For months now Esther and I had been researching marathons and half-marathons and playing with the idea of running somewhere on this journey. Some time ago we found a half marathon in Subic Bay, Philippines and decided to make it our goal. Clearly, no one warned us about the heat and hills of the Philippines!
We had trained for months and felt pretty ready. Our neighborhood here in Manila has some serious hills that we had conquered and we had new color-coordinated running clothes — could it get any better?
It just so happened that Subic Bay happens to be near the ocean, so we decided to make a beach getaway out of the weekend. Friday morning we packed up 5 fans and Esther, Julie and I set out to have some fun.
I was blessed with some Christmas money and we were able to stay in a great hotel complete with a pool, American food and beach access. We spent Friday and Saturday working on our tans and having fun in the sun and then conquered 13.1 miles early Sunday morning. It was definitely not the easiest race I have run (we later determined that it was actually more like 14 miles), and international races may not be as organized and as well-planned as races in the States, but we can say we did it and have the t-shirt to prove it.
jetski fun on Saturday
Sunset in Subic Bay
Crazy jumping picture
Julie and I
Almost done!
