Cebu - the oldest city in the Philippines

Jeroen and Andres were supposedly getting to Cebu on the 8th… However the second typhoon of our time in the Philippines is capricious and have them stocked in Panglao. Not a single boat is authorised to leave the pier.

I spent the entire day of the 8th resting. The muscle in my legs are starting to hurt due to the awkward movement I had to endure not to stress too much my left ankle.

Since my friends will be arriving in Cebu the 9th in the afternoon only, I am taking my time to explore what is of interest in the area. They are finally free to come over and arriving late in the afternoon the same day.

In the meantime I manage to witness the early moments of the biggest festival of the year: Sinulog. This is a week long of celebration of the baby Jesus ended in epic partying fashion the week end of the 14th and 15th of January. While this is making it impossible for me to visit the Basilic, it is nice to observe what is going on. Thousands and Thousands of locals are standing outside to watch on flat screen the Mass going on inside the Catholic edifice.

That left me with 2 other highlights I had planned to visit:
- The Magellan’s cross.
- The Fort San Pedro.

Inside the fort of San Pedro.

Magellan's Cross.

The city is pleasant and a bit more human size than overwhelming Manila. Our last morning, full of motivation we wanted to go to a view point and visit the Taoist temple next by... Unfortunately the rain decided otherwise. The typhoon is giving us its last tears and we prefer a warm coffee than risking a pneumonia.

Palawan is our next destination for which we needed to take a taxi to the airport (1h in the trafic and now heavy rain) and board for an hour flight... hopefully for more sun.

Cebu - Running the half marathon!!!

I collectedly race number and my singlet at the last possible moment, on the 7th at 6pm after yet again countless hours in public transportation from Panglao to Cebu.

The race starts at 4am the following morning. Thank god I did not subscribed for the full marathon that kick off at an early 3am. After a diner at the local fast food chain Jolibee I head back to the hotel for an early night. I have decided to give it a shot.

When I woke up at 3am, I am not so sure anymore of the feasibility of my objective. It is impossible to put on my socks without feeling pain in my still recovering ankle. I decided not to put any and head towards the start line.

The atmosphere is electric between the oppressive humidity and the energy of the large crowd. I am so excited. I am not sure yet I will be able to run - I have not worn shoes for almost 3 weeks and have not run for exactly as much. The finishing window for the half marathon is 4 hours which basically means I can walk the entire race and get to the finish line getting my finisher medal and kit. The start is very typical of such an event: I walk the first few hundred meters with the back of the pack evaluating the elasticity and response of my ankle. I have almost not solicited it for the last 20 days. When the runners are starting to spread around the route I eventually start to run. Running is a very big word though. I am more limping than anything. But I am happy and it feels good.
I would take it very easy throughout the all 21.1 km, taking time at the numerous water point to rehydrate myself. The humidity is quite hard to cope with and water or gatorade is very much appreciated.

2 hours and 13 minutes after starting, I was back to the initial point crossing the finish line. It is very hard for me to describe my feeling at that point of time. Even though this is far from being my first race or the longest one I have participated in (I have a couple marathons under my belt and numerous runs with my brother that were much longer that this one) I simply am overwhelmed. I have come a very long way since Xmas and my stay in the hospital.

I collect my finisher package consisting of a medal, a finisher shirt and couple of other goodies. It is not even 6:30 in the morning and definitely time to go back to sleep.

The final result is quite astonishing to me: 2h13m06s for a ranking of 215 out 1598 runners taking part of the half marathon. Would I have been normally fit and ran the time I had set myself, I might have finished in the top 30… but with ifs you can change the world and I am happy enough to be a finisher and to have pushed myself to compete. I’ll break my PB in the near future for sure!

A well deserved selfie :)