Marquez' Travels: July 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

Takbo.ph Runfest: Celebrate Running

My Running Diary (scroll to see the full list):

First, it was The 2009 Timex Run, followed by UNILAB Run United for Wellness, then Globe Run for Home 2010. And now adding up to my list of well-organized races is Takbo.ph Runfest: Celebrate Running which was held last July 25, 2010 at BHS.

Thumbs Up

Registration fee is relatively low as compared to other races.
Singlets are personalized. Names (of your choice) are printed on the singlet.
Singlets are delivered right in your doorsteps; meaning, the registration fee already covered courier fee.
Sufficient hydration booth and marshals (and cheerers).
Powerade, bottled water, ION, Enervon HP chocolate drink, and loot bag for finishers.
A very entertaining post race event.
A nice way of posting names of runners on banners hang all over the post event area.
Very accurate race result despite no timing chips used.

Thumbs Down

Is there any?

Before the race

After the race

adiNation and six30 groups

SEAIR & Microtel Boracay Bloggers' Tour

South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR) in cooperation with Microtel Inns & Suites will bring eight (8) lucky bloggers to Boracay in their "SEAIR & Microtel Boracay Bloggers' Tour".

How? See SEAIR Facebook Fan Page for the mechanics. As for me, here's my official entry.

I am a well traveled individual, I profess. My work allows me too. In a month, my travel could range from 2-5. It can be a travel by land, by water, or even by air. Indeed, I travel a lot. And I believe many of you who is a frequenter of this blog wanted or wishes to have a job like mine. But is it fun? Not really.

Yes, I've been in almost all parts of the country - Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. I've been up north at Banaue and down south at Cagayan de Oro. The first few travels of my work is quite enjoyable. Well, I guess every 'first' is an enjoyable experience. BUT, as I travel more often, the excitement is lessen. It's not that I don't want to see the beauty of the Philippines or anything. It's just that, I would have loved to travel provided that it is solely on vacation mode.

Each time I pack my things and I ride a plane, I am looking forward at enjoying Philippines. However, since I'm on a business trip, I really don't have the luxury of time to have a pure vacation.

This time around, since SEAIR and Microtel Boracay is holding a contest, I wanted to grab that opportunity of traveling solely for a vacation. With that, I can take shots of the beauty of Boracay with my camera and share how heavenly the land is here in my blog.

There, I hope that makes sense and make the judges pick me to be one of the eight lucky bloggers to join the tour. Good luck and God Bless everyone!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Travel Incentives to Boost Your Employees' Productivity

I am a well traveled individual. My work allows me too. I enjoy my job for it brings me to places I've never been before. But even I had to travel to the same destination for a number of times in a year; it still excites me to see the progress of the province.

I know a lot would envy the type of job that I had.With this , I could say that a travel incentives are brilliant idea. Normally, employees need a little inspiration to be more productive. Travel incentives for an excellent performance in this case are five star element to inspire.

It is a win-win solution for both employees and companies. Companies get the output that they wanted from their employees. On the other hand, employees get the reward that they deserve.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Run to Read on August 15, 2010

I had been receiving inspiring comments from you, my dear readers, whenever I blog about my runs. So I decided to blog, this time around, the race event that I would be joining. In that way, I might encourage you to join too - to start a healthy lifestyle. And maybe, we can meet up after the run too.

My next run (after the Takbo.ph Runfest) will be on August 15, 2010 dubbed as Run to Read. I would be running my first 15K then. Wish me luck, and bid me God bless. For details, I would just be reposting Run4Change's article about the run. I hope you don't mind. Here you go.

[DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM]

Run to Read – Run for a cause
August 15, 2010
Fort Bonifacio Global City

.

ABOUT

There is not enough public libraries to serve millions of students, currently there are 688 public libraries of all types and there should be more. The lack of facilities is even compounded by the fact that a significant number of these libraries are under-funded, understaffed, poorly equipped, or in bad physical condition forcing it to stop functioning.

.

There should be a total of 1,851 libraries in all, one for each of the country’s 220 congressional districts, 136 cities, and 1,495 municipalities. To date, the country has 1,163 libraries less than required. This affects 40% of the population or nearly 40 million Filipinos as it unacceptably deprives our children of a resource that could spell a difference for their future.

.

Realizing the need for children to be aptly exposed to reading materials not readily available for them, the Run To Read Fun Run was designed to raise funds to build and restore libraries for less fortunate communities in various parts of the Philippines. The run will be composed of 4 major distance events; 3KM, 5KM, 10KM, 15KM and a 500-meter dash for kids and their moms or dads

.

