On September 17, 2006, I sent this email from New Jersey to some of my girlfriends back home in Manila:
Hi everyone!!!
Hope you had a good weekend! For those of you who raced, how was it??? As for my race I did ok, considering no training whatsoever for three weeks, what with my crash prior to coming here plus Arland’s group here always trying to show me all their hangouts, not to mention all the ice cream places haha…super “tapered” is what i would call it. I was able to place 10th overall–and this even though i and three other girls went off course because the marshals weren’t ready for our arrival and were missing in their post.
But I don’t care about that tiny mishap…because man…this race was the bestest bestest ever! I am so inspired, there were so many women, almost 2,000 and they came in all shapes and sizes. No kidding, there were 200+pound females, cancer survivors, and a lot of 60+ yr olds doing it. They were awesome.
I came into the race expecting to have fun because it was an all-women’s event of course, but i had some issues deep inside my head about being overweight, not being able to train partly because northwest airlines decided to leave my bike somewhere in Minneapolis and I only got it just a few days ago, far from feeling 100% kasi vacation mode, then I kept complaining to Arland because he entered me in the elite wave and I was feeling sooo unworthy of being in that category being in the condition that I was….and yeah, all of that crap that makes for a lot of negativity….and then I see these females, and all of a sudden i felt like such a drama queen. And I hought–what the heck were you so worried about Ani??? I was humbled yet again, and I willingly accepted it.
I am really glad I joined. I signed up originally because I wanted to emulate the race and put up something like it back home, and now I know I made the right decision. This has got to be the best thing that ever happened to me in a long time. Over the past few years I have gone through so many ups and downs, and now I feel so renewed, I am remembering why I love doing this–and everyday I just thank God that I am able to do it.
I was kinda getting tired of the usual racing scene over there already and now I have so many ideas that I am taking home with me. If I could bottle up all the emotions I felt today and share it with you I’d be so happy. I was racing and smiling and cheering loudly for everyone on the course all at the same time–because I wanted to do that, sure, and really because I had no choice but to respond to all of them doing the same thing for me. Sisterhood and Positive, Loving Energy was the order of the day, and I soaked it all in.
I hope someday you guys could all join a race that would come close to this one.
Love Ani
Note: Within the same year, Pinay In Action was launched. I am so happy to have a local All Women’s Event alive and kicking in the Philippines, and even happier to be part of it. The pics here are from our recent All Women’s Run in Mall Of Asia, 2009.
Filipina Ironwoman 