The family that runs together
They came from all walk of life, they are from different shapes and sizes. No matter what income bracket you come from or age group everyone was in it did not matter, what mattered was that everyone was in support of the cause for Pasig River. The project named 10 10 10 Run for Pasig River was sprearheaded by Gina Lopez of the ABS-CBN foundation, this project seeks to restore the beauty of the Pasig River. The Run for Pasig River is targeting 120,000 runners from different sectors namely government offices, schools, business corporations and even civic groups.
Mah Gurls
As early as 3:30 am most of the groups were already preparing to go to the Fun Run. I myself wanted to be early because I wanted to get a parking slot where the run will start. My sister and nephews were also a part of another group. My sister Elaiza Garrido – Jordan, his son Josh and another nephew Janis Garrido went with the ABS – CBN contingent. One very nice identifying mark of their group was the nice T shirt they had. Another nephew Mikko Garrido was there for his school the Central Colleges of the Philippines. I went with my partner in crime RJ Marasigan and another officemate Bien Rubia.
Team STI in the run
We got to the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex by 4:00 am and looked for our STI Group. The STI students who came doubled every ten minutes as the 5,000 men strong STI students formed a big chunk of the runners. I never really checked but the run I think started at 6:00 am and we were so happy to start our 5 k run. The run had different starting points with the 3 kilometer run starting at the MOA grounds, our 5 kilometer run starting at the CCP Complex, the 10 kilometer run commencing at the Ayala avenue and the 21 kilometer run starting at Camp Aguinaldo.
A shot of the runners from the Buendia bridge
I am just happy to be a part of this historic run and as we have said, this might be the start of something great for me. The only concern was that the restoration of Pasig River needs a lot of trash to be extracted from the river, unfortunately the big event that cashed in the money for its restoration created a lot of stir because of the amount of trash that was thrown in the event. Now that's what you call irony.
Showing off my Finisher's band
The past three years saw the emergence of a new kind of revolution in the world of belly dancing, and that is the Belly Dancing festival or simply known as Belly fest. This event was made possible through the efforts of one of the best belly dancers and teachers in the country Jill Ngo-Crisologo.
I was introduced to this event by my best friend Louise Sarte who herself is a part of the belly dance team. With her very hectic schedule this summer Louise still had the chance to squeeze in an African Belly dance with which she dedicated to me. The other dance number she had was Brailizan inspired which was so nice considering the costumes that she used suited her.
The Bellyfest 2009 culminated with the Belly Fest dancers dancing till they drop from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. But the event is actually a whole day event that included bellydance workshops, aero marathon, hawaiian dance workshop, laughter yoga session, raffle entry, lootbag and of course, a whole day of fun. Tickets were sold at P 400.00. So I hope to blog again Belly fest 2010 till next year gals.
