This is disappointing.
Considering that my last 10k was at least 3 months ago, i expected at least some improvement. Granted, i may have been asking too much to shave a full minute off my PR, but to actually come in SLOWER by 25 seconds... yeesh. At least i can still do it under 60 minutes.
Since the moment i crossed the finish line i've been coming up with excuses, which i will decline to mention here (i am trying to teach my son not to whine, and the best way to teach is by example). The bottom line is that i wasn't able to reach my goal and i have to train a little harder (with a focus on speed) for the next race. More hills! More lactate threshold workouts! More tempo runs! Fartlek!
One thing i wonder about is whether or not this signifies that i'm past the n00b phase. I've been running consistently for almost a solid year now (sporadically for around 2 years) and apparently am not deriving any more benefit from the bara-bara (anything goes) approach to running. I absolutely refuse to believe that this is my personal plateau; while i'll never qualify for Boston, i do hope to to 26.2 at 9:00 at some point in the future. Let's see if a few months of planned workouts helps. I've got a few more races (albeit 5Ks) for the season, and hope to hit my peak with the Grand Rapids Half Marathon in October.
III
If everything had gone according to MY plan, Day 3 would have consisted of the Honda Bay Tour. Unfortunately the resort manager apparently had another plan that was communicated neither to the clients (us), nor the person who was supposed to take us. FLASHBACK: when we sat down for lunch at the hotel restaurant on Day One, the manager introduced himself to us and asked whether or not we had already gone to Honda Day. Upon telling him that we didn't know we were supposed to, he asked whether or not our driver had told us, and we said no. Eventually he offered to have us go snorkeling instead on Day 3; i replied that it would be fine, as long as it was financially equivalent. Chuckling, he said that it was actually more "expensive" and acquiesced. Now why a half-day snorkeling tour would be more expensive than a whole day tour of Honda Bay (which includes snorkeling and lunch) is beyond me, but i wasn't there to argue...
At any rate, we got on a bangka early in the morning and proceeded to our first snorkeling destination. Before any diving, we were required to sign-in at the local tourism office which also doubled as a pawikan (sea turtle) farm of sorts.
This is my third try at snorkeling and Gianina's second. I do find it somewhat enjoyable (except for the little stings i get on my skin when i pass by a patch of seaweed) and it whets my appetite for something more. Mayhap one day when we're living lives of leisure we'll take up actual scuba diving. For now i'm content to enjoy the sights in the shallow parts of the sea.
On the way back we passed by a waterfall which serves as the main water source for the town of Sabang (which is where our resort was located). If the weather had been more cooperative we would have kayaked there with a guide.
Here's a video of Gianina kayaking, subtitled for the non-Filipino-speakers among us:
The main event for Day Four was the City Tour.
First on our itinerary was lunch (of course - no Chong ever goes hungry). One of the more famous restaurants in Puerto Princesa is called Ka Lui's (Brother Louie's). I'm no architect, but they seem to have constructed and decorated the place in the native fashion. Their "gimmick" is that there are no shoes allowed in the whole restaurant. Aside from keeping the floor clean, i guess it projects a little bit of local color. The food was good and relatively inexpensive... and we got to try some STINGRAY! There was the weird picture in the bathroom however that seemed out of place (it's the last picture - do not click on it if you are under 18).
Next up was the "Crocodile Farm," although the official name of the place is obviously much longer.
Inside the museum proper there's the skin of a sixteen-foot crocodile that's been hung out to dry, as well as some assorted odds and ends from local wildlife. There's also a nature park where you can see "wild" animals that have been caged for all to see. But the big thing is the crocodile "farm" itself.
For thirty pesos you can have your picture taken with a baby crocodile. In this picture, Gianina is genuinely enjoying herself while i am getting ready to pee in my pants:
A short drive away from the Crocodile Farm is the Iwahig Penitentiary, which is a weird tourist attraction in that it consists only of a large prisoner settlement where the low-security prisoners are actually allowed to roam free. We have no pictures of the place as i found it equal parts depressing and creepy; the less that is said about it, the better.
The third stop was the ranch of the late great Congressman Ramon Mitra. The place looked deserted, but the security would let us through the gate; i guess someone still lives there. At least we could frolic in the garden and enjoy the spectacular view.
Half a mile down the road is "Baker's Hill," where we picked up some local hopia. Seen from the road, it looks like a simple stall in someone's garage where they sell pastries. It's a lot more when you walk inside the property, though. It's hard to describe, but it's something like a cross between a sculpture park and a zoo for exotic animals, with a fancy snack bar. The pictures do it absolutely no justice.
