One day, an acquaintance opened up about running through the cclex bridge (the longest bridge in the Philippines, located in Cebu city); I felt excited and asked them to invite me; however they’re not quite sure about it and it was not yet scheduled.
Someone opened up again about running through cclex and someone said “Yes” but it was cancelled because they both have family stuffs to do. I love those people who makes family their priority and I’m slowly learning from them. In fact, I just cancelled a big plan because I wanted to prioritize my family incase they needed my help, at least I’m ready. So I totally understood them.
There was this other acquaintance 10 years ago who opened up about running through cclex with their team during June 12 pH holiday; unfortunately, I’m on duty so I couldn’t go even if I will be invited. Fortunately, there was another holiday last June 17, 2024 and luckily I filed leave that day, I was also surprised that it was plotted and approved.
It was a quick invitation that I initiated to my former colleague, to run at cclex around 5:30AM. It was raining that morning but I never thought of backing out, I also demanded that he will push forward; so he did. It was both our first time and we had no idea about the rules, we learned it along the way.
We had his motorcycle parked where the PH air force were stationed; it was for free. That’s how lucky we were! We signed up for a no return log book. It’s not allowed to return where you came from, you must finish and then use the other side of the bridge to return home.
Glad to say, it was a very smooth adventure. I am so thankful and grateful that we’re both safe that day and we we’re able to return on time. Although it takes hours because we had to find water; we had to run/walk another kilometers from SM seaside to a gasoline station; there’s a store nearby and a comfort room.
On our way going SM seaside via cclex, we talked about a lot of things, mainly about future adventures, climbing mt.apo, going to mt.pulag in Bagiou… I have even shared about my plan of learning another skill. I am still undecided so I am still searching what to learn next. I was advised to master auditing, which I may. Good advise from this former colleague.
Anyway, it was all about me, I did all the talking and he did all the listening; that’s precisely what I needed. It was like nothing to us, maybe because we’re marathoners, char. He’s a consistent marathoner but I had finished 21km run already Last Feb. 11, 2024 during the first “Waterfront to Waterfront” run. I’m so proud that he made it too!
On our way back from SM seaside to Cordova, (still via cclex, we did it in 2 ways) soon as we reached the bottom of the bridge, looking at how far do we still have to run in order to be at the highway, made us realized “It’s really really far” we still had 6 kilometers to run, although we had been running for hours and we’ve already finished 15 km! Omg! We did not gave up but it was really far and our legs started hurting.
We had a little snack, a “Toblerone”, it melted due to hot temperature. It was really really hot, so please bring jacket if you’ll ever do two ways, except if you’re already a master; then you’ll finish it early, no need to suffer by the heat of the sun. It’s windy anyway, you’ll be fine.
Bottom point is that, always think of moving forward; do not think of ending it because if you do, your body will listen and it will follow your mind. So if you want to survive, think of only one thing, don’t stop it, keep going, do whatever it takes!
I would be so proud to share this that we managed to run faster before hitting cclex entrance gate, nonstop for maybe 2 minutes. It was the best sweat I generated so far. The problem is not your body, it’s your thinking/mindset. The body is following what the mind perceives, so be the master of your mind and you’ll be fine.
Most importantly, be in the moment and focus. I was thinking of food to destruct me, but it wasn’t helpful. What made us finished the race was the acceptance that it was indeed very far, tiring, but we had no other choice, choose to collapse or choose to push forward. We decided to give our best! We made it out alive! 💪
#Success!
Climbing, Rocks! 