Let's see if this works (it does! =))
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Running for a good cause
My marathon training has officially begun.
I will be running my 4th marathon-for-a-cause on July 16, and once again I am attempting to run the full distance in under 5 hours to raise money for the Bukas Sarili Foundation.
Ideally, marathon training should be done over a period of about 6 months. So it is clear that I am really pushing it by only starting my training about two weeks ago. So far, I've gone from 4.5km to 6.5km to 10km to 12km to 15km in this period. My goal is that by the end of this week, I'm at 20km, then at 25km on July 2, and at 30km by July 8. Yeah, I know, kinda aggressive. But if I can manage to run 30km before the actual marathon, I think I will gain enough confident to finish the race in under 5 hours even after my not-so-good training. Hay, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed...
The pledges have started coming in as well, and with a few weeks left before my run (assuming I finish the marathon), I am at around P15K. Hopefully, more pledges still come in. I never manage to collect the entire amount that is pledged (normally I end up collecting about 80-90%), but still, that is a lot of money that will go a long way in providing charity patients of the Philippine General Hospital with much-needed medical assistance.
Hopefully, the next time I blog about my training, I will already be in good shape both mentally and physically. And maybe I will manage to raise more money than I did last year. Wish me luck!
I will be running my 4th marathon-for-a-cause on July 16, and once again I am attempting to run the full distance in under 5 hours to raise money for the Bukas Sarili Foundation.
Ideally, marathon training should be done over a period of about 6 months. So it is clear that I am really pushing it by only starting my training about two weeks ago. So far, I've gone from 4.5km to 6.5km to 10km to 12km to 15km in this period. My goal is that by the end of this week, I'm at 20km, then at 25km on July 2, and at 30km by July 8. Yeah, I know, kinda aggressive. But if I can manage to run 30km before the actual marathon, I think I will gain enough confident to finish the race in under 5 hours even after my not-so-good training. Hay, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed...
The pledges have started coming in as well, and with a few weeks left before my run (assuming I finish the marathon), I am at around P15K. Hopefully, more pledges still come in. I never manage to collect the entire amount that is pledged (normally I end up collecting about 80-90%), but still, that is a lot of money that will go a long way in providing charity patients of the Philippine General Hospital with much-needed medical assistance.
Hopefully, the next time I blog about my training, I will already be in good shape both mentally and physically. And maybe I will manage to raise more money than I did last year. Wish me luck!
French Open recap
The French Open, tennis' 2nd Grand Slam of the year, concluded last week. Congratulations go out to Rafael Nadal who proved his utter dominance on clay by wiping out world #1 Roger Federer in the final. Congratulations also go out to Justine Henin-Hardenne, who was just as convincing in her title win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. It was an awesome fortnight of tennis. Would've been better though if the people I was rooting for won. I was hoping that Federer, Kuznetsova (or Clijsters), and the Bryan brothers would all win. Tough for me, I guess.
My favorite moment of the tournament though had nothing to do with the tennis being played. During the men's doubles final between the Bryan brothers and Jonas Bjorkmann and Max Mirnyi, the camera shot towards a large banner way up in the stands that said in big bold letters: "We miss you Steffi." And I just really realized how much I do miss watching Graf play. Time to pull out my Steffi tapes and relive the glory days then, I guess. =)
My favorite moment of the tournament though had nothing to do with the tennis being played. During the men's doubles final between the Bryan brothers and Jonas Bjorkmann and Max Mirnyi, the camera shot towards a large banner way up in the stands that said in big bold letters: "We miss you Steffi." And I just really realized how much I do miss watching Graf play. Time to pull out my Steffi tapes and relive the glory days then, I guess. =)
Sunday, June 04, 2006
My grandarents' 50th wedding anniversary
Not often that we get to see couples, even married ones, last very long. So it's always special when you see two people celebrating their Golden wedding anniversary. And it's even more special when those people are your grandparents.
