Thankful that Supertyphoon “Pepeng” (international name: Parma) cut across northern Luzon with little damage, I joined the QCIM long slow distance or LSD last Sunday, Oct. 4. I arrived at the University of the Philippines (UP) Oblation, the assembly area, at ten minutes before 4:30AM.
More than 60 runners joined in this simulation run. (I was just a tiny yellow orange speck in the crowd). We took off 15 minutes later under a very light shower of rain. First pit stop was at Shell station along Commonwealth Avenue. The group then turned right going to Batasan Hills up to the 21k turnaround point. Instead of going back to UP, I decided to run with the group and see La Mesa Eco Park. The photo below was the second pit stop of the group before proceeding to the Eco Park.
For the full marathon runners, here are some of the photos of the QCIM route, courtesy of Running Pinoy and Run Unlimited. Prepare your hamstrings as you run this “not-so-steep-hill”. The road leads you to the Eco Park.
On the right of the photo, partly hidden by coconut trees, is La Mesa Dam. Nice road, nice environ, cool place to run, right? We waited a bit for the management to allow us to see the reservoir but even if we had permit to enter the place, we were constrained not to for safety reasons. Instead the group had another photo op, ran the Fairview route to make up for the supposed mileage, and decided to save the best for last. See you at the starting line!
Running Diva PH 