COOL RUNNING IN TAGAYTAY

As I strode towards my 8^th floor hotel room at the Summit Ridge, I caught sight of a  red circular place to my right. 

It suggested a track oval and true enough, when I stopped to gaze at it, there was indeed roughly almost a kilometer away from the hotel. I said to myself that before the 3-day Executive Learning Sessions were over, I would have savored running in the soft surface of that oval track.

View of Oval Track Thursday

That was Thursday (June 20) and came Saturday morning, I hadn’t tasted any.

I woke early Friday morning at 5 a.m., excited about the prospect, but the thick fog and cool habagat of a rain stopped me from consummating the deed.

View of Oval Track Friday Morning (5 a.m.)

I could just imagine a good blogger friend of mine jesting me about an ultra runner being a runner come rain or shine. Most especially on a rainy day as the penguin is after all a bird at its best when wet.   

Thus, I was dead set on running came Saturday morning, our last day in Tagaytay. Thank our lucky stars as the weather cooperated. No rain and the heavy 5 a.m. fog dissipated come half an hour later. With no impediment to running, I gamely went down the hotel and trotted towards the Tagaytay City oval track which is beside the Ospital ng Tagaytay.

Ospital ng Tagaytay

As it turned out, a 50-meter portion of the oval track was under repair but this did not stop the many runners, including myself to enjoy the tartan rubber surface. It is definitely more forgiving than harder concrete or asphalt surfaces. It is ideal for speed training which I did at Tagaytay with a duo of  mile-long tempo runs. 

A delectable  aspect of my run in Tagaytay was the cool weather. The cooler the weather,  the less heat stress on the body, which made it significantly easier to run. Still, another source of elation was to see a couple of fellow First Holdings group employees out there in the oval track  in the persons of Milo and Kit. 

Milo

Kit

It was great to see kindred spirits passionate about running. Plus, I got to meet another runner. She is Cristy of Cavite and she told me of another place in their province that had a world-class oval track and this was the one in General Trias.   

With Cristy

Sounds tempting.