It never ceases to amaze me how we can be in totally different part of the world in a matter of hours. Everything went smoothly for the most part and now I'm here sitting in small room filled with chicken feed and in front of a slow 4yr. old Pentium 3 on dial up. About the chicken feed; a small part of the house has been converted into a storefront that sells the stuff, most of it specifically for cock fighting.
Got into Manila at midnight, spent the night with one of my cousins. The next day I met up with more family - lots of eating and more eating. I love Manila, there are many fun places to go and my cousins are great hosts. My cousin Rose who put us up arranged for a masseuse to come in the morning - pretty thoughtful of her huh:)However my time in the capital was shortlived, soon my sister and I were on our way to the airport for our 4PM flight to my home province. No matter I will spend 4 days in Manila on my way back to San Francisco.
It's stinking hot here and to make matters worse I forgot all my shorts in SF. For a person that spends 99.9% of his time in shorts this is a pretty major bonehead move. It's the rainy season here now and it gets really humid and warm right before it pours. So top of the list yesterday was shopping for a new pair of shorts.
Anyway it's time to scrounge up some coffee, in these parts it's instant but it's better than none. It's great to see the family and it's cool to be speaking my native language once again. It's coming back to me slowly and now that I got some sleep in me I'm definitely much more fluent compared to yesterday:)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Monday, July 03, 2006
Vacation!
I was born in Manila, November 71. When I was about 3 I was sent to live with my grandmother by my mom who wanted to travel and work overseas. I was an accident:) my parents were not married. I lived with my grandmother and uncles till I was a month shy of my 12th birthday. Growing up all I could think about was my mom and my dad and how great it was to be living with either of them. I was very well taken care of by my grandmother and I never felt that I was lacking in anything but as a child I think you naturally think about wanting to be with your parents. Now that I'm older I do the reverse, I spend a lot of time thinking about my grandmother and all my family and friends back there. It's always where you're not isn't it:)
So today I leave for the Philippines, back to my home town, a small province in the southern part of the archipelago. There's not much to do there, progress has been slow and it's still mostly made up of farms and open fields. We have a tiny farm ourselves, a small piece of land really but a good place to soak in the breezes and watch the grass grow. It's the rainy season down there right now so maybe I'll get to enjoy a few downpours, maybe some thunder and lightning if I'm lucky - we don't get much of that here in San Francisco, not in Honolulu either. I get to practice speaking my native language (Ilonggo) and the national language (Tagalog) As long as I'm alert and awake I can keep up, the moment I get exhausted and tired I revert back to english, ahaha. So that's where I'll be for the next 3 weeks. I'm sure it will be fun. Everytime I go home I never want to leave. I go from living alone with no family to all of sudden being surrounded by a ton of them and having all my needs anticipated and met. Sometimes it's hard to come back from that:)
Well most of all I look forward to doing many things unimportant and spending time with my grandmother. I'm looking forward for time to slow down a bit, for the busy(ness) to go away. Looking forward to reading a couple of books, drawing a few pictures, bowling a few lanes, drinking a few local beers...well you get the picture. My body is not totally over the 100-mile race yet.
It's funny though how days before a major trip I get a little depressed. I get like this because I hate leaving my city. Kind of crazy I know but I usually get over it once I'm on my way. San Francisco is always hard to leave.
The trick will be to keep up with some of my training, it's only mid-season! There's a track I can run around in, boring but safe. It's right next to the cock fighting arena, seriously. And you want to avoid running in the afternoon because it's when the locals clean up their yards and streets and burn the trash - ahahaha it's bad enough that it's warm and humid. Running in the neighborhood is out of the question, too many stray dogs and too much traffic with people who are not used to runners. I was told there's a pool there and I'll bring my swim gear but....the water may be questionable:) We shall see. However we are going to hit a resort for a few days and I was told the water is great for open water swimming. I promise to try to keep the eating and drinking down to a minimum, but already my mouth is watering from all the native foods I plan on eating. Well it's a good thing I did a 100-mile race last week huh:) If I gain 4 pounds that will be an acceptable loss. When I get back I'll have a month to cram for the half-ironman in Santa Cruz, I'm sure I'll lose what I've gain then....surely.
Well hopefully next time we meet I will be blogging from Asia. Maybe I'll have something interesting to share by then.
So today I leave for the Philippines, back to my home town, a small province in the southern part of the archipelago. There's not much to do there, progress has been slow and it's still mostly made up of farms and open fields. We have a tiny farm ourselves, a small piece of land really but a good place to soak in the breezes and watch the grass grow. It's the rainy season down there right now so maybe I'll get to enjoy a few downpours, maybe some thunder and lightning if I'm lucky - we don't get much of that here in San Francisco, not in Honolulu either. I get to practice speaking my native language (Ilonggo) and the national language (Tagalog) As long as I'm alert and awake I can keep up, the moment I get exhausted and tired I revert back to english, ahaha. So that's where I'll be for the next 3 weeks. I'm sure it will be fun. Everytime I go home I never want to leave. I go from living alone with no family to all of sudden being surrounded by a ton of them and having all my needs anticipated and met. Sometimes it's hard to come back from that:)
Well most of all I look forward to doing many things unimportant and spending time with my grandmother. I'm looking forward for time to slow down a bit, for the busy(ness) to go away. Looking forward to reading a couple of books, drawing a few pictures, bowling a few lanes, drinking a few local beers...well you get the picture. My body is not totally over the 100-mile race yet.
It's funny though how days before a major trip I get a little depressed. I get like this because I hate leaving my city. Kind of crazy I know but I usually get over it once I'm on my way. San Francisco is always hard to leave.
The trick will be to keep up with some of my training, it's only mid-season! There's a track I can run around in, boring but safe. It's right next to the cock fighting arena, seriously. And you want to avoid running in the afternoon because it's when the locals clean up their yards and streets and burn the trash - ahahaha it's bad enough that it's warm and humid. Running in the neighborhood is out of the question, too many stray dogs and too much traffic with people who are not used to runners. I was told there's a pool there and I'll bring my swim gear but....the water may be questionable:) We shall see. However we are going to hit a resort for a few days and I was told the water is great for open water swimming. I promise to try to keep the eating and drinking down to a minimum, but already my mouth is watering from all the native foods I plan on eating. Well it's a good thing I did a 100-mile race last week huh:) If I gain 4 pounds that will be an acceptable loss. When I get back I'll have a month to cram for the half-ironman in Santa Cruz, I'm sure I'll lose what I've gain then....surely.
Well hopefully next time we meet I will be blogging from Asia. Maybe I'll have something interesting to share by then.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Happy Birthdays
Happy Birthday Serena!
Happy Birthday Lisa!
Happy Birthday Janet!
Happy Birthday Sydney!
Anyone else? Not all in the same day but close.
Happy Birthday Lisa!
Happy Birthday Janet!
Happy Birthday Sydney!
Anyone else? Not all in the same day but close.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Lunch With Poo
Lisa with Tyler.
Poo is Lisa and she was my running partner end of 03 through most of 04. 04 was my biggest year in Triathlon and Ultra and she was a big part of that. That was the year I finished my first 100k, my first 100-miler and my first Ironman, among other accomplishments. Man we had some really great runs - ran Big Sur marathon together. This is her son Tyler, now you know why we haven't been able to continue training together:) Also she and her husband Will now live in Point Richmond in the East Bay. Lisa was a cross country runner and trackstar. Husband Will was a cross country runner as well. Tyler has it in his genes to be a great and fast runner...if he decides to go that route. Already he's quite quick on his feet.
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