I must be of the age when people around me start to get married. And when I say “people around me” I mean my closest friends, relatives, and even my only sister — my younger sister, at that! Now, while there may be some inevitable considerations, like whether my sister needs to pay me a dowry for getting married ahead of me, the one question I will have to face in the upcoming months is: What will I wear?

(And you thought I was going to say “Why not me?” More on that later.)

You see, it was simpler in my early days of attending weddings. I have a stockpile of old gowns and dresses, and if all else failed I could always raid my mom’s closet. I have a gown from [X] I bought on sale in December 2007, and I’ve worn it to two weddings and a debutante’s ball. The trick to reusing gowns is never to use them when the same people are in attendance.

Two Weddings and a Debut

However, the time’s come when I can’t just use any old dress. I will be a bridesmaid in December and a maid of honor in April. What that means is I’ve got to have gowns made specifically to match the rest of the entourage.

Enter my friend, up-and-coming designer Ryan Madamba. We’re part of the same small group at church, and this year he’s taken a step of faith by resigning from his lucrative (yet soul-draining) job at a call center to pursue design full-time. And what a time; three of the women in our group are getting married within the next year (my sister included), and all have retained Ryan’s services. He’s also got clients from referrals, and his hands are getting more full by the week.

Ryan’s Office

We were at Ryan’s swanky new digs that serve as his office and home. Naturally conversation turned to his designs. For kicks, I tried out one of Ryan’s earlier creations, which he had made for a cousin.

It’s pink, but it ain’t mine.

Because it was made-to-order, the dress didn’t fit my own curves. However, I do like the workmanship and attention to detail, and Ryan knows his stuff. We’ll be talking this week about the gowns he’s doing for me as bridesmaid and maid of honor.

Hopefully by next year we’ll be talking about my wedding gown, because I caught the bouquet at a wedding I attended on Saturday. Ü

Now, all I need is the groom.

Tags: Wedding, Couture

Back in high school I was a vice-presidential candidate for the student council. It was miting de avance day and we’d gone off to the nearby park to practice our speeches during the lunch break. We ended late and had to race back to school a few minutes before the bell rang. As we ran, I quipped, “So this is running for election!”

Thirteen years later, I found myself joining a race held to campaign for clean and honest national elections. I don’t really know why, as I have turned apolitical and cynical about the country’s politicians (with few exceptions). I think I must agree with Bald Runner, who just wanted to run fast.

When I got to the venue at Fort Bonifacio, I realized this was not just another race. This was also a media event where celebrities from the sponsoring network (as well as politicians) would turn up, and this meant there were people in attendance just to see a famous person. Americans call them “rubberneckers”; Pinoys call them “mga usisero“. Whatever you call them, they filled up the venue to overflowing. It would have looked like a political rally had we not been wearing running attire.

I was at the assembly point by 5:15am, thinking that the gun would sound at 5:30am. Unfortunately for me, I had drunk about a liter of water, and my bladder was rapidly filling. By 6:00am I needed to pee badly, but couldn’t leave my position near the starting line as it would mean that when I came back from the portalet, I’d have to take a position at the back of the line — behind a few thousand runners and walkers. At least I’d only be running 5 kilometers, I reasoned. I could hold it.

Big mistake. As soon as the gun fired at 6:30am and all 5K and 10K runners set out simultaneously, I found my brain divided on whether I should keep running the course, or take a little detour into some bushes and tall weeds to relieve myself.

It didn’t help that a large part of the 5K route was held on a two-lane winding road where there was barely enough room to pass slow runners. It got even worse as I made my way back past the halfway u-turn. Runners who were still on their first half crowded into my lane to get to the water station and I had to slow down to a walk to avoid nasty collisions. Then I had to scream at people to get back on their side of the road because I didn’t want to fall into the ditch at the edge of my lane.

I had hit my wall; it was a lonely run and I really felt it was me against the world. Then a guy in a yellow iamninoy singlet began to pace beside me, and for the next half-kilometer I didn’t feel so alone. He ran past me at the 4K mark.

Finally, I found my second wind, enough to make a final push for the finish line. As I picked up my pace, I spotted Mr. iamninoy walking, out of breath. I ran up to him, clapped my hands and said, “Come on! Come on!” I saw determination flash in his eyes as he started running again, waving his arms in the air.

The final bend before the finish line was crowded by bystanders, photographers, and a TV crew on a platform. I was sprinting. I blew a kiss at the guy trying to hand me a Vitwater and grinned at the TV camera. People were clapping, not just for me but for all the other runners. So, this must be what Heaven would be like, I thought, dizzy with adrenaline and euphoric at not having to pee in the bushes. LOL!

After I collected my giveaways, made a trip to the portalet, and gone back to my car to collect my camera, Mr. iamninoy and I crossed paths again. We slapped palms, and he said, “Good run.” I replied, “Good job.”

