Trailing Above The Clouds (Part 1)

There's something about trail running that frightens me. The weird thing is I don't exactly know what brought me that fear. But now, I have to face that fear and settle things out once and for all. Now I'll run Natures Trail Discovery Run with excitement (and anxiety) of a first timer. Off we go and cruised with a decent and consistent speed. The fast pace lasted for almost an hour until we made a turn to a rough terrain. "Here we are" - my utter mumble. We slew down a little as a precaution and after a short while, we came to a full stop. Then Christian, one of the organizers, announced that we had arrived and needs to get off the bus and start walking our way to the starting line. Haha! Continue reading to find the real race story. ;)

The starting line was situated beside the covered court of Sta Inez. From the bus, me and my wife Nette walk down on an under construction road which was dimly lit with the headlights of motorcycles that the local government provided. The area reminds me of the place where I grew up. The scent and the cool breeze brings back nostalgic memories of my childhood. Oh how I miss how it feels to be like a kid again.

As we get near the staging area, the sound of the power generator started to fade. Then the voice of the host with Irish-twang accent started to be more radiant. "It's Jared (Supladong Irish Runner)" - I told my wife. Then I heard him recognized Six:30 running group participating the race. Nice! Soon after, we saw familiar faces. I introduced my wife Nette to some bloggers and team representatives who graced the event. Coach Rene (a.k.a. Jazzrunner), Running Atom, and Running Free Manila were all there who instructed me to claim my race kit from the booth of NorPhl.com who generously sponsored our registration under the banner of Team Norphl.com. Thank you so much Norphl Connect!

Game Face On!
Hydration belt? -> Checked!
Cap? -> Checked!
Shades? Checked!
Sunblock Lotion? -> Checked!
Team Norphl Singlet? -> Checked!
Energy Bar/Gel? -> Checked!
Bib Number? - Checked!
After this short preparation (did I just say short? hahaha!), we head our way to the starting line to do what we really came for - picture taking!! I forgot something in my checklist. Camera? -> CHECKED!!

The long wait for the gunstart made me antsy. The sun is about to comeout. In a cold misty morning, theres a chill that runs through my spine. A chill that wasn't caused by the cold weather but rather from the fear and anxiety that needs to take a back seat once the gun start fires.

Jared started the count down for the 21K runners: 10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. Boom!

I don't usually do this. But I have to cut this short and continue the remainder of my story on a separate post for several reasons. First, I don't want the readers to skip the middle part and jump to the end which I normally do when reading long articles. hahaha! Second, I want to reduce my bounce rate. Lastly, I want to see how many readers do I really have on this blog. Baka kasi niloloko ko lang ang sarili ko.. LOL!

Feel free to browse through the pictures here.

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