If your kids study in a science school with a grade cut-off of 85, you would totally get why I’m rejoining. I tutor my kids, help them with their assignments and projects, and I follow up every little tidbit of class update for both my boys.

As the one actively involved in the running of my children’s education, I also get the corresponding headaches and high blood pressure that are the consequences of being too familiar with teacher idiosyncrasies or unreasonable school policies.

Don’t even get me started on the errors in the textbooks. But no, no, no…I’m stopping myself with the ranting right here.

Today is the unofficial end of the school year so I’m writing only glad tidings, such as the summer break that’s fast approaching. I’m so happy I could run from work to home and back, chest pains from chostochondritis and all. Haha!

As this school year ends, I take a quick look back at how it fared for my kids.

* Lennon passed the rigorous three-part tests for STEC and began Preparatory, while Dylan entered fifth grade.

* Lennon regaled me with his timeouts for various reasons: talking, shouting, standing on the table, laughing, and playing with his classmates during class. He tells it with such flair you can’t help but not be angry.

* Lennon memorized the Green Eggs and Ham book by Dr. Seuss, and recited it to anyone who will listen at school and at home.

* Dylan joined the Math quiz bowl and became the only fifth grader to land in fifth place. The other placers are all Grade 6 students representing schools in the Lapu-Lapu City Division.

* Dylan made up one of a two student-team that competed in the Math Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP) contest. His team placed second during the written eliminations exam and first in the contest proper.

* Lennon’s Preparatory class won the dance contest for the Preparatory-Grade 3 level, while Dylan’s Grade 5 class also won the dance competition for the Grade 4-Grade 6 category.

* Dylan’s whole class failed to get a passing score in MSEP (don’t know what it means but it’s a subject taught in Filipino, as if that isn’t hard enough) at the Regional Achievement Test (RAT).

All in all, it wasn’t such a bad school year. If I have to look at it in one positive light, at least they get to go to school for free. Hehe

Despite the school and its many failings, my sons at least continue to learn on their own because they read extensively.

And while I have given up hope of Dylan ever doing good in any subject taught in Tagalog, I’m happy because he excels in Math, Science, and English (and in that order).

My Lennon, well, he defies description.

Just yesterday, he made me laugh so hard, when he said he believes he nailed his Reading and Language exams and (gasp) got perfect scores in both. I know him well enough not to fall for that one, though. He has been known to bungle tests by underlining instead of encircling (defying instructions), and one time totally missing out from answering one page of the exam.

Today, Lennon’s yaya — who had to bring something inside the classroom while the test was ongoing — told me that my son took his tests with the extra pencil tucked behind his ear. The teacher told her that was how Lennon had always taken the exams. That’s my Lennon, always managing to surprise.

Once, shocked at seeing him on all fours digging in the dirt with a toothbrush, he told me calmly that he was looking for fossil.

His endless chatter once drove his kuya and me close to tears, and when we begged for a little quiet time he asked why when his mouth was not yet tired from talking.

He could talk up a storm about anything under the sun, but three topics stand out: insects and bugs, Jesus, and the computer game Warcraft.

Where does he get inspiration for his questions? Why, from the many books he is reading, of course.

The favorite today is “The Big Bug Book” and he now knows more about insects than I do. I’m always careful when he asks me questions about them because just any answer results in his whipping out that book and turning to the page that proves me wrong.

If there’s one thing I’m happy about this school year, it’s that my Lennon has become a reader, like his dad, big brother, and me.

RUNNR offers to customers for free its foot-type and gait analysis system called Footworx.

Through the footdisc analysis system component of Footworx, I learned that my feet have high arches, the least common of the three foot types and the most prone to injuries according to runnersworld.com. Most runners with high arches are underpronators or supinators; their feet fail to roll inward enough to cushion the impact of their footstrike resulting in more shock going up the legs.

In my case, though, I do the exact opposite. I have high arches, but I overpronate — my feet roll too far inward than normal — when I run. To determine my gait type, I had to undergo high-speed video gait analysis, the second component of Footworx, where I was made to run fast for a few minutes on a treadmill as a camera captured the whole thing. Trained RUNNR staff reviewed the results and measured the angle of my leg against my foot as it hit the treadmill during the run.

Sportsinjuryclinic.net says overpronators run with excessive foot motion since their arch rolls sideways too much, causing the lower leg to turn inwards and putting the knee and hip out of alignment. According to the same website, this type of gait, just like its opposite, also causes quite a number of injuries.

