th Milo Marathon: My First 5K Fun Run

Two blog posts ago, I was asking myself : Am I Ready to Run?  I wouldn't have been asking that question if I didn't have hypertension and is in fact under medication.  But I said to myself, I wouldn't pass up opportunities like this one just because of that condition.  I refuse to be held captive of high blood pressure, although I need to be wary of signs of fatigue or whatsoever.  I am thankful for those who encouraged me through the comments, that I can in fact do this.  And so, last Sunday, the 29th of July, I was there at the Mall of Asia with thousands of runners, ready to pound the pavements and beat their personal records.  I haven't got a personal record to beat, except to prove to myself that I can still run...for health. 

Minutes before the official gun time for the 3 and 5 K runs, this is what's right in front of me, a sea of green shirts (okay never mind the guy in blue).  Seeing the starting line made me smile and all excited, specially since the crowd is already cheering, bobbing their heads, jumping even to see what's happening up ahead.  When we heard the gunshot, the cheering grew louder and people started, well, walking.  There's such a huge crowd that it was impossible to run a few meters after the starting line.

Starting Line

Philippine Society of Hypertension

 

 Philippines Society of Hypertension

It's time to be on the loop.  If there are societies for hypertension worldwide, there is definitely one in the Philippines.  Mr. Google is my research buddy so I head over to the site and keyed in this phrase "Filipinos and hypertension."  After 0.28 seconds, it coughed up 158,000 results.  Yeah I know...slow huh?  Just kidding.  It's good to know that we have our own Philippine Society of Hypertension.  After all, one of the country's top main health concerns is the "silent killer." 

I'm still reading some articles.  It was cool to know that there is one day dedicated to hypertension and as you can see from the above picture, it is this coming May 17,  2012.  In fact, as I have just read from the site, May is "Hypertension Awareness Month."   I suppose things that are important deserve a day or a month, either to celebrate, commemorate or to have meaningful discussions like conventions.  

As part of awareness campaign, they also have a downloadable comics written in Filipino.  Surely I wouldn't let that pass so I downloaded my own copy.  Who knows?  I might be able to share it to those who might benefit from it.  Anyway, I just had to laugh a bit as I scrolled to the last page,  right at the bottom where they put the sponsor.  It says there: "Compliments of Neobloc."  I would have been nonchalant about it but Neobloc is also known as tadaaaaaa...Metoprolol, my nemesis!  Talk about the irony of things.  Kidding aside, the comics is a good way to promote hypertension awareness.  There's just one thing there that I am not buying totally.  One of the characters there said that once you have hypertension, you have to take medication for life.  I'll try to prove that wrong.  

Going back to the badge above, I really heart that tag line :  

Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Blood Pressure. 

It Just Takes a Few Clicks to Help Victims of Typhoon Sendong

NASA's Terra Satellite Catches Powerful Supertyphoon Megi, 

a photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

I have not been watching the television for quite some time. So it was a bit late for me to hear about the news down south of the Philippines. And I only got to the details of things through posts in Facebook profiles and this post from Paula of BC Bloggers :

Dont Turn a Blind Eye. Here's How You Can Help Mindanao Flash Flood Victims.

Do visit the link above so you can find out the details of how you can give assistance to the people devastated by the typhoon.

You might be wondering what a post about a supertyphoon is doing in a blog about health and wellness.