Coast to coast across 5,000 kms

When runner and writer Joy Rojas applied for her US visa in Manila, the consul asked her what her purpose for travel was. She said: “I’m going to run across America, from California to New York.”

It’s safe to say that consuls at the US Embassy don’t hear this reason every day. Not when it involves running from the West to the East Coast, across 5,000 kilometers in 120 days — an equivalent of running a full marathon plus eight kilometers for 100 days, with only 20 rest days in between.

The consul asked Joy if she had done something similar before. As a matter of fact, she had. Joy ran across the Philippines in 2005, starting from the south (Davao City) and going up north (Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte). “Hakbang Pangarap” was a 2,000-kilometer, 46-day event, of which 38 were running days and eight were rest days. Joy did it with her running buddy Mat Macabe, and a lean support group of two, including run coordinator Jojo Marinez who would hire a vehicle in each leg and drive about five kilometers ahead to check the route — or to put it more accurately, to check if there were any roads at all because in some towns in Mindanao there were none.

And naturally, it was there that it would rain, so what would have been an easy run (at least by Joy’s standards) that would start when it was still dark at 4 a.m and end before lunchtime went well into the afternoon.

“If you asked me then what my life’s biggest dream was, it was to run across the Philippines,” says Joy. “I really carried that dream for a very long time, and I was just waiting for the right time and people to come.”

The seed was planted when she met Fr. Robert Reyes in 1997. The priest was running across the Philippines in stages: in 1996 he ran Mindanao, in 1997 he ran the Visayas, and in 1998 he ran Luzon with Joy. “We did Eastern Samar to Kalibo in 40 days. I thought, this is so great, one day I will run across the country, too.”

Which she did in 2005. This time, the whole country in 46 days. This time, too, Joy wanted to spread the spirit of discipline and determination — and share her dreams with the young. She tied up with the Department of Education (which explains why they let this crazy girl with this crazy goal sleep in the classrooms of public schools).

She would give a talk in the schools and tell the kids, “We just came from the other towns, do you know how we got here?”

In one school in Luzon, the kids answered: by jeepney or bus or car. And Joy — already dark and sweaty and dirty — would say, “No, we ran.” It was only after class when the kids would be going home and see Joy running down their roads that they were convinced this slip of a girl was, indeed, running across the country, stopping by in their own little town.

“That was one of the many memorable moments of the run. The message to the children was that if we could run across the Philippines, then all dreams are possible if you pursue them with determination.”

There are two phenomena at work in the head that every runner anticipates and dreads: runner’s high, caused by the endorphin overflow in the brain that exercise produces, and makes you feel like you just swallowed a piece of happiness and a ton of energy bars; and runner’s blues, which make you feel like staying in bed for a whole week because you have nothing to look forward to.

Joy says that as soon as she crossed the finish line of Hakbang Pangarap in 2005, she felt “happy that we had accomplished it, but there was a part of me that was sad it was over.”

That was swift, we tease Joy.

Yes, it was, but it also brought about a bigger dream for her. “After much introspection, I felt that it didn’t have to mean the dream was over. If I could experience a grand adventure again — with limitless kilometers and views — where would I go and where would I go?”

So was born Takbong Pangarap, Trans-America, a 5,000-kilometer run passing through 12 states across the US (California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York). 

Why this route? Because this has been a tried-and-tested route going back to the turn of the 20th century with the Bunion Derby in 1928. There have been an estimated 182 men and 11 women who have run across America. One of them is a Filipino — Cesar Guarin, owner of the local sportswear company Botak, who did it from New York to California in 1985. Joy will be the first Filipino woman to attempt this feat, which is often compared to climbing Mt. Everest.

“I’ve written to runners who have run the route or are in the process of running it and they said all roads are fair game except the interstates,” says Joy.

Her running partner Mat Macabe will bike with her and run parts of it, having had open-heart surgery last year, while project coordinator Chuck Crisanto is organizing support from the Filipino communities in the US.

Joy will take off from Eagle Rock Mall in May, which has Filipino establishments such as Chowking and Jollibee and Red Ribbon. Chuck says that in cities with a lot of Pinoys, like Glendale and Las Vegas, they are getting a huge amount of support and enthusiasm.

Joy’s “finish line” is the Philippine Consulate on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. “We are counting on Fil-Ams to run with Joy from the bottom of the George Washington Bridge all the way to the consulate, which is a good 20 kilometers,” says Chuck. 

The logistics are almost as challenging as the run (I don’t think there is anything more challenging than having to run 5,000 kilometers). For one, there’s the expense, which Chuck estimates to be between P3 and 5 million — which is why he is looking for sponsors and Filipino organizations abroad who wish to take part in this project. Expenses will include a hotel room for each night (unless they are hosted by Pinoys abroad), food, and support vehicles.  

“Manny Pacquiao is a one in 90 million athlete,” Chuck says. “So is Joy.”

Any special diet and training? “I’m not really scientific and I don’t use a Garmin or other gadgets,” Joy says. “You just try to be pragmatic about it. If you feel you’re going too fast, then slow down; if you feel better, then pick up your pace. Start slow, walk if you have to, because you have a long way to go. Keep your feet low to the ground so you don’t experience too much of the pounding. In terms of training for this, I guess it’s better to keep your endurance because you want to be injury-free when you start. My mileage is relatively high but not mega-high because I’m trying to save it for May. No special diet, I just eat and eat. It’s like throwing coal in the furnace, you know you’re going to burning it.”

Chuck and Joy met in 2001, when Joy ran in a race advocating awareness of tuberculosis. Not many people know that Joy was struck by the disease eight years ago and recovered only after a six-month regimen of medications.

And look at her now.

How did this happen — this shift from being a marathoner to an ultra marathoner of ridiculous distances?

Ironically, the answer is that she quit racing.

“It had reached a point where it became about whom I beat, if I could bring home a prize, if I could land in the top 10, if I could make my time faster. If I didn’t run faster than my last 10k, I felt bad, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to be happy every time I ran, I said, tama na, I just wanted to put my runs together.”

So she did. But this time, she wants to spread her Pinoy spirit and let people see that when you dream big, you’ll get there — one step at a time. 

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Asiana will fly Joy and her support team to the United States. Interested parties who wish to sponsor Takbong Pangarap may call Buensalido & Associates at 817-4471 or Chuck Crisanto at 0917-898-3621.