Last Sunday, I was googling earth (haha
I love the verb!) when I thought of checking the distance between our house and
the university where I work. Yay, I have been taking that route twice a day in
the last two years but I didn’t know how far our house is from my work place. I
wasn’t sure of the accuracy of Google Maps, but it gave me 18.1K. Hah! If I
could run 21K with ease then 18.1K would be a piece of cake! Plus it would be
my Mama’s birthday so the run would be dedicated to her. And that’s when the
crazy mission all began...
Friday night I talked to Philippe. We
agreed to run at Phase 2 instead. So I thought of putting aside my mission. Unfortunately,
I woke up late this morning but I still headed off to Cabanatuan. I alighted at
Mabini Extension and started walking until I reached Mc Donalds. I went in and
saw friends and students. I took few photos and headed off to my mission. 
I started with a slow pace. And since
I left my phone at home there was no way to check the time. All I was hoping
for was a cloudy weather. Heat is my waterloo; I knew I wouldn’t last for
hours under the heat of the sun. I maintained a slow pace until I crossed
Valdefuente Bridge. At the end of it was a Chowking marker which read 10K away.
Easy! Or so I thought. The highway soon became busy. I was literally eating
dust and smoke! At first I thought of flagging down a jeepney going to Sto.
Domingo. But I thought it wouldn’t take me hours to cover such distance so I
decided to stick to my mission. Along the way I was hoping I’d see the next
Chowking marker to no avail. Thus, there was no way of checking how far I’ve
gone. Finally, I reached the boundary of Cabanatuan and Talavera. Yehey! Still
no Chowking marker but I spotted Mang Inasal signage which read 5K away.
I continued to run. I didn’t mind I
was eating dust and smoke. I just wanted to carry out my mission. It didn’t
take me long to reach Mang Inasal at Crystal Waves. I saw a group of people
dancing in front of Mang Inasal. I crossed the street and took photos of them. I
spotted my fellow professor and had a little chit chat with her. After which, I
headed back to my mission. Not far from Mang Inasal was another Chowking marker
which read 3K away. Yebah!!!
I went on. At one point I had to stop
and drink water. I wasn’t tired yet but the street was filled with big trucks
and PUJs and it was distracting me. I had to be very careful to stay away from
the pavement. So I when I saw another Chowking marker, I was overjoyed. It gave
me more reason to continue running. I ran past a buko vendor and thought of
stopping by. And so I went back and ordered a buko juice. I drank it all and
headed off. It was getting late. I knew it’d be getting hot soon and it’d be
difficult to continue with my mission. Instead of running, I decided to just
walk though.
Not long after I walked past Chowking!
Yehey!!! I stopped by a hardware and bought rope. I had been wanting to buy
skipping rope last week but I didn’t have chance to do it. After paying for it,
I headed off. I walked and walked and walked. I took a different route In
Calipahan which turned out be longer route. I didn’t mind though. Sicsican
Bridge was few meters ahead; it only meant one thing; roughly 1K away from our
house.
There is one very important lesson I
learned from that run: It is necessary to set a goal and stick to it no matter
what. The road wouldn’t be smooth all the time. Sometimes, detour is needed. Hang on. If losing hope is the only option then stop for a while,
remember the goal, and carry on.
