[MAGMA Trail Run 2018] Mt. Manghulao Challenge: #fakenews

Event: MAGMA TRAIL RUN 2018 >>

“What a great race it was! I gobbled the uphills with much gusto, and dashed through the technical downhills. I’m definitely made for the mountains. I got a few scratches from the muddy and rocky trails but these battle scars make great souvenir. But I would be lying that I did not suffer. I did not expect the 1000M elevation gain in a 15KM distance that I almost gave up on the last stretch of endless climbs to the finish line. But thankfully, the goat spirit in me refused to be beaten. And, that’s what make a great race: a bit of suffering to get you to dig deep! Getting a podium finish was just an icing-on-the-cake!”

Of course the above story is a fake news. Reality was it was MUDDY and shitty (figuratively) with a lovely view af! =)

But still, MAGMA Trail Run: Mt. Manghulao Challenge made me feel so giddy like a champion despite that I really had no right to be there in the first place because look at that brutality…

This is brutal for my standards…

But it’s new year 2019, no space for any self-deprecating comments. So let me enjoy one more time the last trail run of 2018 before my first running event of 2019, Cebu Marathon, by looking back at some photos from the Mt. Manghulao Challenge 15KM of MAGMA Trail Run 2018.

At the starting line. But first let’s carbo-load for a 15KM…

The usual and unusual suspects…

As always, being in the trail is one of the moments on earth that I feel so blessed. There’s that unfiltered beauty of nature, there’s the mix feeling of pain and dying but yet it’s one of those moments that we’d feel the most alive; it’s this kind of moment that you rarely get to experience. Thus, I cannot thank enough the trail running event organizers of MAGMA Trail Run 2018 for putting all these “existential-fulfilling” elements in an event despite on a limited logistics. I just cannot imagine the tricks and resourcefulness they have to pull off to put up a 50KM event. =)

Insert Rex Gonzales…

Now to more photos from the Mt. Manghulao Challenge 15KM of MAGMA Trail Run 2018:

First, let me take a #bloggerpose, the most important part…