No more running in Manila most likely

You may have heard about Taal, the smaller volcano in the Philippines that’s been rumbling and belching ash into the sky. I’m about 40 miles north of it, and in fact saw the ash column Sunday night when my team and I were out. In this picture, look at the vertical cloud near the roof line—that’s the ash plume and the bigger clouds above it are also ash, just more dispersed.

Air quality has definitely plummeted so I’m no longer running while I’m here. The hotel slipped a letter under all our doors Sunday night, and on Monday we picked up our masks. Safety over fashion, right?

You can read more about Taal here and here. I found the first article very informative, this is an unusual volcano.

I’ll post more later about the fun excursion we did on Sunday but for now, know that I’m fine. I know the news got more notice in the States yesterday, but honestly nothing’s changed since Sunday. The danger and the threat of another eruption remain the same. I think it was a slow news day in the US.

Running in Manila

I’ve run twice here in Manila and both times, it’s been pretty frustrating.

First, I have to run in early evening (which is my morning).

As you might imagine, it’s still pretty hot and humid outside and the air quality isn’t great. Plus it’s also really crowded; according to some sources, Manila is the most densely populated city in the world and I believe it.

There’s a small running park not far from my hotel, although I do have to cross a couple of very busy streets—I wait for the walk light because to do otherwise would be taking an insane risk. The park itself has little twisty paths and people run but I’ve been running around the block on the sidewalk. That’s sort of less frustrating although on one side of the rectangle, the sidewalk is very narrow and I have to go into the street briefly.

But what’s more annoying is that my Garmin cannot keep a signal and keeps hopping to different satellites which makes my run look like a drunken toddler did it. And in turn, that makes the pace and distance tracking wildly inaccurate. Kent believes that the satellite issue is because I’m so far south in the northern hemisphere; most of the satellites are further north so my Garmin spazzes out.

The first day I ran, I set all kinds of “records,” only of course they weren’t. They were just equipment glitches. The second day I ran, I ignored pace and distance and ran for time (35 minutes) and still set more “records.”

I’m super glad I chose the later marathon instead of the one in April. Otherwise I would be absolutely freaking out because there is no way I can complete my training plan here, not with any accuracy.