Mel conquers MNK

I maybe failed to share before that because we are really into running, my boyfriend and I enrolled in a running clinic 2 months ago and this is in fact our 3rd month of training in MILO Apex Running School Season 4.  There are different categories available: 5K, 10K beginner, 10K advance, 21K and 42K.   Although we are just beginners, instead of enrolling the 5K, we wanted a stretch so we chose the 10K beginner.

We are grateful that we chose to belong to the 10K beginner group because for just a short span of time, the group developed a very close relationship as if we were friends since childhood.  It is a big mix in age group so we have daddies and mommy in the house. What I love the most in this group are the "kulitan", the never ending stories, the support and the encouragement, and the patience especially to me because I think I'm the weakest among all of them   :D

Anyway, since we are already on the 3rd month of training, everything is being stretched, the drills, the speed, the power, the run, and the distance.  And last Saturday, off we went to conquer MNK (Mataas na Kahoy) in Batangas.  Mataas na Kahoy according to Winkepedia is bounded by Balete and Lipa with Taal Lake limiting it's western side.  The name Mataas na Kahoy literally means "tall tree". The town is known for its cool climate due to its high elevation 379 metres (1,243 ft) above sea level.

MILO Apex Season 4 - 10K Beginner Group

Our route is to pass through all these Barangays, 9km uphill and 9km downhill.

The track for that day was quite challenging for all of us except for our coaches of course.  We needed to experience the uphill and downhill under the heat of the sun.  Here's what happened:

Warm-up exercise before the run

We started the run at around 7:00am if I'm not mistaken, I have no wrist watch so I just kept on asking for the time... maybe I need to buy one soon.

There's always pit stops for pictures 

A lot of beautiful scenery on our way up... Mataas na Kahoy as in super tall trees!

What we love on this track was the fresh air and the beautiful nature which somehow took our breaths away from our already heavy panting lungs.

We reached our turning point at 9 km of purely uphill for 1 hour and 35 minutes...
We were so spoiled by Daddy Leo that when an Ice Drop vendor passed by our rest area,
everyone got a treat.

Going down was another battle for everyone of us, it's half the energy we spent compared to the uphill but we needed to be careful of our strikes and needed to control our speed, else our legs might be injured.  

Our skin were burning from the heat of the sun, everyone was panting, always looking for cold hydration... and then, we reached our destination in no time.  We were all literally "wasak" after the training.

...coming up, the happenings after this 18K run... stay tuned!