The foot on the right side of the picture depicts overpronation.

Fortunately for runners who overpronate or underpronate, preventing injury may just be as easy as a custom insole or wearing the correct shoes. Those in Cebu who have only began running just recently are doubly lucky since there is already a specialty store devoted to the sport here.

The staff at RUNNR said I need stability shoes based on my results, and the store has a wide range of running footwear to choose from. RUNNR is the only store in Cebu to carry the Newton brand; plus, it can create customized insoles aimed at correcting overpronation or underpronation while the customer waits. The flashfit custom insole molding process is the third component in RUNNR’s Footworx system.

Running is hard enough on the body as it is; doing it when you’re feeling pain can seriously put a damper on the whole thing. Take it from someone who has suffered and ran through two months of patellofemoral pain syndrome and tried all kinds of cure for this injury commonly known as runner’s knee.

So before you start running, get some good advise from the pros. Have your running form analyzed at RUNNR through Footworx. It’s for free.

(Photo by Sun.Star Cebu photographer Allan Defensor.)

But our Sunday long run under a downpour was exhilarating and, I have to admit, a little hardcore.

The weather was fine when Max and I started running at close to 5 a.m. Some 15 minutes later, there was a drizzle so slight it was barely noticeable. We went on our way and, three kilometers into our run, stopped for some stretching exercises.

At the fifth kilometer, the drizzle turned into a deluge that soaked every inch of our clothing and skin (and I mean this literally). Puddles on the road hit by our running feet splashed water and loose soil on our legs and shoes that later felt like they weighed a ton.

It was a challenge going up the first Mandaue-Mactan bridge, with huge water drops pelting us from above and wind whipping our faces and, in my case, my hair. And where it collides with bare skin, the shower hurts the most.

Motorists passing through the bridge were looking at us as if we were a pair of nutcase braving the rain in nothing more than running shorts and shirts.

The strange thing about it was, I didn’t care. The run in the rain evoked pleasant and carefree memories of childhood, when my friends and I played tag in the rain and frolicked in muddy puddles to the consternation of our parents.

Though our wet clothing and shoes weighed us down, the dash up the bridge did not cost as much effort as in previous runs through it. I felt as if I could go on for hours.

It was my best run, ever.

It finally became too much walking from one shop to another and falling in long lines with other kids for 1 piece of candy, leaving stores empty-handed because all the treats are gone, or mind-boggling still is being told to return at a particular time in others. At home, he could have his fill of sweets but doesn’t even want them.

At the far end of an outrageously long line of kids waiting to receive treats, he asked me whose idea it was that he go trick or treating.

We laughed at him because he had been anticipating the event ever since he learned about it last year from his friend Andre, and, several days before Saturday, he had been telling me tips for Halloween that he learned from Cartoon Network including one that instructed him to prepare his bag of tricks.

Lennon gets a candy during trick or treating at SM City Cebu.

When I told him that he of course begged to go trick or treating and even specifically asked me to bring back costumes for him and his big brother Dylan from Manila, he replied that he was not joining another one ever again.

The trick or treating at SM City Cebu last Saturday was chaotic; they just let loose the little demons in there. I guess though that was what made it fun, in an irritating kind of way.

There were times when we would be the first to go inside shops participating in the trick or treat activity, but suddenly get surprised by a million (they seem that many) kids swarming in from out of nowhere and even beating us to the treats. They’ve perfected the art of conquer and loot; we first-timers didn’t stand a chance.

Dylan and dad.

It was Dylan’s first time to go trick or treating, too. In his 11 years of Halloween celebration, we’ve never seen the need to dress up and hassle some salesgirl for treats. But my Lennon wanted to experience all the kid’s stuff he sees or hears about.

We finally decided we’ve had enough when, at a shop with the trick or treat sign, we were turned away because it was not 12 yet. Huh? The trick or treating was supposed to run from 11 a.m. to noon. Some stores were also as confused as us about the activity. First timers, probably.

Also worth mentioning here, although it happened in October, is my Lennon’s first camping experience. Barely recovered from dengue, my Lennon, after two weeks of being absent from school, got the go signal from his doctor to return to class on a Friday, which happened to be a camping activity.

Lighted candles and bonfire.

They put up tents on campus grounds. Lennon brought one, too. When it rained, the kids ran to the tents and sought shelter there.

His classmates recited poems and sang songs, which Lennon knew nothing about. I told him to just go along with the others in his group. Parents brought more than enough food for all those who attended the activity.

