By the way, for those who are planning to join our Del Monte Great 202 Quest this May, the deadline for applications is already on April 28. So please, please join. I swear it'll be really fun.
Visit the link and download the application form. Print it out and submit it with a full body picture, 4 Del Monte 202 juice labels (Try guyabano. It's the easiest to peel off.) and a short essay answering the question: Do you have what it takes to join the Del Monte Great 202 Quest?
Entries will be shortlisted for a VTR by GamePlan and the clients, and a physical test c/o of yours truly and Ramil. It'd be good to workout a bit, but you don't really have to be that fit to join. The winners from last year weren't exactly athletes, so there's always hope for everyone.
Admit it. Summer time is the time to buff up and get sexy for the beach; but besides firming up in time for the sun, finding the right swimsuit can be pretty stressful, too. It’s not only difficult to find a nice style for you, but an affordable price as well.
In my opinion, Arena and Speedo are the best brands for swimsuits in terms of quality and longevity. For competitive swimmers, Arenas are slick and light, but they don’t last as long as Speedos do. Which is why some swimmers, such as my sisters way back when, train in Speedos and compete in Arenas. For leisure swimmers, though, there are a lot of cool designs to choose from at Arena and Speedo, but they come at pretty hefty prices. Nothing But Water and the Paolo Collection have really cute suits, but they don’t last as long. Then again, swimsuits don’t really last very long in the first place, unless you’re really careful with them. I for one still have my high school varsity S2 and it’s still in pretty good condition.
For people who aren’t really that particular about swimwear as I am, department store choices are alright. They won’t last that long, maybe a year at the most, but by the time you get another break from work, you’ll probably want a new set of suits anyway.
I passed by a friend’s house earlier this week and she was packing for her trip to Cebu with her family. She was talking on her phone and I was greeted with a mouthed “hello” and an extremely messy room. Near the door was a maleta filled with loads of clothes, and I started laughing because she seemed to have too many swimsuits. Apparently, she bought them in a department store for maybe 200 or 300 bucks each, extremely cheap for swimwear.
So there’s a little tip for you all. The good suits are still in Arena and Speedo, but the cheap ones, well, they’ll have to do for one summer or two.
Now go ahead and the hit the beach and have a happy summer!
The Arena-TLP Triathlon in Mabini, Batangas is near. Actually, it's next weekend. Sunday to be exact. Too bad I won't be around to watch, but I wish the racers and the event organizers all the best this year. :)
I joined the same triathlon last year, except it was sponsored by Speedo back then. I was invited by Annarod and Chick to join their all-girls relay team, along with Paolo, Jake and Ren who formed an all-boys team. Annarod took on the bike leg while Chick, being an AMCI mountaineer ran on the dirt road to the finish line. I did the 1.5K swim and wow, that swim was a long one; and the experience was extremely weird. I never felt so violated in my entire life! Triathlons usually start with the swim and since this triathlon started with a mass entry, imagine being in a crowd of racers in skimpy swim suits, huge muscles with race numbers and experience written all over them. I was so white at the time, so being with all those nicely tanned (even sunog) athletes made my self-confidence shrink to almost zero, especially since I had zero training to begin with. I heard the gunshot (or was it a horn?) and everyone just got into the water and started swimming. So, again, imagine being in that crowd with maybe a hundred triathletes fighting for swimming space and grabbing the water...and then your thigh, your ass, your boob, oh my God, get away from me! One even pulled on my leg, so I gave him a kick on his face, hoping that his goggles would wound him or something. Well, not really. That's mean. But he was mean! Or was it a she?
I swam to the side and created my own lane, together with some other swimmers who didn't want to be part of the chaos. It was like rush hour, and I was swimming on the shoulder. Suddenly, a little boy swam by me and I was so impressed because his strokes were so beautiful. Halfway into the swim and I was getting pretty bored. Good thing we were in the ocean; so I looked down a few times and little orange fishies were swimming underneath me and I'd bubble, "Wow! Fishies!" Then someone would try to overtake me and I'd speed up, get a bit of my lead back, then slow down and pace myself and look for the fishies again. And whenever I'd see the underwater cameraman (who turned out to be buko), I'd swim faster and switch from breast stroke to freestyle. Stretch, stretch, glide, glide...and then I'd slow down and shift to breast stroke.
My time was pretty good. 32 minutes, a little after Paolo. And yey, I had a drink of fresh water to quench my salt-dried throat. Then I had a cigarette, took a deep breath and thought to myself...I swam 1.5K in 30minutes. Wow, that's good for an unhealthy person such as myself.
I'm not ready to do a full triathlon. Compared to adventure racing, triathlons require a different kind of endurance training. Adventure races have stops, and you can rest at certain transition points or when you're doing another discipline. Triathlons, however, push you on and on, non-stop for long distances per discipline. But that doesn't necessarily make one harder than the other. Just different in terms of training, and I'm not ready for either of them.
An article in National Geographic several years ago provided an interesting picture of God's wings.
After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings.
The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offsprings to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast.
Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.
"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge." (Psalm 91:4)
All you need is love! Have a blessed Holy Week. :)
