February 19, 2008 | 12:00am
Middle of last year, I went to Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital to have my lower back pain checked. Dr. Renald Ramiro diagnosed my back and told me to have an x-ray. It only took five minutes, but since I was attired in my signature running gear, Dr. Ren opened a proposal to hold a 5K fund-raising run for the benefit of the disabled (please call them people with disabilities). It took 30 minutes making the long line of patients waiting outside his clinic, impatient. So the stage was set. After a series of meetings with Doc Ren and the major sponsors Pfizer represented by Gerry Canonigo and Roche thru Wheinzel Logronio, we started preparing for the race which we dubbed “Move 5K Run”. Soon several members of the organizing committee Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (PARM) joined us to ensure the success of the run. While I worked on the technical aspects collaborating with veteran race officials led by Joe Deresas and Precing Capangpangan, Dr. Ren took care of marketing. Of course the race could not have succeeded without the sponsors that included Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, Southwestern Hospital, Y101, Metrografix, CityGym, Waterfresh Drinking Water, The Freeman, Casa Ilongga, Advance Rehab Care, Hi Esai, Biomedis, Servier, Wyeth, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma 3 Company, Jegma Construction, Hilton Hotel and Spa, Cebu Orthopedic Institute, Patriot, Rottapharm, Chong Hua Hospital, Getz Pharma, Novartis, MSD, Jassen, SV More, Fredzon Furniture & Appliance Center, Cebu Rehab Medics, Eli Lilly, Cebu City Sports Center, Phil. Sports Commission and the Province of Cebu.
SUCCESS!
With close to 500 runners joining and with a lot of sponsors, the race was a whooping success. The goal of the run was to raise a critical illness fund for indigent PWDs. So last Valentine’s Day Doc Ren gather us at the Mooon Café to give out plaques of appreciation and most of all announce the amount to be donated to the PWDs. I could see tears in the eyes of Gigi Ruiz, president of the Organization of Rehab Agencies (ORA) when she received the P110,000 check. Getting the plaques were CitiGym represented by Cibelle Rulona and Nikki Calma, The Freeman through Raffy Osumo, Pfizer with Gerry Canonigo receiving the award Roche thru Wheinzel Logronio and yours truly as race director. Also present during the awarding were Dr. Barns Barcenas, Ella Clark (HACI) and Nonoy Concha.
Hong Kong Marathon
Got a sketchy report from Hong Kong regarding the performances of the Cebuano runners in last Sunday’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. As expected, Leiszl Getaruelas and Mendel Lopez landed in the top five of their respective divisions. Leiszl finished fourth in the 21K Run while Mendel placed fifth in the 10K. Those who completed the marathon were Dr. Yong Larrazabal, Dr. Vic Verallo, Dr. Albert Santos, Dr. Nicole Chua, Jesse Taborada, Meyrick Jacalan, Ted Tecson and Serge Amora. Finishing the 21K Half Marathon are Tony del Prado, Dr. Peter Mancao and Dr. Pons del Prado. Pearl Jacalan ran her first 10K. But the biggest disappointment was John Pages who quit with just 6 kilometers left with a pulled muscle. John who was getting tips from me must have started too fast, hitting the 28km mark at 2:50. Just before the race, I promised John that I’ll change my name if he can’t finish. Now I’m thinking of changing my name to Tomas, Tom Cruise that is. Congratulations to you guys! And to John, there’s still thousands of marathons to run.
NOTE: As I was finishing this column John texted me that he had severe cramps in both legs, vomited twice and limped for 8 kilometers until he couldn’t walk anymore.