A bonfire serves as the finale to the camping activity.

At dusk, the teachers made a bonfire and the kids formed a circle around it. They lighted candles and sang a song.

This segue to camping is really so I could put the pictures in. I just found the photos I took of the camping activity, and some have turned out really okay so I’m putting them here.

Cebu Press Freedom Run 5k men, women category winners

It was an anticipated event by runners in media (the serious ones you can count with the fingers of one hand) and I had wanted to write about the run and how I fared earlier on, but my son got sick, is still sick by the way, and so like the good mother that I am, I dropped everything to see to him first.

Surprisingly, a lot of media workers (more than a hundred I was told) showed up for the run, which had the street fronting the Cebu City Sports Club in the Cebu Business Park as starting and finishing line.

Most signed up for the 3k but there were a few brave souls who ventured to run the 5k with little or no training. I envy their courage. There were those who returned after the race banner was already taken down and had to ask for directions to the finish line. I was told these four or so runners stopped for picture-taking along the route so that’s probably why it took them such a long time to come back.

Personnel of Sunnex, which manages www.sunstar.com.ph, participate in the run.

Overall, the run, which was organized by The Freeman columnist Raffy Uytiepo, was a huge success and a lot of fun. I was at first very proud of my time because I thought I had achieved my goal of setting a new PR for the 5K with my time of 29 minutes and 30 seconds until my husband, who wears a Garmin, told me the route was 400 meters short of 5 kilometers. Noooooo! *LOL*

I told my husband after the run that I blame him for my dismal time. After all, when we talked about strategy a few days before the activity, he told me he was going to run the 5k at a pace of 5 minutes per kilometer. Since I’ve always dropped out at the end of the 2nd kilometer at that pace in practice runs, I told him that my plan was to follow at a respectable distance but keeping him within sight at all times. That way, I would know that I’m not running as fast as he is but not running too slow either since, unlike him, I don’t have a way of measuring my pace.

Unfortunately, and we had several good laughs over this one, someone at the front of the line ran like he was chased by a mad dog at the firing of the starter gun, and he sort of infected others, even my husband who should have known better.

My husband said he checked his Garmin at the first kilometer and was shocked to see the pace was three minutes. Not knowing any better, when I saw him accelerating, I ran faster to keep a moderate distance between us. And that was my downfall, for the pace (not 3 minutes but probably less than 5 minutes a kilometer) killed me at the second kilometer as it had always done. It was sheer guts that kept me running the remaining three kilometers. That and probably my other goal of finishing not too far behind broadcaster and runner Haide Acuña.

Since there was little competition at the women’s 5k category, I finished two minutes later than Haide but still placed second. The third placer’s time was 38 minutes, which is not bad for a beginner. I remember that my PR for that first 5k was around 40 minutes.

I’m guessing there will be more serious contenders for all categories in next year’s Cebu Press Freedom run (Sun.Star will be Cebu Press Freedom Week convener and they’re thinking of adding a 10k category), since the first activity had encouraged many to start training for 2010.

In that case, I had better perfect my strategy. But first, I need a Garmin.

Or if I finish ahead of him, I go out with drink-starved friends and see how long I can stay standing after guzzling bottle after bottle of below zero beer.

Hanging out with friends and enjoying the below zero beer at Formo.

All the stresses and cares of my week drop away and I savor these moments when I can sleep as late as 4 a.m. without having to think about work or the children’s assignment.

On this longest day of my week, I give in to the temptations of mojitos, frozen margaritas, caffeine, gelato, fatty food, sleep deprivation, and malling that oftentimes ran up to several hours and result in sore legs and feet.

From sleepless Friday nights, my Saturdays continue on to sleep-deprived mornings and afternoons when my husband and I and our children hit our usual destinations, usually SM, Ayala, or Parkmall. Sometimes, we surprise ourselves by deciding on the beach or some other complicated destination.

Having fun on a lazy Saturday.

At our chosen mall, my kids — with help from my husband and me — blow off a few hundreds on Timezone. Or we give in to our intellectual craving and hit the shelves of National or Powerbooks; Lennon’s recent favorite author is Dr. Seuss while Dylan is showing interest in, of all things, comics. But since he had already gone through all seven Harry Power books, four Twilight books, and nine Series of Unfortunate Events books, aside from a few in the Hardy Boys series, I forgive him.

