MALICO RIDE, CCM & TRAILRUNNING CONCERN

MALICO RIDE

Friends had been telling me about riding going to Malico or Villa Verde trail which is the site of the infamous Battle of Villa Verde Trail between US and Japanese forces during World War II. To date, this place has become a scenic site due to the presence of an old Sherman Tank and beautiful pine-clad surrounding.

So Nick, Kyle and I set out to visit the place last 12 November 2022. Around 214kms, we initially took the TPLEX and exited via Rosales. We could have taken a shorter route but that would require us to pass through towns which is equivalent to traffic, crowd and all. Meaning, it'll be slower. On the way back, we took the Pangasinan route via Tayug. Faster. We were glad that this road is finally open to the public. Fairly new. 

We had fun as the weather was cool and relaxing and the view, wonderful!

2022 CCM

I had to pester him, my long-time friend, Don who works for Filinvest since Mimosa was the venue sponsor for the 2022 Clark City Marathon for a free race kit. In previous years, I would have opted for the full marathon but not this time. Only 21kms since I am slowly easing into racing. I could have run the full mary but I don't think it would have been fun. At any rate, this was my training race for the upcoming Cordillera Moutain Ultra on December 3-4, 2022.

Thank you Don and the organizer of CCM for allowing us to run.  Yes, Don ran the 21kms too. It was nice to see him again after more than 2 years due to the pandemic. At least, he looks fitter now unlike before when he was so much into DJing :)

Hopefully next year, I can have a list of races (mostly trail) to do. I miss going outside the country to race as well. Let's see. 

TRAILRUNNING CONCERN

Soon, I will post a blog article here to discuss what is happening with the trail running community in the Philippines, issues, rifts and other matters in the wake of the recently concluded World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand. I feel I cannot ignore what is happening now and thus, am obliged to chime in given how I love our sport, seniority (both in age and experience), and how I care the direction trail running is heading to. Soon.   

Cheers,

Jon (happy to come under 2 hours and recovering well for the next race)