Last Race for 2009

My Race bib for Philstar Celebrity run this 20 Dec 09

Still high from finishing my first 10K last weekend. I’m now ready to run my last race for 2009 this coming Sunday.
I will be running 5K only but I will say this will be a race with a mission as I try to achieve my goal in breaking the 30 min barrier. I stopped my training for a couple of days due to colds but I’m still hoping come race day that I’ll be in good shape to achieve my goal and end my running year with a bang and start the next year in high spirits.
I’m looking forward running more road races in 2010 whether I’ll be in Manila, The Middle East (too bad they don’t held road races every weekend there) or somewhere around the globe.

My First 10K

At the starting line

Last October 2008 I run a 3K as part of a Marathon relay team. Fast forward today I finished my first 10K race. I can say I come from being a couch potato to 10K finisher. Just over 3 years ago my wife has to literally pull and nagged me so I can go with her for short walk around the block after dinner.

With the Kenyan runners (Wish I could run as fast as them)

I clocked in a time of 1:17:08 better than my target of 1:20:00 for my first 10K. Coming to this race I know I can finished this one as I’m well prepared for this one having trained well as I have the endurance to complete this. Question now arises that if I should raise the bar and try 21K in the near future my answer is no I think I have to work on my speed trying to complete the race in lesser time.

With Zorro

With fellow runners from Takbo.ph

I may finished the race at the back of the pack but what I can say is I finished ahead of thousand of people who are in their bed still sleeping.

Goodluck Jenson

With two races left and 14 point lead to your nearest rival. I hope you will have the poise and composure you display this season. Good luck in Brazil and in Abu Dhabi I hope you will bring home the bacon your time is now. Go JB...

Nikki

Portrait of the Daughter of my good friend. Shot with an iphone edited with camera bag an iphone application that simulate lomo shot.

One dream came true

I have 3 sporting events I dream watching live an ATP tennis match, a
NBA game and Formula 1 Grandprix. I already watched 2 out of 3. Was
able to watch an ATP tennis match in Dubai 2 years ago. Then last
weekend the 2009 Bahrain Grandprix been dreaming to watch a Formula 1
race live for 20 years it was a great experience and a time to bring
out my DSLR and do some shoot it was frustrating at first having to do
some panning shot on cars running around 300 kph but was able to find
a right spot in the afternoon just after the first turn were they will
be slowing down and there are no wired fence obstructing the view so
got some pretty decent shots.
The rest of the pics can be seen at http://mondp.multiply.com/photos/album/128/2009_Formula_1_Bahrain_Grand_Prix_Friday_Practice_Session

The Third one

Shot using Sony W300

Its been several months since my last entry. Many things have happened then. Our beach resort project got shelved lost my Job but luckily was able to find a new one after a couple of days talk about not losing your blessings.

So now I'm on my third project here in the Middle East (Photo above) its the Arcapita bank headquarters. Our company will be doing the Interior Fitout of the entire building although the design is nothing out of the ordinary what I found interesting is its structural design.

This is a fast track project with the expected completion at the end of the year. So this will keep me very busy for the rest of the year as I have been for the past months. But I'm hoping I can find time to update my entry in here.

Faces

One of the faces in Bahrain. Shot this last weekend. For the first
time since arriving in Bahrain last August that I went out and did
some serious photography. Looking for more of this activity in the
future.

Desert Sunrise

The photo above was shot inside a moving vechicle using an iPhone.

Sunrise view on my way to work. As we travel in the middle of the desert every morning on my way to work we are meet with a glowing sunrise as it rises above the horizon signaling a brand new day and a brand new challenges of the day we should also be thankful that we got to see sunrise each day.

City Centre

The latest addition to Bahrain's growing number of Malls. This will be
the newest and the biggest in town to date this will be at par with
the Malls in neighboring Dubai. Im not sure how many shops are in
here but also includes a big supermarket (carrefour) cinemas which
will be opening anytime soon and a series of good restaurant and
coffee shops.
I usually go here if I have sparetime during weekends to look around
pickup some things that I need or want and do my groceryshopping.
The photo above was shot with an iPhone uploaded on this blog directly.

Long queue

Playing around with the iPhone camera got a chance to snap this queue
of the workers in our Job site waiting for their turn to hop in their
ride home.

Sunset to a New Year

As the sunset in the final day of the year. May we wakeup on the
sunrise of the coming year filled with hope.
The photo above is the final sunset of 2008 shot using an Iphone.