Choosing a lunch or dinner destination is an adventure in itself that requires a complicated discussion on the kind of food available in a particular place, the degree of deliciousness we give to the menu, six-year-old Lennon’s absolute abhorrence for pork and beef and 11-year-old Dylan’s hate of fish, and sometimes end up in all of us settling for a fast food joint.

Gorging on gelato at Gelatissimo.

We cram most chores that can’t be delegated to the help, like paying bills and doing grocery (thank God for SM which allows us to do both in one place), on late Saturday afternoons. We know we’ve had enough when we’re already complaining of painful backs and tired legs, and we hurry through last-minute stuff so we could head for home.

My Saturdays wind down with tv or a good book and transition to running Sundays, when my husband and I join fun runs (there seems to be one for every Sunday of the week) or do long runs in their stead.

I love my Saturdays; they prime me even for the worst of Mondays.

Sunday’s run was my fifth 5K since I gave in last May to my husband’s urging to start joining running events. My memorable first 5K happened during the 33rd National Milo Marathon Cebu City elimination run in June. It took me 45 minutes to finish my first five kilometers, and I had to slow down to a walk a few times.

I’m down to 30 minutes or so in my last two runs including the one today, and I ran all throughout in both.

Me and Twinkle Ignacio, who showed up at Sunday’s Cebu Diamond Lions Club fun run as a feline.

Sunday’s Cebu Diamond Lions Club fun run started and ended at Sumilon Road in Cebu Business Park and had 10k, 5k, and 3k categories.

From Sumilon Road, runners went on to Cardinal Rosales Avenue, made a left turn upon reaching Juan Luna Avenue, and continued on to Salinas Drive until the vicinity of Golden Cowrie Restaurant where the turning point for the 5K was located. We then retraced our steps back to Sumilon Road in Cebu Business Park for the finish.

The route was not all flat; there were parts that were inclined, and I had to use all my self-control not to slow down to a walk. I just had to keep reminding myself that it will take me more effort to walk than run those stretches.

Max achieves his goal to finish the 10k in less than an hour, at the Cebu Diamond Lions Club fun run.

Although I’ve earlier decided not to stop for a drink when running the 5K because it’s just a short run anyway, I was tempted to get some Sunday at the only water station for my distance category. Stopping was a mistake because there was only one person manning the water station and there were already five people ahead me. I had to go on without my water but the waiting had cost me time.

I’m glad though that I did not experience the runner’s stitch that I’ve recently experienced while doing some rounds at the Cebu City Sports Center oval track. The pain’s manageable but it’s a bummer. Regulating my breathing dulls the pain a little but does not remove it totally.

What rankled during my Lions Club run was when a female runner overtook me about less than a kilometer from the finish line, and I wasn’t able to catch up no matter how hard I tried.

It’s just that my last entry here was such a long time ago, there seems to be no way of picking up from where I left off. It is such a burden to explain a year’s absence that I’ve decided it’s better to start from scratch.

I run because I want to stay slim and fit for as long as I’m able.

But what’s three years when you have a million more things to write about and, more importantly, time to do it. My children are growing up fast, my husband and I are handling or starting projects, I’ve recently taken up running as a hobby — I want a place to sort them all out and a blog is as good as any.

I’ve also taken to heart the advice of professional runners for newbies to start a blog where they can keep track of their progress, share fitness, nutrition, endurance, and gear tips, plan runs together, and support each other.

Falling into running has been of the good accidents of my life. I’ve never gained a single pound, even after two children, but I haven’t been fit for a long time, either. When an illness prompted my husband to go run, I’ve taken it up, too, as a way of supporting him, but it had been fun and beneficial to me, as well.

My memorable first run happened under the 5K category of the Milo Marathon Cebu City elimination run last June.

From just running for fitness, my goal has changed.  I plan to finish even just one marathon — the whole 42 kilometers — in my lifetime.  If I can do more, that would be good, but I’m gunning for just one.

I’m envious of Cebu’s running fixtures, among them women runners like Mary Grace delos Santos, Madeline Carter, Haide Acuña, and Donna Cruz-Larrazabal, who make running the 10k or 21k look so easy, while I’m panting and red-faced from my 5k. I want a place to brag about my children, too. How well-behaved and intelligent they are, and  polar opposites of one another.

Me and my two boys.

Just recently, my 6-year-old asked me: “Once I’m a teenager, I can go home at night, right?” It surprised me that he was thinking that far ahead; I should be, too. Then it hit me that I have another son who’s exactly on the throes of his teenage years. I should already be ready.

So, I’m reassessing my life and rethinking my strategies, and this is the place where I’m gonna do it.