I received last
April 12, 2013 an unexpected email from Vimz Mendoza, the person behind the
Kulit on the Run blog, one of the top 10
running blogs in the Philippines.
She was inviting me, together with other
running bloggers, to a launch event of the Run United 2 (RU2). Only this time, instead of the usual dinner
or cocktail set up, the bloggers’ event was in the morning, the morning of
April 14 to be specific.
It was my first
time to be invited to a bloggers’ event and the one inviting was someone who gave
me a taste of blogging. Way back in
2010, when I did not have yet the Bicolano Penguin blog, Kulit on the Run posted
my write up on the first edition of the Camsur International Marathon (http://kulitrunner.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/the-summit-water-camsur-marathon-a-runners-feedback/). Thus, I readily said yes to the
invitation. In fact, even thanking Vimz
for such an opportunity.
And boy, am I
ever so thankful for the experience of my first bloggers’ event.
The event called
“Mornings with Active Health” or MWAH is organized by the good people of Unilab
Active Health led by its officers. The
first ever MWAH is the RU2 Bloggers’ Launch and it was held in UP Diliman,
specifically the UP Bahay ng Alumni and the nearby track and field oval.
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| Group picture at the MWAH. Spot the Bicolano Penguin. |
Many running
bloggers were invited and it was a rare opportunity for me to commune with a
handful of them. The familiar faces I
saw in the event included, of course,
Kulitrunner and Jazzrunner. Later
on, I got to meet and talk to Running Pinoy, Running Atom (http://runningatom.blogspot.com/)
and Little Running Teacher (http://www.littlerunningteacher.com/).
The bloggers
were well taken cared of during the
MWAH. All of us blogger-participants
were given a cool blue singlet and
running cap from Unilab Active Health (http://unilabactivehealth.com/) when we
arrived at the area by 5:30am . Coach Rio was around by 6am and he taught
the bloggers several warm up drills that included carioca and Russian goose steps.
It was fun for all of runners to learn from one of the best in the local
running scene. And it became even more
fun when we had a 30-minute jaunt around the 2.2-km loop in UP. After that, there was an exercise challenge
where a runner gets to do 5 burpees (or squat thrust) followed by a 100 meter-sprint, and do 5
burpees again and finally sprint back
100 meters. The time to beat was 40
seconds. There were several brave souls
among the bloggers who went for the 40-second challenge and all of them surprisingly were
successful. Running bloggers are indeed
a healthy fit bunch and do actually run to improve their craft.
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| At the UP track and field oval |
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| Drills (Photo courtesy of Unilab Active Health facebook) |
All that
exercise, running and sprinting sure did make all of us hungry by 8am. The organizers had a delicious breakfast all
planned out for us at the Chocolate Kiss Restaurant inside UP Bahay ng Alumni.
Coach Rio whispered that the resto served very good beef tapa. I thanked him for the tip and proceeded to order from the
waiter. Turns out the good coach shared
the tip for almost everyone present and thus making the kitchen hard pressed to
serve all the beef tapas. Eventually, the
plate of beef tapa arrived and it sure tasted as advertised.
While having our
breakfast, there were a couple audio visual presentations made. First off was a
brand manager by the name of Bianca who
talked about the J-Curve and how their 2 products (Enervon
Activ & Enervon HP) could help with our stamina and recovery. One of these days, I
will be able to make some write up on these products. That is after I have tried them.
Next was the presentation by Coach Rio on
the upcoming Run United 2. Details of
RU2 (http://runrio.com/2013/04/run-united-2-2013/)
I will highlight in the next article.
Suffice to say for now, that the RU2 remains true to the ideal of “To be more than who you were yesterday.”
After the
presentations, Q & A followed. Then the
bloggers had a group picture with Coach Rio and a few leaders of the Unilab
Active Health.
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| Q & A |
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| With Running Pinoy |
| With Kulit On the Run |
The
MWAH was a cool and novel experience for
me. In attending a bloggers’ launch of an
event, I got to be informed of the RU2
event. I also got to know about some active lifestyle products from
Unilab. In a way, I got to reflect on the
business sense of this all.
The
answer I do come up is that Unilab Active Health’s mission of “promoting
an active lifestyle for the family through multiple platforms so the Filipino
family can become healthier than ever” is a form of bayanihan.
And as we all know, Bayanihan is the symbol of Unilab. 
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| Bayanihan |
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