2008 the year in review

2008 is a good year for me despite of the current economic crisis we experience in the last months of the year below are my recollection of the events that occur to me over the last 12 months (365 days).
- Started the year with a trip back to Manila for a couple of weeks vacation. Spend the first day of the year on a plane.
- Spend a few days relaxing at the Beach have a quality time with my wife and of course did some good photography.
-Did more shoot in my Lomo cam than in digital getting fond of cross processed images.
-Started to get unhappy with my present Job at that time began to think of other alternatives.
-Still continue to work out consistently (at least 3x a week) having lost a significant amount of weight and people started to notice that I'm losing weight which motivates me to workout harder. Getting used  to eating healthy cut down on Carbs and Fat although still pig out occasionally.
- Got a new job offer in another company in another country but still in the Middle East so its time to move on.
-Reach middle age celebrate it alone away from Family and Friends.
-Run my first marathon after 25 years. Running become a new passion along with Photography. So spending my time in Photography lessens.
-Overall it was a good 2008 with some changes happens. Although the year did not finished in good shape I'm still Thankful for the graces of 2008 hope this coming year will be better.

Above the clouds

The photo above was shot using the Camera of an Iphone. The picture quality is acceptable good for an impromptu photo opp when youre out with your family and friends so you can snap souvenir photo without lugging around a big camera. The last camera phone I enjoy using was a SE K70i.
This will be a good alternative for my DSLR specially that I don't
have a P&S digicam.

DUBAI SKYLINE

Been attempting to shoot this picture for the past two years. I was able to achieve this during my recent trip to Dubai. The photo above is the Dubai skyline stretching Sheik Zayed Road from the Emirates Tower Burj Dubai and the Building at Business Bay. I want to take Maricon for providing access at their Project Site to get a good vantage point for this shot.

Grand Mosque

Shot using Lomo LC-A loaded with Konica Centuria film

The biggest Mosque in Bahrain located at the sea side of Al Fateh Highway. If youre going to Juffair from Manama you will never miss this Mosque.
They said this mosque can hold up to 7000 worshiper... that's how big it is.

Index revisited

During my recent weekend trip to Dubai I got a chance to take a shot at the previous project I have worked on.

It seems that there are substantial progress from the time I left the project. The penthouse structure is already completed as what my former colleagues told me major structural works are already completed.

Regarding the works inside or interior of the building I don’t have a slightest idea on the progress as this photo was shot in front of the newly opened Dubai Mall when I visited the place which incidentally will be a topic of my later post.

Salam at Dusk

Shot Handheld using my DSLR set in ISO 800 

This is the photo the ongoing construction of Salam Resort (the project I'm currently working on in Bahrain) at dusk. The structure shown in the photo is the Hotel one of the several structure of the resort which includes SPA, Hotel Villas and Royal Villas.

As the color of the skies blended with the illumination of the Tower Cranes I took advantage of this took a few snaps before heading home to finish another day at work.

Juffair

Shot using Lomo LC-A

This is the area where most of the expats in Bahrain reside. You can find the luxurious flats here and you can also find good restaurants and coffee shops within the area.

Rental are more expensive compare to other part of the city but reasonable.

Gudaibiya

The photo above was shot using Lomo LC-A loaded with Kodak BW400CN

Its Bahrain equivalent of Dubai's Karama or Satwa most of the Filipinos in Bahrain  resides in this area. You can see several Filipino shops even Filipino "Carinderia" style restaurant here.

Theres one place I go in some Thursday night where they serves really good pork barbecue. So after having my Barbecue dinner stroll around the area and take some snaps.

Got it in 16:46

Running at around 1:00 PM in a 5% uphill steep in the middle of the desert with a slight sand storm I was able to clock in a 3KM run in 16 min 46 sec to cover my stage in the Bahrain Marathon relay. It was slower than my training time (I usually clock in between 16 min to 16:30 but I didn't expect running in this type of condition having done most of my training during night time and a relatively level surface but more or less I run in a  stronger intensity.

Since I want to familiarize with the route of my stage what I did is for me to be drop off at the end of my stage and walk and slow jog to the start of the stage as my warm up (so more or less I did 6Km combination of walk,slow jog and run)

It was a fun day and I have a good time at the end of the race me and my teammates gather around and have a couple of Beer I also rewarded myself with my Favorite Pizza it will be back to low carbs diet and weight training next week.