I waited for my friend Liz to finish her 10K, and as we took photos at the finish line, I found the Takbo.ph banner, and about a dozen people standing behind it for photos. I’m a member of the online community, so I didn’t want to miss this chance to be in the “class picture.” It surprised me that a few of them recognized me from my blog.

Liz and me

I should order a Takbo.ph singlet

Class Picture!

Although I didn’t have the best run (I wanted to beat 25 minutes, but I took more than 26 minutes), I enjoyed the sense of community, of knowing we were all in it together.

I should pick my races more carefully next time, though. I wish the politicians had run either a 5K or a 10K rather than that silly sub-100meter Unity Walk. Then they might actually have gained some respect from the runners who had turned out for the race. As it turned out, the network used the large turnout to hype their popularity, and the politicians got publicity I don’t think they deserved.

Tags: GMA7 Tatakbo Ka Ba. Takbo.ph, Running

I’ve been hot under the collar to race again and see if I could beat my 10km time at the Globe run. I thought I could do that at the Kenny’s Open 2009 Urbanite Run on August 15.

Based on this poster alone I would have signed up.

I got sales-talked into it by Rovilson. He told me (and I have the Facebook comment to prove it), “It’s going to be a night run (starts at 9PM, no wind) so I expect a lot of personal times to be beaten.”

Well, that was before we saw the race route. It would wind through the old Fort Bonifacio almost down to C-5, then back up the way we came. Then we would detour through McKinley Hill (past Heritage Park cemetery) and a quick run-by the Manila American cemetery before heading back to where we started.

what the hill?! (pun intended)

I arrived at 7pm fresh (or tired) from a shoot at Splash Island with the Weekend Warriors. After a quick-change in the car I met up with some friends from church who were also going to run the 10K event at 8:45pm.

Guess which ones were our bandits?

Official race results were released today (enter my bib number 1605 to view all my results) and despite me not beating my personal best, I’m still largely pleased with how I did.

The Timex clock at the finish line told me I crossed it at 54 minutes 25 seconds after the gun. It’s weird that the official time is off by five seconds. It’s still better than my treadmill time (54:31) before the Globe run, though.

Probably due to the lack of depth in the field (only 887 finishers in the 10K event), I finished in 32nd place. At the Globe run I finished in 60th place. My gender and division results were poor though; I finished two places lower.

It was really a tough run: the time of night, the route, and the humidity and temperature wilted all the runners. I ran strong during the first two sections of the race, but by the last one, my will was starting to fail me as it was literally an uphill battle. I tried to overtake a guy who had glowsticks poking up like antennae out of a headband. Then I tried simply to keep pace with him. But at the last two kilometers, he put on a burst of speed and just vanished. I was fading, and I had to pray aloud for God to give me what I needed to finish strong.

As I made the last turn toward the finish line, I saw the clock tick from 53 minutes into 54. Suddenly I felt a surge of defiance within me. No way was I going to let that clock tick into 55 minutes. I started sprinting.

harder, better, faster, stronger

My feet crossed the mat, I came to a sudden stop to avoid crashing into the woman logging the finishers’ numbers, and I was gasping for breath from the burst of effort. A few minutes later, Rovilson came in from his 15K run, and we bumped fists before he went off to host the awarding ceremony with his best bud Marc. I stayed near the finish chute to welcome my fellow runner friends, and then we went back to the finish line to take some photos.

my Supergirl pose. all I need is a cape billowing behind me…

I reverse my original statement that I like running alone. Sure I may leave behind the group I came with as I try to beat my personal best — but being around when they celebrate their own personal victories is a better feeling than the runner’s high.

UPDATE: Thanks to Sam the Running Ninja for giving me the link to my Photovendo photos from the race. See the change in my expression from the start to the end of the race:

Serene Start

Pushing the Limit

Tags: Kenny’s Open Urbanite Run

For those of you following my RSS feed you might have noticed some interesting photos cropping up in the image feed spliced into it.

These photos are submissions to Filipina Flickrites, a group on Flickr where members post self-portraits according to a theme every week. The first two photos are from Week 22: Music Genres, and the last (and latest) photo is from Week 23: Fashionista.

I really enjoy what other people come up with, and I love how this stimulates my own creative juices.

Tags: Flickr Fun, Self-Portraits

Last month shortly after my birthday, I got an unexpected treat. I was invited to be part of Sujiivana Salon‘s online catalogue of Fall Looks. Check it out!

The curl came from an iron, so it washed out after the shoot. What stayed with me is the trim and color. The cut has been growing out nicely, with none of the stray hairs and split ends I had before I went to the salon. The color has been gradually lightening over time since the shoot, but I still love it and am maintaining it with Kolours shampoo. I think it’ll grow out gracefully as well, not leaving me with ugly dark roots.

Sujiivana Salon is located at Westgate Center, Alabang. Check out the price listing on their website for their services. Pretty reasonable, for the spa ambience you get. Ü

Tags: Hair Modeling, Kikay