Kikay Runner 10th Anniversary

Ten years. Ten years. I have never done one thing for this long a period. The longest time I ever held a job was for seven years!

But yes, that’s how old this blog is. I was already a sort of lifestyle blogger since 2001 (you can still see the mummified remains of my old blog here), but running became a huge part of my life in 2009. By the beginning of 2010 I knew I had to spin off my musings about running into its own thing. And thus was born Kikay Runner.

I’m so glad to have been a part of the growth (resurgence?) of endurance sports here in the Philippines, and while my voice was just one among many I hope that my thoughts expressed on these pages has helped at least one person on their own journey into health and fitness.

But while I’ve written about general things related to running and triathlon, it’s always been just a way to document the things that have been memorable to me on my own ongoing journey. So for this 10th anniversary post, I’m going to try to sum up the years and some of my favorite memories from the past decade.

2010

This was the year I decided to go for it: my first marathon. And not only did I run my first marathon on my birthday, but I also qualified for the Milo Marathon final, where I registered what is still my fastest marathon time to date: 3:57.

2011

I did my first triathlon in the tail end of 2010, and did my first open-water triathlon in 2011. But I really wasn’t thinking about going longer than Olympic distance until I went to Ironman 70.3 Philippines in Camarines Sur. I pinch-hit for a relay team that needed a runner. That steaming half marathon through rice fields alongside suffering individual competitors oddly enough gave me a taste for this pain community I would go on to be part of.

2012

I continued to do triathlons and did my first Olympic distance at the Subic Bay International Triathlon and had already signed up as the relay cyclist for the first Ironman 70.3 race to be held in Cebu. But something else happened that year: I ran outside the country for the first time. Running up Mount Faber in Singapore was when I discovered my love for exploring places with my own two feet. It’s a love that has stayed with me since.

2013

This was the first of my two peak years: I completed my first Ironman 70.3 as an individual competitor and set what is still my fastest time in a half ironman. I raced my first triathlon overseas at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, where I also suffered my first accident during a race, and then proceeded to attend a training camp the following week. However, these memories are dwarfed by that one chance meeting that changed my career — and it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been mistakenly awarded 3rd in my age group the week before.

2014

I was all about racing my first full distance ironman this year, and what better place to do it than at Challenge Roth? That experience was definitely for the books, as one of the first three Filipinos to cross the finish line as individual competitors. From a panic/asthma attack at the start of the swim, to getting hit by a careless competitor just 40 kilometers into the bike leg, to getting demotivated then remotivated on the marathon… that race was one for the books. It was then I realized I was a one-and-done ironman, where scaling what was my personal Everest was the goal, regardless how long I took to do it.

2015

Since I wasn’t going to go back to doing ironmans, I instead signed up for three half distances in a year. This was not a wise thing to do, but in racing Challenge Philippines, Challenge Camsur, and Ironman 70.3 Philippines I felt absolutely indestructible.

2016

“Let’s do a marathon this year!” I thought. And then I also foolishly signed up for an Olympic distance triathlon for the week before the marathon. I succeeded in this Bintan Triathlon / Laguna Phuket Marathon double, but completely screwed up my body for the rest of the year. I had to ask Challenge Vietnam organizers to downgrade my registration from the individual to the relay category.

2017

I thought things were back to normal this year, so I started it with a half marathon at the Ho Chi Minh City Run. But I still kept crapping out throughout the year with random colds that would set back my training for weeks. I had to DNS a triathlon for the first time, and I think it’s why people thought I’d mysteriously disappeared from the sport. But you know when your girl is presented with an opportunity to travel she jumps on it, which is why I bookended the year with another half marathon in Angkor Wat.

2018

When I showed up at Ironman Philippines in June to cover it in a blog and vlog, people kept asking me what happened to me and why I was no longer racing. Truth be told I was actually enjoying a quieter year and trying to rediscover the reason I ran and did endurance things. I was struggling under expectations from myself and from other people to live up to this image of indefatigable champion athlete (age grouper though I was) when my body was quite clearly telling me to ease up.

2019

I started feeling like I could start racing again and be competitive by the tail end of 2018, and so when the chance to participate in the Super League Triathlon grand final in Singapore came up, I quickly got my bike built in January. But the real test of whether or not I still loved triathlon came when I raced the Enduro at Super League Bali. That joy not just of crossing the finish line, but of going fast and feeling like my body wasn’t resisting it, that’s what I crave. To end this “comeback” year at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 21K was pretty cool, too.

Funny thing is, I never felt I was gone in 2017 or 2018, even when new competitors were lining up at the starting lines and new races were launching. And when I released myself from the expectation of doing long-distance stuff, I found I could truly incorporate running and triathlon into a lifestyle, rather than letting the training and racing calendar dictate what I had to do.

I’ve been here all these years in one capacity or another because running and triathlon is something I truly love and hope will be a part of my life for many years to come. When I’ve seen so many people I started with gone and doing other things, I think still being here is an achievement in itself.

Ten years on this journey. Thank you for coming along with me. Let’s go for ten more?