GETTING ON A LIST

The year 2013 seemed to be a letdown for my running.  

I was unable to run in the Bataan Death March 102Km Ultra despite being registered (http://www.bicolanopenguin.blogspot.com/2013/03/non-starter-at-2013-bdm-102k-ultra.html#more) due to an incident in one of our project sites in the province.  In fact, of the 9 marathons and ultras  included in BP’s  2013, only two (Condura and Mayon 360) were nailed.

Marcel’s assignment in his English class

But after reading one of my son’s school work, I felt much better of my 2013 running. You see, the English teacher of my son at the Ateneo, the ageless Mr. Pagsi, gave his class the assignment of listing down Men of Principles they have known and looked up to last November. With beaming pride, my wife showed Marcel’s work and I got a kick out of the composition of his list:

1. Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

2. Mohandas “Mahatma” Karamchand Gandhi

3. Allan Pineda Lindo (aka APL.DE.AP)

4. Vicente “Macky” de Lima II and runnin8 m3n for others

5.  Aurelito “Rel” C. Lingat

6.  Ruben Gomez

The grade he got from Mr. Pagsi on the assignment

In the eyes of my son, my high school running buddies and I are on the list, in the  company of legendary men such as Ninoy and Gandhi. That is priceless.  Nothing beats the feeling of a father to have his son chose to look up to him. Here is how Marcel  wrote about us:

“It has been 40 years since Father Arrupe spoke of being men-for-others.  My dad took this to heart in the form of running.  He and his Ateneo de Naga High School Batch 1983, fondly called the runnin8 m3n for others, run for a cause. For every long distance they run, they receive a certain amount of money from a guarantor (pledgers)  to be used for charity work in Bicol. This way, my dad shows how to use his God-given talents and hard-earned skills to serve others. Through his running, my dad lives out both the spirit of Magis and being a man-for-others.”

Thank you, son.

We are truly blessed to have a great kid. Not only does he join me for running, he is one smart student.  

Just this week, he invited me to attend “Pugay Akademiko at Parangal Kostka:  Ikalawang Markahan 2013-2014” which is the honor roll call in their school. He got a Second Honors Award and I was walking on cool air as I went back to work.   

Proud dad with the smart son

With fellow Bicolano, Fr. JBoy Gonzales, SJ, the associate principal for Formation at the Ateneo de Naga High School. Fr. JBoy hails from Camalig, Albay

Marcel is definitely on the list of kids that inspire me. He is entry number 1.