It was held on a Tuesday night, in a church somewhere in Manila (I drove there with my family so they just gave me instructions on how to get there while I was driving, but I never really got the name of the church). Apparently, this is the same church where my grandparents got married, so it was kinda cool for their 50th anniversary to be held there again.
The church ceremony started around 6pm. I was the best man, so I marched first. It was good too because my two nephews marched right after me, and since there was no rehearsal or anything, I just told both of them to walk like me (which they did, and I was mighty proud of them for that! =))
From church we headed down the road to the Old Swiss Inn in Manila (didn't realize there was one there) for the reception. Most of the invitees were relatives, taking up about three-quarters of the area and so it was like a family reunion. The food was pretty good, and since there weren't that many people, the lines at the buffet never got too long.
The main part of the program was supposed to consist of a few speeches - from my grandfather, his brother, his sister, and my grandma's friend. There was a slideshow of pictures as well. Also, my mom performed a really awesome dance number with a dance instructor that was very very well received (she performed it at work during one of their events), before I took the mic to sing 'The way you look tonight' (I was thinking of singing something less gasgas but everyone suggested that I sing something that's more popular so that the folks won't get too bored. One of my grand-aunties said I sang very well and my grandma and my mom told me that she must have really liked it because my grand-auntie apparently doesn't just give out praise like that. Cool for me, then. =)
The program ended up being extended since my grandfather and all his siblings can play the piano, the violin, or both, and a lot of folks sing pretty well too. Then once the program itself was over, it was hanging out with everyone and catching up and playing with my nephews and lots of picture taking (sorry, Tita Gail, I promised to send you pictures but the night was so hectic that I wasn't able to take any. Tita Jill said she'd send Nanay and Tatay a CD with all the pics she took, and once she does that I can put them up online).
All in all a fantastic celebration, and everyone, especially my grandparents, were very happy. The ceremony itself was simple but for the fact that so many people stayed late into the night in party mode on a weeknight, this wedding has to be one of the best ones I've ever attended.
It was held on a Tuesday night, in a church somewhere in Manila (I drove there with my family so they just gave me instructions on how to get there while I was driving, but I never really got the name of the church). Apparently, this is the same church where my grandparents got married, so it was kinda cool for their 50th anniversary to be held there again.
The church ceremony started around 6pm. I was the best man, so I marched first. It was good too because my two nephews marched right after me, and since there was no rehearsal or anything, I just told both of them to walk like me (which they did, and I was mighty proud of them for that! =))
From church we headed down the road to the Old Swiss Inn in Manila (didn't realize there was one there) for the reception. Most of the invitees were relatives, taking up about three-quarters of the area and so it was like a family reunion. The food was pretty good, and since there weren't that many people, the lines at the buffet never got too long.
The main part of the program was supposed to consist of a few speeches - from my grandfather, his brother, his sister, and my grandma's friend. There was a slideshow of pictures as well. Also, my mom performed a really awesome dance number with a dance instructor that was very very well received (she performed it at work during one of their events), before I took the mic to sing 'The way you look tonight' (I was thinking of singing something less gasgas but everyone suggested that I sing something that's more popular so that the folks won't get too bored. One of my grand-aunties said I sang very well and my grandma and my mom told me that she must have really liked it because my grand-auntie apparently doesn't just give out praise like that. Cool for me, then. =)
The program ended up being extended since my grandfather and all his siblings can play the piano, the violin, or both, and a lot of folks sing pretty well too. Then once the program itself was over, it was hanging out with everyone and catching up and playing with my nephews and lots of picture taking (sorry, Tita Gail, I promised to send you pictures but the night was so hectic that I wasn't able to take any. Tita Jill said she'd send Nanay and Tatay a CD with all the pics she took, and once she does that I can put them up online).
All in all a fantastic celebration, and everyone, especially my grandparents, were very happy. The ceremony itself was simple but for the fact that so many people stayed late into the night in party mode on a weeknight, this wedding has to be one of the best ones I've ever attended.
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