and the search began....

it all started with this thread in the Takbo.ph shoutbox.

everyone was enticed as this would provide us with a new experience. for some of the group who were into mountaineering/adventure racing, this was a fresh welcome to the numerous road races occuring weekly. this event would have provided the much needed rest for our road shoes, and a much needed welcome for their trail running shoes :)

they even had compass reading learning sessions to prep the group which, was mostly composed of newbies.

the day started early, and we rode this magical school bus of some sort going to maragondon. (take note! ang bus ride na ito ay special dahil bawal pala ito sa edsa or something to that effect, pero naka daan kami!)

o diba ang cute nung bus? ;)
umuulan kasi ng malakas nung papunta kami ng maragondon
kaya ayan half lang ung windows na opened.

we arrived at the site around 630AM, and sobrang tagal before nag start ng race.

we got super bored while waiting for things to happen, so while others were sleeping, being the active bodies that we are reminisced our childhood games by playing

a) luksong tinik

and

b) patintero

after exhausting ourselves waiting,

we were able to get our numbers already (we were team 32)

and waited again before the race actually started.

(kelan ba kasi mag start?) nagsusungit na si timmy

as usual tradition, photos were taken to make sure that this journey was well documented.
as proof, here are some of the links from Argo, Zig, Doc T, Chelly, just to name a few.

before the actual race, we were given this pre-race instruction. That seemed easy :)

shempre meron kaming team photo ops near the starting line.

with teammates, carly, me, ziggy, doc T
TEAM LOST!

after that, we were to look for this hanging bridge.

malamang sa nakita namin diba? initially ang yabang pa naming team LOST kasi we haven't been able to locate the other teams after passing through this bridge. we were able to bump into a lot of teams sa may rice fields after the hanging bridge.

this was one of the last pics we had with other teams
(di na namin sila sinama sa picture baka isiping cheaters kami)

most of the time while we were with them, we were just taking photos of each other, pang blog,and multiply. pero other than that, the competitive nature of us runners were still on hypermode, so todo hanap kami ng mga lugar kung saan saan para matanto yung next point.

ang dami naming napuntang lugar. let me show you the pics:

after going around in circles for 4 hours, we decided to head back to where we started.

suko na kami, ilang oras din kaming nag ikot, hindi namin matanto ang CP2 na yan!

we retraced our way, via our ever dependable compass,
we were able to figure out that we should head back 60 degrees east.


with terrains such as those above, i got myself thinking.
it is not right to treat ROAD running shoes to these types of terrains,
with all the mud, water, cow dung, etc.

as i was walking through the sapa, and the putik
all over again on my way back,
i told myself its time.

now the search begins....

for my first ever trail running shoes!!!! :)

(although what i have in mind is the adidas kanadia TR2)

if you have other suggestions, feel free to let me know.
i'm open to suggestions pa naman.


LET THE SEARCHING BEGIN!