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Takbong Gabi

I thought it might be a good idea to encourage more people to stay fit throughout the most tempting season.

It’s the season of giving, and also a time of merriment and lots of eating. This is also the time when diets and fitness plans are broken. My training partners and I deal with this every year. Instead of fighting it, we embrace the season and ensure that we squeeze in our runs and bike rides and sometimes even a triathlon. Then we celebrate with puto bumbong, bibingka and of course, native hot chocolate.

Every year, I celebrate  Christmas with the Daang Hari Barefoot running kids, a group of underprivileged kids who run regularly.

I also celebrate with a Christmas gift-giving ride just a few days before Christmas. Then throughout the holidays, I enjoy evening runs under the  brightly lit parols, the Christmas lights  and the stars.

This year, I thought it might be a good idea to encourage more people to stay fit throughout the most tempting season. But also to  remember that there are many people who may not be having a good Christmas and by sharing our blessings there is much we can do to make life better for those in need.  Thus, we came up with Takbong Gabi.  Below are the mechanics:

Mechanics of Takbong Gabi

1.Commit to 12 runs of running.  We start December 12 to December 24. Thats actually 13 days which mean you get 1 rest day. NOTE: SINCE I POSTED MECHANICS QUITE LATE, YOU CAN ACTUALLY START ANY TIME YOU READ THIS. MORE IMPORTANT IS THAT YOU COMMIT TO 12 DAYS OF RUNNING THIS CHRISTMAS.

2. Run anywhere anytime it is convenient. Treadmill is allowed.  If you need to cross-train, go ahead.

3. Each daily run must be no less than 30 minutes, slow or fast, it does not matter. You can even have  as many walk breaks as you need.

4. If you have a twitter account, tweet about your run everyday, ideally just before you start and after. If you can post a twitpic, better.  Tweet where and how long you ran and any other interesting details. Keep it short. Use the hashtag #TakbongGabi when you can.

5. Honesty system please. There are no marshals. God is your witness.

6. @irunforchocolate is a twitter account we created to guide you throughout the 12 day #TakbongGabi.

7. We will run for a different cause each day. The night before, @irunforchoco will tweet the cause of each run. Throughout the day we will tweet statistics and information to raise awareness on that particular issue.  We encourage you to retweet the same to spread the advocacy.

8. Re-tweet this invite to your friends and get them to join us. Let’s all run together virtually for a cause and for fitness.

Final reminder. Be sure you are in good health and have been running. If you are just going to start running now, go slow. No one is in a hurry. This is not a race, don’t overdo it.

Are you ready?

My team and I will follow and encourage all  runners through our newly created twitter account @irunforchoco.

We encourage every participant to follow others #TakbongGabi participants and encourage them throughout the 12 days.

First day is tomorrow, December 12. This is actually my dad, the late Senator Rene Companero Cayetano’s birthday. In his memory, lets run for hepatitis and liver cancer awareness. The hepatitis virus is prevalent in Asia and in the Philippines. Some 8-10 million Filipinos are carriers. Many are discriminated against and are denied jobs, even though the hepatitis B virus is not air-borne and is not transmissible by the usual contact. More details on  this tomorrow.

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