Coming to an end….

I have blogged my personal life over a decade now, from when I was in graduate student to working for 8 years, got married, had my first daughter, divorced, re-married, had my second daughter, to move to live in the Philippines. My life changed a lot and my priorities and thoughts also involved. My interests in blogging also shifted a lot. Now that my girls are older, I think it’s time to close this chapter of my life (blogging publicly about our life).

Yet, I still like blogging as an outlet of my thoughts and interests, so I’ll start a new blog where I’ll blog about our life as expat living in the world, our travels, and my new interests, but anonymous. If you are a long time reader and would still like to follow my journey in the new decade, shoot me an email 🙂

Life Happening 3.25 Iloilo & pinto museum

I had another busy week but super productive at work and at playing 🙂

I had a 2 nights trip to Iloilo for work. After we finished the event, a colleague and took a public boat to explore Guimaras

the island is not at all developed. There are no buses, few cars, no souvenir shops, even the tourist office is just a tent with 2 person. So we just rented a tricycle and went around for 2.5 hrs.

it is a very religious population so old churches everywhere

and the windmills that provide energy for the island and neighbouring islands.

in contrast, Iloilo is much more developed that I expected. Wide roads, many new buildings for BPO and shopping and dinning areas

the last day I went to explore esplanada, a newly opened path for runner/walkers by the lake.

it has a spanish vibe.

Sunday morning we had our largest group of runners for the 10k run

after changing.. we went out to explore Pinto Museum, just 14km away from Manila and so much green. The girls had so much fun walking around

we didn’t get to appreciate so much the art as they are quite depressing and dark

but being outdoor and getting to breath fresh air and sun made it worth it

this pic looks like we were in Santorini 🙂

then we had lunch at the garden restaurant

I haven’t talked about my vegan journey lately. Well it’s going well. Breakfast continues to be my favorite meal of the day. Two combos that i’ve been rotating. This one is oatmeal with pumpkin, protein powder, chia seed, topped with PB2 sauce, cacao nibs and hemp seeds.

and this one my latest favorite: topped with heated frozen strawberries, PB2 sauce, cacao nibs and hemp seed. LOVING IT

and I had pad thai for lunch almost everyday last week. Really simple: assorted veggies, rice noodles, tofu if I have sauce, and a sauce made with peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and siracha. Can’t get enough of it!!!

I really enjoy getting out of Manila on weekend with my friend’s family. It’s so relaxing and the girls can be outdoor and just run. 🙂

Life Happening 3.18 Speedgoat challenge

I missed my girls so much during my stay in London. Specially this silly face

I only stopped having fever on Tuesday but started coughing, getting worse on Wednesday. I paid a visit to a doctor, got antibiotic, and hoping magic happens as I signed up for a 21km trail race last weekend. I also signed Sofia for kids 3km challenge to make it a family experience.

We departed Manila saturday 1pm (still coughing but feeling better) and arrived the Timberland Sport hotel with this amazing view

my friend Jackie came with her family so the kids were happily exploring the hotel while I took a nap.

the hotel was on top of the mountain and quite big

the girls spent quite sometime exploring the garden

and the playground

while I enjoyed the sunset

and posting for instagram 😉

before dinner time Jackie and I went to the spa and had a great massage

the advantage of staying overnight is that the race starts 5 min from the hotel. I got there around 4:35am and found with my group, all fresh and ready for the adventure

the path of this race was amazing! The scenery was so calming and beautiful. I felt I got to run more this race compared to the previous one, although still plenty of walking during steep up and downs.

surprisingly I felt great physically, without any trace of being sick for over a week by then

I felt I belong to the trail…

although the picture tells a different story. hahahaha…

met my crew at the finish line. Surprisingly I was among the first to arrive in our group

Sofia looks like beaten by the trail

but this lady… she was the winner of the 21km race and run with Sofia encouraging her all the way! AMAZING LADY!!!

finally crossed the finish line

group picture of all the finishers

after checking out from the hotel we went to “egg for breakfast” for brunch

all enjoyed the good meal offered

I am once more amazed by the experience, how strong I felt, the camaraderie, sharing the trail with my running friends, and life friend. Our running group said they were beaten by this race, but I felt stronger and can’t wait for the next. Will I ever go back to road running? compared to trails… that seems so boring. hahahaha…. I like this description of trail runners:

trail runners tap into the off-road running experience as a liberating escape that recharges their emotional and spiritual batteries while they commune with nature through physical exertion. Like chess masters, talented trail runners exhibit an uncanny ability to always be three or four steps ahead of where their feet are at any given moment.

VEGAN STRONG!!!