Doc Brent and I was planning on a trail run test at the La Mesa Eco Trail. Since I wasn't really familiar with the place I contacted RC another h@ppyFeet runner to help us out and show us the way to the place. He agreed on joining us and taking us there. So right after I finished yesterday's 7km race, I was stuffing myself with the free snack while I was on route to our meeting place. We left Manila at around 8:15am and headed out to QC. RC insisted on taking us to a more familiar place San Mateo Rizal. I guess we will have to move our plans to trying out La Mesa Eco Trail next time.
The trip took about 30~35minutes since traffic was easy on a Sunday. We passed by Marikina and arrived in San Mateo at around 8:50am. We parked RC's truck on a uphill curve shoulder(well this can only happen in the Philippines guys :)) And we started to prep for our first hill-trail run session. Doc Brent had his 20oz Nathan, while I had 24oz Amphipod and RC was logging along his huge indestructible Coleman hiking bottle. hehehe I guess we were all bringing just a few liquids since the weather was really cool yesterday. Well it was cool right, It rain little animals while we were all preparing. hahaha and the raindrops seemed to get bigger and bigger. Well, backed by some medical fact(c/o Brent) that we are totally safe running in the rain, well except for lighting striking us, we headed out for our run.
Wet wet wet.....
Just starting our climb on a paved road everything just seemed to be getting heavier and heavier..... clothes, underware, socks and shoes! They felt like a ton! And the starting paved hill was really really steep! It took me 16 minutes to get to the Timberland Gate. Brent showed up a good 5 minutes after and RC.... well..... He got there too. hehehehe The route was really simple it was just follow one road and you will not get lost.
When we entered the Timberland gate, half of the road was still under construction offering us a good warm up for the upcoming trail ahead. Running in the semi loose sand, rocks and soil was a totally new feeling for me. and i guess it was the same for Doc Brent too! We reached the end of the timberland estates and had to take a single lane trail road. Now the real fun begins....
Trees, grass and more trees and grass covered both sides of this one lane rough road and it was covered with mud, sand and rocks. We were just all careful of the brown-red looking mud since this was definitely the very slippery one. :)
I know this is still not a real trail running route but hey! for someone who has been running around the metro for 2 years, any unpaved road is already a trail for me! hehehehehe By my guestimate we took another 3~4kms of this trail. I know it was short but it was hard to run on very slipper condition. We all agreed on making the run time based and that we set a 1 hour turn around point. It was alot of fun running in slippery mud and potholes!
chicken, tapsi, koren beef, foot long and some pepsi after the run
6 comments:
As you promised...photos of muddy shoes! Looks like you had a great time over there. So, what do you prefer more- road or trails?
Oops... I just saw your title. I just got your answer! haha
woohoo! go, ben! that looks like a fun run. i knew that all it takes is for you to get a taste of a little bit of trail running and you're gonna get hooked. smart thing to do a time-based run since you were unfamiliar with the trail and conditions.
this is such a dirty post, my feet were getting tickled just looking at the pics. hahaha. i like the photo with the muddy shoes and brent in the background. i noticed that on one of the photos, you picked to run on the puddle .
go find more trails and run them. hehe.
mukhang talagang nag-enjoy kayo, ah. And you seem not worried about getting mud on your camera on that worm's eye view shot =)
what's Timberland?
TBR: yup! im hooked already! i want sta rosa next time. pero I'm still doing all the road races that i can join. :)
e-rod: I now know why you like running out there! And you were right, It easier on the knees. We were really hitting all the puddles that we can. hehehehe we were all like kids playing in the rain. I hope more h@ppyFeetsters would come and join in the fun too!
Im still worried about all the injuries and risks in trail running, but i guess the fun takes all the worries away.
Ren: the camera stayed under the used plastic that RC had in his truck. hehehe when i shoot i just make the plastic as the camera's umbrella. Timberland is a new real estate development in san mateo.
I think its the nearest trails to hit if you are in manila.
wow! uvber cool ';to?! like getting dirty & wet. and besides lapit lang to ng FARview. lapit lang to sa amin! wooohoo!
sa uulitin ah?
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