.

EVENTS

3k | 5k |10k |15k | 500m for kids

.

REGULAR REGISTRATION

July 1 – August 8, 2010

.

ONLINE REGISTRATION

www.runnersrunner.com

.

REGISTRATION FEE

PHP 500 for 500m for kids (tandem with 1 parent)
PHP 300 for 3k
PHP 350 for 5k
PHP 400 for 10k
PHP 450 for 15k

(Inclusive of singlet, race number and certificate)

.

REGISTRATION AREAS

BrandWorX Inc Head Office
Penthouse, Eurovilla Bldg. 2, VA Rufino St., Legaspi Village Makati City

Runnr Store
Bldg. B3 Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City, Philippines

SecondWind Running Store
Maginhawa St., Teacher’s Village | Ortigas Home Depot

All Terra Cyclery
Club 650 Libis, Quezon City

Reebok
Trinoma | Megamall | Festival Mall

Royal Sporting House
Glorietta 4 | Robinson’s Place Manila

[DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM]

Choose from 5 different singlet colors!

(singlets claiming will be available starting August 1)

Let's Run to Read on August 15!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

NutriBar Hip 2b Fit Fun Run 2010

My Running Diary (scroll to see the full list):

To date, if I had to choose the best fun run that I had ever joined, I got a couple to list. The best singlet will go to KOTR, the best hydration will go to Globe, and the best route will go to those runs that were held at UP Diliman.

Our last run, fortunately, was held at UP Diliman last Sunday, July 11, 2010. It was the NutriBar Hip 2b Fit Fun Run 2010 as sponsored by Grower's and UP Mountaineering for the benefit of the UP Padyak project. Well, I am glad that with a "small race event", still, a lot of runners from all walks of life participated. For the "elite runners", it could mean easy money; but for us, it is all for fun, health, and the help extended for the race's cause.

Thumbs Up

As I mentioned, I love the UPD route. So that's a thumbs up for me.
They got a special parent-child 3K race which I think is cool. A great bonding moment for families.
Markers and marshals are sufficient.
Cold hydration were offered in the stations, and are equally sufficient that even the non-registered runners were able to have a cup or two.
Freebies, ample of 'em. Plus the free NutriBar snacks that we got at the post race.
Raffle at the end of the race. I'm not lucky to won though.

Thumbs Down

Hmmm, I would love to suggest to have the parent-child race be certified if the registrants are really connected by blood. A birth certificate will do, perhaps.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

34th National Milo Marathon

My Running Diary (scroll to see the full list):

Twenty (20) races. Twenty races under my belt. And I have to say that, this time, my girl and I is a little bit cautious in the races that were joining. No more "I love that singlet" and no more "That's a prestigious race". What were after to now is, "It's for a good cause" and "It's cheap". Hence, battling over registering for a 10K at P500 and 5K at P100 for the 34^th National Milo Marathon, we chose the latter. With just P100 registration fee (plus a pack of at least 300g of Milo) we joined the event.

Thumbs Up

For the 3K and 5K, it is cheap. In fact, the cheapest of all the races that we had joined.
P5 of your registration fee goes to the cause which is "to give shoes to the public schools all over the country"
Around 27,000 runners woke up early last July 4, 2010 to partake in the event. And though huge, the organizers had handled the number properly.
Sufficient hydration booth. Okay, I speak for the 5K runners. I had read that the hydration had gone empty for the last few kilometers of the marathoners.
Certificate at the FINISH line.
Great post race event. We were entertained by the cheer dance competition, a few celebrities, free massage (but we did not avail of it), unlimited cold Milo drinks (refreshing), and photo walls.

Thumbs Down

I only had a single "thumbs down" for this event. Just when everything seem to be perfect, there will always be room for improvement. And that has something to do with the baggage area. Baggage area are installed in the race event venues so that runners can deposit their bags just in case they don't have the vehicle to leave it to, giving the runner the peace of mind that his belongings are in good condition. But to my dismay (and to all the 3K, 5K, and 10K runners who deposited their bags at the baggage area), it was a total disaster. You can see bags scattered on the staircase. The crowd is begging to have at least a systematic approach on claiming their belongings.

I feel sorry for the owner of the bag whose personal belongings were scattered on the floor - Key, flash drive, deodorant were among those.

On the brighter side, I have to commend the policemen who kept their cool. They offer help in the best way that they can, without a word, just pure work.