There's a big house on the property which i assume is the owner's residence. If he's really a baker, then i wonder if i got into the wrong profession.
(As an interesting aside, another half-mile from Baker's Hill is a big house with a big sign announcing that it's the residence of a certain retired Commodore. We asked our driver if it was open to the public, and he replied in the negative. Why the heck would you want to advertise who lives in a house if you don't let visitors in?)
The last destination of the day was the Butterfly Garden. The name is pretty self-explanatory. We spent the better part of a half-hour chasing around butterflies and i was able to snap at least one decent picture. Not bad for a dinky little point-and-shoot, i think.
After that we headed straight to the airport, waited for our flight, and headed home.
PALAWAN POSTSCRIPT:
I do have to point out that our City Tour was more than just mildly disappointing. For the large sum of money we shelled out (a little over $2000 for our mini-vacation, excluding airfare), i did expect to at least have the various nominal entrance fees included. They were measly sums to be sure, but being asked to pay "a little" more after just having paid a lot is just nasty and unprofessional. Another thing that got my goat later on was how limited the experience was. Although it was almost the exact same city tour i had when i went to Puerto Princesa with my family a few years ago, when i looked up sights to see at the WOW Philippines website after the fact, there were a lot more historical places we could have gone that were not even suggested. This was a far cry from the uber-professional tour we got in Bohol last year, but i guess that's what you get when you go see the "frontier."
Anyway, after the Palawan experience, there was one last big event: Marwin's wedding.
The Underground River is actually only navigable until a quarter of the way in (or half for the intrepid traveler who is willing to take the time to obtain a special permit), and consists mostly of looking at interesting rock formations, and avoiding accidentally drinking bat or bird urine (we were advised to keep our mouths closed when looking up). Not really much for the casual tourist, but interesting enough if you're into geology or even history.
The short stretch of forest you have to walk through is also a nature park of sorts where monkeys and monitor lizards abound.
This part of the trip was actually somewhat poignant. The tour guides are volunteers (i'm not sure if they have day jobs, and i was a little afraid to ask) who have been doing these for years. When they talk about the Forest, one gets an appreciation for the love they feel for it, but it also makes you wonder - who will keep doing this once these men have passed on?
In the past year i've become quite fond of running. I like the challenge of trying to beat my PR, the time alone to collect my thoughts, and - every once in a while - the endorphin rush of the "runner's high." I was actually looking forward to increasing my mileage in the Philippines and possibly even racing one or two 5Ks during our three week vacation.
But then reality came up, slapped me in the face, gave me a suplex, and kicked me while i was down.
Upon awakening at 6 in the morning on that fateful first day, i checked the weather: eighty-seven degrees fahrenheit with 60% humidity. The run started out as planned (i.e. joints and muscles in good working order), but within five minutes i was sweating bullets. Although i didn't need to walk at any point, it felt like i dragged myself for the entire TWO MILES that i ran.
And the hills! I don't think there was ever a stretch of flat ground where we lived. It's something i've never noticed before which becomes painfully obvious after a little while. I guess that's why the place is named "Hillsborough." Serves me right for training mostly on flat ground.
I suspect my problem was mostly the weather. In the past six months i've acclimated to running in the cold, West Michigan climate. Even with temperatures routinely below fifty fahrenheit in the week prior to our departure, i was regularly finishing easy four-milers with just one layer of clothing. In fact i was running in shorts and a t-shirt at mid-fifties (to those who know me well, this is in fact a HUGE deal for me, as once the ambient temperature hits fifty degrees i already go out in longjohns). Being a person who prefers warm weather, i thought it would be a simple matter to just transplant my routine to the Philippines. Big mistake.
Subsequent runs were not much better. At least after a few days i found that i could still complete a sub-30-minute 5K (albeit with much difficulty) and finish a 4-miler. But my dreams of running a 5K in the short time i was there went down in flames.
From a techincal standpoint i wonder what i should have done better. For one, i realized that i need to incorporate more hill training into my runs. For another, i guess i need to adjust my fluid intake based on ambient conditions. I know should be obvious from the get-go to any random fool... but of course i am an exceptional fool.
At least GPS tracking works. Here's the run that i did for my 4-miler:
This was in Muntinlupa City, which is just south of Manila. For a better view:
Since we're zooming out, it's interesting to see how far that is from where i usually run:
