Victory: An Answered Prayer

     This may not have anything much to do with food, but I just really wanna share this with you guys because it means sooo much to me! Anyway, Babe For Food is not just a food blog if you must know, it's also a personal blog. :)

     Last Sunday was the annual Chinese New Year celebration at the City Sports Club Cebu where I've been a member (actually, dependent of a member; dad's the member but I enjoy pretty much the same privileges) for nearly 11 years now. I practically grew up there. Haha. And with this, they also host an Amazing Race-like contest which they call Chun Jiey Adventure Race. 

     The Chun Jiey Adventure race covers the entire Business Park and even Ayala mall. It is open exclusively to members and registration is free. Prizes are in cash and gift certificates. This race has been held annually for 6 years now if I'm not mistaken and I only missed it once. It started out as a 4-man team until it was modified to just a doubles team. My brother and our friend, Karl de Pio, were the champions last year.

     I've had the same partner, Krizia Nunez, (we've always been the only all-girl team) since the first race and the closest we got to winning was just coming in 4th. But this year was to be different. We decided to try having a male partner this time so she teamed up with a friend while I had trouble finding a partner that I thought I could'nt join this year. But the sports department of the club convinced me to join and Krizia's dad, Albert Nunez, also wanted to join but didn't have a partner because his other daughter had to attend prom later today. Long story short, Tito Albert and I ended up being partners. 

     This year is said to be the year of the Water Dragon so we expected all the tasks and challenges to involve water and being wet. There were 6 teams this year. Our team number was 5; my favorite number. I would usually train for stamina and strength but this year, I failed to do so due to my midterm exams. I didn't worry so much about it because there was nothing I could do anymore. I only thought of enjoying the race as usual but of course giving my best at the same time.

     Here's the catch. The prize this year for the champions was P 10,000. This would naturally be divided between the pair who wins the race. There was no other cash prize for following ranks. The prize was definitely something I NEEDED because I wish to finally learn how to surf this summer. My friend, Carlo de Asis, organizes a surf camp every summer and this year it's on April 9-14 at Lanuza, Surigao del Sur. That's 5 days for P 8,000 and already includes roundtrip travel, food, lessons and boards. All you need to bring are your clothes. Who can't resist that?!

REGISTRATION STARTS FEB!

     So I prayed hard about it the night before and even during the race, that God would grant me this wish because I've dreamed of learning how to surf since I was in grade school. 


     Since there are 12 Chinese zodiac signs, there were 12 control points. Here's the sequence of the race:


1st Control Point: Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) building
     We've (the players) noticed that this was always the first station but this year, we all took a really long time figuring this out. We all went to several buildings around ayala which really wore us out. We found out where CP 5 and 9 were though so it was worth it. Haha. 


      The clue said: Go to the roof deck of the building that means dragon or life force in Chinese mythology. Answer: CHI.  Here, we had to solve a riddle to figure out our next station.


2nd CP: CSCC Basement 1
      We had to watch an instructional video on origami, making a paper boat. We needed to bring this boat because it would be used for the next task.


3rd CP: Pantalan/Pool Bar
       We had to spin a rouleta(?) which contained 2 fast forward passes. Tito Albert and I didn't get to have the pass. We had to fill a 2 L plastic bottle full at the tennis court using a 500 mL mineral water bottle and water from the swimming pool then bring the 2 L water to the next station. 


4th CP: Samar Loop
        This was the station where we had to use our paper boats and water. We were provided with industrial pipes, a block of wood and big bbq sticks to create a slide for our boat to glide down. Tito Albert was a genius with this. 


5th CP: Innove building
         3rd team in, we had to rappel down 4 floors of the building. Not that frightening because I've tried rappelling 10 floors in the race before. And this is way better than ziplining, hands down!


First Elimination: CSCC car portal
        The last 2 teams to arrive would be eliminated at this point. Tito Albert and I made it in. Here, we had to shave 3 scoops full of ice from a big block.  


6th CP: CSCC kiddie pool
       One of my favorite parts of the race. We had to catch one goldfish that was identical to the pictures of the different kinds of goldfish that they printed out. We breezed through this. :)


7th CP: CSCC admin office
      We were given a username to go on Skype and call the water dragon but we had to figure out the password. We were given 2 clues for the password. Ours was: '11 character, 2 words, no space + 12' and 'Max is a patriot with a lethal weapon.' I couldn't have solved this if I wasn't with Tito Albert because the answer was the brand of the gun (lethal weapon) - Smith Wesson. 


8th CP: Life Fitness, Ayala Active Zone
      From running in the heat outside to the cooler temperature in the mall, that was a challenge itself. We had to cover 3,000 m or 3 km on a  Life Fitness rowing machine. This had to be the most grueling challenge. I did the first 1 km then Tito Albert did the next 1 km then we split the last km. There was a special prize for this challenge - P 1,000 gift certificate for Yellow Cab! We didn't get it though. We did the challenge in 14 mins. and the fastest record was 12:49. 


9th CP: Park of Promise (behind Marriott hotel)
       After a grueling challenge from the rowing machine that burned out our arms and legs, we had to trace a dragon pattern made out of wire with a lobed hook ( I really don't know how to describe it any better. Don't know what it's called. Haha.). I had to do it and I did my best to stay calm and just get through it. And we did, without errors! 


      By this time, the leading team had lost their map which stalled them a lot. They were supposed to be ahead of us by 30 mins. And the whole time, I've been praying that God would give this to me to win. This was the point of our fast break. :)


Second Elimination: CSCC car port
     * 2nd place by then.


10th CP: CSCC parking area
      We had to look for a brand new Hyundai accent car with a plate no. for registration. We had to copy the conduction code on the windshield. We found this in Basement 1 and had to relay the code to someone at the pingpong room. 


11th  and 12th CP: CSCC car port and kiddie pool
      This was the time for us to pick out our rewind challenge. And by God's grace, I picked out the goldfishing at the kiddie pool! Just nearby! We were then given the key to the box for the win as soon as I submitted the fish and we ran our breaths and hearts out to this triumph. AAAAHHH. I could still feel both the excitement and surprise at all the turn of events.  

       Writing about this will definitely remind me at the end of the year that this has been one of the greatest blessings I got and that God is ever faithful and gracious. He also taught me that DISTANCE doesn't matter anymore as long as you keep your eyes on the goal and I am NOTHING WITHOUT HIM. Never give up, just do your best and don't expect too much. :D


      This race was very exhausting because of the repetitive distances we had to cover but FUN FUN FUN nonetheless. And this year, I think it was more on brains and stamina than strength. 


    I'd like to congratulate all the teams who participated, you were all great sports! And congratulations also to the Sports and Games Department of CSCC, especially to the ingenious Mr. Rey Fuentes, the brainchild of this race. No one does it better. And to my friends Nekie, Chadd, Schenley and Ogie, THANKS for cheering me on and believing  in me. Hihi! Thank you, CSCC for these experiences all these years! :D 


    Special thanks to my partner, Tito Albert Nunez, of course. It was great fun. Thanks for being a great partner. I am so impressed by how fit he is. He was supposed to be tired that day because he ran the dogs the day before but he still joined the race for me. Thank you, thank you! Hope to race with you again next year! :D


P.S.  Yes, the babe tries to work out as much as possible. This is a healthy babe! :D
If I were a more active athlete or runner, I'd probably name this blog "Eat and Run". ;)

xoxo

 Babe For Food

your BFF in Cebu dining!