Longest long run ever

There is no truth to the old wives’ tale that running too much prevents a woman from conceiving or that running very long distances causes the uterus to fall out. Two pink lines marked the beginning of my longest run ever – all of nine months. If everything goes well, the husband and I will soon have a baby on Dec. 31 or early January. Just in time for the 2013 Cebu Marathon.

The physical activity guidelines for pregnant women from the United States Department of Health and Human Services say that women can sustain the level of their activity prior pregnancy, which means that runners and women who train and exercise regularly prior to getting pregnant may continue running and exercising even while pregnant, although some adjustment in the length and intensity of the work-outs have to be made in order not to cause the baby any harm.

The record holder for the women’s marathon, Paula Radcliffe, famously won the 2007 New York City Marathon just 10 months after giving birth to her first child Isla. The British marathon star trained until the day before she went into labor and started training again less than two weeks after giving birth. Kara Goucher of the US Women’s Olympic Marathon Team while pregnant at 32 trained with Radcliffe who at 36 was also pregnant with her second child in 2010. Kara and Paula did long runs, speed workouts on the track and lifted weights even with a growing belly. They will both compete in the Summer Olympics in London.

Pregnant runners don’t have to look very far for inspiration. There’s triathlete and Kona Ironman finisher Ani De Leon Brown who continued to run even while pregnant. Among Cebu’s athletes there’s Merlita Arias Dunkin who ran a full marathon and still landed in the podium even while five months pregnant. There’s also the bemedalled swimmer and triathlete Lorhiz Echavez-Lopez who still landed in the podium of her age-group in the 2011 Ironman 70.3 while in her first trimester.

Seriously though, I really do not want to DNF this race. Apart from Yoga, Tai’chi, Pilates, and a tamer version of Body Combat and lighter weights during Body Pump, I’m scaling back all my workouts and have temporarily skipped the road runs at least until the second trimester when the baby is supposed to have a more secure foothold in the womb.

Please pray for me. Unlike the Bataan Death March 160, there’s no repeat performance in case of a DNF. While ultramarathons may have impossible distances and the pain and suffering can sometimes feel interminable, at least they have a definite end at the finish line.  Parenthood on the other hand is one race with no finish line even when your child is grown. That’s scary even for a hardened road warrior like me.

Lost at the Columbia Eco Trail Run

Social networking sites and running forums and chat boards have been flooded with complaints from runners who joined last Sunday’s leg of the Columbia Eco Trail Run Series in Carmen town north of Cebu City.

In particular, runners take umbrage at the lack of race marshals and trail markers at the critical points of the race route leaving the runners lost and not knowing where to go next.

Getting lost in the trail is really part of the territory of any trail run. When that happens and there’s no one around to ask for directions, there’s really nothing you can do but figure a way to get back on the course – on your own. That can be really scary especially for newbies to trail running and especially since Columbia’s trail routes can be both difficult and technical basing on the two previous legs in Kalunasan and Budlaan both in Cebu City.

Columbia should make up for this faux pas by coming up with a better race in the future leg of their running series and I hope the runners who got lost in the trails don’t give up the trails altogether. Trail running can be very rewarding and uplifting to the spirit of the road-weary runner (not to mention the priceless view and uncharted running territories). It’s a shame to give up all that just because of one bad race.

Still, happy trails everyone!