Back in the late 70s , every time
our family would drive to Manila from our home province of Camarines Sur, I
would dread the zig-zag road of the
Quezon National Park.
Without fail, I
would get dizzy with the heights and slithering trait of this road and
inevitably, vomiting would follow for me.
I would curse to high heavens the wise guy(s) who engineered this road
to be serpentine. Why not make it a
straight road? My adolescent mind would scream out.
Fast forward to 2014 and the
Bicolano Penguin, together with Mau and Ernie,
have registered for the Malicboy-Atimonan-Pagbilao 50-km ultra marathon
(https://www.facebook.com/events/1441603912738175/)
scheduled for March 16. We join roughly a hundred (and counting) ultra runners. No doubt, the centrepiece of this ultra is
the same zig-zag road that has given me fits.
Would I surge to a successful finish (within the 10-hr cut off time) or
disgorge some vile matter?
Whatever the outcome, BP is excited about this ultra.
For one, the MAP 50K has one
good-looking finisher shirt. Aside from sporting a mean-looking pussy-like
mascot, the shirt has the Altra logo indicating that the zero-drop running
upstart is an event sponsor. One wonders
if Altra will be selling shoes at the finish line.
Secondly, the event organizer is
Team Runn’ Active of which Rodel Mendoza is a leading proponent. It turns out Rodel is an ultra runner the
BP got to share a handful of kilometres
at the 2012 T2N (http://www.bicolanopenguin.blogspot.com/2012/05/3rd-t2n-50k-run-top-hit-among-newbies.html#more). The progress of Rodel from ultra
marathon participant to ultra run organizer is both inspiring and admirable.
And one needs to point out that Team Runn’ Active has been steady in promoting
sports tourism in their vast province of Quezon.
Surge? Disgorge? The long snake that is the zig-zag road of Quezon National Park awaits
this March 16. 
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