Tour de Cebu 1: Cebu Capitol – Naga City

Saturday. August 06, 2011.

I forgot when and how the talk about touring the Cebu island on foot started, but it was Joseph, the 4-1 Runner, who kept pushing it. No formal planning at all. No serious preparation.

A public Facebook event invitation was created to encourage more runners as well as photographers and travelers to join. Everyone’s welcome…

However, only five people confirmed — The Runnroo. It wasn’t because we had no choice but to join our own activity. Well, aside from traveling around the island, we also wanted to share in any way how awesome running is.

So, on our first staging of Tour de Cebu, we were all excited. I just knew it. As early as 3 a.m., we were already preparing, though nothing much to prepare really — just comfy shirt, shorts, sweatpants, arm warmers, scrunchie, spelled visor, shoes or slippers, hydration belt/bottle, garmin, coins and cloud 9 — then everything’s good and everyone’s ready to hit the roads.

We started at Kilometer 0 found in front of the Cebu Capitol and finished at Kilometer 25 in Lagtang, City of Naga.

Join me as I reminisce how it went…

You're familiar with this early morning habit of crouching while eating light pseudo-breakfast, right? It was past 3 a.m. already, Paolo was surely enjoying his coffee (?) or milk (?) while Jean and I were concentrating on that peanut buttered Pan de Manila bread. Well, this is the back view.

Now, check the side view. Don't get us wrong. We just looked sluggish here but we were really wide awake -- alert, alive and enthusiastic.

I'm not sure about the 4-1 Runner though...I knew he woke up first but it looked like he fell asleep again. You be the judge.

Odina here, meanwhile, looked like she just had sweet dreams. Oh, what a sweet smile to start a pretty long mile ahead!

Geared up, off we went. We took a jeepney from IT Park to Capitol where we started our journey…to the South. 🙂

We left Kilometer 0  at 4:30 a.m.

Running at dawn really feels good. The cool breeze, as it kisses my skin, makes me feel more alive. It makes me appreciate my every breath and it always reminds me of one of the reasons why I run — Life.

Traveling vehicles are also few.  Pollution isn’t that obvious. Dawn also makes me own and enjoy the streets, at least for a while.

So, from Capitol, we ran past Jones Ave. straight to the Fuente Osmena Circle. We turned right after reaching Abellana National High School, passed by the South Bus Terminal, the newly constructed overpass and just went straight until we reached Talisay City.

We stopped for a while around 6 a.m. and had another pseudo-breakfast.

STOPOVERS

I love short stopover. I consider it one good part of running. It’s when I can take a good look of our surrounding; find answers to some of my questions; get better understanding of some things; gain new perspectives; and take photographs…

BUSY MORNING STREET (Talisay City). Everything was moving. Everybody was busy on an early Saturday morning -- drivers, vendors, among others. It was a very crowded area where we were but it made me happy to see people already working hard as early as that...and because they inspired me, I dedicated that run to them as well.

COLORFUL SHOES. I wondered why he was sleeping there shirtless...I didn't get the chance to know. Anyhow, his good conditioned colorful shoes caught my attention. He and his shoes reminded me to always look at the brighter side of things. Oh, well.

POOR STATE . Look around, you'll see more of this. What have we done? What are we doing? Then let us stop wondering why flooding and dengue, among others, are perennial worries, I just thought.

MORNING WALK. It's a blurry image but it's real. These people, who take morning walks not just to stress out, to sweat out, or to exercise but to earn a living and live, exist.

SMILE. I met him when Runnroo had a water-break somewhere in Minglanilla. This man actually didn't know that I was photographing him, but one of his companions told him, "Tan-aw sa kodak, nong, kay ma-sikat na ka... (Look at the camera, coz you'll be famous)." He laughed and so here goes... Look at him. See, always give your best smile and you can change others' lives like what this hardworking man had done to mine.

RUNNROO CONTINUES

We finally passed by Talisay and Minglanilla. One more town to go and the 25 kilometer is over. But of course, this is obviously easier said than RAN.

Good thing, we had a very friendly weather; bad thing, we were running in a national highway — with smoke-belching vehicles alongside, dust, pollution, noise, noise, noise and all. We endured all these and finally reached the City of Naga.

The Runnroo posed in front of the coal-fired power plant in the City of Naga.

It was almost 10 a.m. when we reached the city proper and seeing the church was a relief — just a temporary relief.

I thought my life's gonna be back to normal as I was getting nearer Naga City's church . I thought wrong. My untrimmed and aching toenails had to endure four moOore kilometers. Oh, life!

So, we continued the search for the Kilometer 25 post. In the last few kilometers, we ran, walked, walked, walked, ran, ran, walked and haaa — we SPRINTED when we finally found the yellow post only a few meters away.

Wohooo! Crazed Runnroo at Kilometer 25

Despite some inevitable inconveniences, we managed it…We finished our first 25K Tour de Cebu adventure and it was indeed FUN AND BLESSED!

Runnroo resting at City of Naga's baywalk. P.S. I persisted despite the dust, pollution, noise and all because of these folks. True.

Looking forward to future Runnroo adventures,

The Accidental Marathoner