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Try running 5,000
kilometers in 120 days, through 12 states and four time zones,
traversing the heart and breadth of an entire country, even an entire
continent.
Think that's impossible?
One Filipina is going to make it happen.
On her 44th birthday, May 11, 2009, Joy Rojas will begin a journey like no other. Championing the belief that there's “no limit to the Filipino spirit,” the ultramarathoner will embark on a cross-country run through the United States of America, making her way from California to New York entirely on foot.
Rojas' ultramarathon will begin in Eagle Rock, California and continue through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey towards New York City, where Filipinos will welcome her and accompany her to her finish line on Fifth Avenue. No other person from the Philippines has run this course; when Cesar Guarin became the first Filipino to run across America in 1987, he traversed the country from east to west. Quite literally, Rojas will be blazing trails.
She will be rewriting history too. Once Rojas reaches the finish line at the Philippine Consulate in Manhattan on September 8, she will go down in record as the only Southeast Asian woman to have accomplished such a deed. All in all, approximately 182 men and 11 women have run across the world's fourth largest nation, notes philstar.com.
Her endeavor, ambitious and promising as it is, is named Takbong Pangarap. Literally translating into “Dream Run,” the trans-America sprint is not something Rojas will be doing only for herself. A tuberculosis survivor, Rojas will ensure that her run will benefit the Anti-Tuberculosis Program of the Inner Wheel Club of Quezon City District 378 and the Social Services Division of the Philippine Heart Center.
As she makes her way through America, Rojas will be touching base with Filipino-American communities along the road. In her interactions, she will share how it is possible to achieve seemingly impossible dreams if one simply works on it—as she has, and as she will.
Just because some 200 people have already overcome the ever-changing American terrain on foot does not mean that the nation's deserts and prairies are up for easy conquest. But the unique challenge—and the strength of character that can be proven through it—is exactly what Rojas is chasing.
A magazine editor and freelance journalist as well as an accomplished runner, Rojas regularly finished high in the rankings of races such as the PAL, Milo and Pasig River Heritage marathons from 1995 to 2002, recounts inquirer.net. She eventually exchanged the experience of competitive racing for the sheer pleasure of running long distances. Rojas also participated in the 40-day, 1,196 km Visayan leg of Fr. Robert Reyes' trans-Philippine run, ran the 100 km challenge from Luneta to Nasugbu, Batangas in 16 hours, and made it from Baguio to Banawe in three days.
To date, her most lauded feat is having run from one end of the Philippine archipelago to the other in 2005. Sleeping in public school classrooms and giving inspirational speeches to students along the way, Rojas covered the 2,000 km distance from Davao City to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte in 46 days.
Given that, how daunting could running across North America be?
“When it was done, I thought, ‘That’s it?’” Rojas says of Hakbang Pangarap, her trans-Philippine run, quoted by mb.com.ph. “Then I realized that maybe running across the Philippines didn’t have to mean the end of a dream, but the start of many others.”
Her next dream will entail running an average of 50 to 60 km daily for a maximum of nine hours at a time, relates inquirer.net. However, just because she will be working up a sweat through cities filled with cheering compatriots and desolate stretches of back roads and highways doesn't mean she won't be enjoying the trip.
“I’m open to seeing what’s out there in the 12 states that we’re going to cover,” Rojas is further quoted as saying by mb.com.ph. “I’ve never been to the US so this is a big adventure for me in so many ways.”
“This will be a completely new experience for me not only because I've never been to the US, but also because I will be covering miles and miles of nothingness,” she adds. “In the Philippines, you never feel alone for long because somewhere along the road you'll find a house blasting karaoke music at seven in the morning.”
But Rojas won't be alone on her Dream Run. She will be accompanied by noted runner Mat Macabe, her running partner and trainer, as well as Chuck Crisanto, the project coordinator of Takbong Pangarap. To date, their team has secured sponsorships from Adidas, Smart Communications, Asiana Airlines, HSBC, Rustan's/Shopwise, Sony Ericsson Philippines, the Manila Peninsula and Senator Pia Cayetano, according to manilastandardtoday.com.
It is also Crisanto who sums up why the Philippines should take a good look at the extraordinary runner who has blazed extraordinary paths before and is about to chart an even bigger one now.
“Manny Pacquiao is a one in a 90 million athlete,” Crisanto says, quoted by philstar.com. “So is Joy.”
After her Takbong Pangarap—or even before it—one can be inclined to agree.
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Joy Rojas is the first Filipina to have run across the Philippines. A freelance writer and magazine editor who overcame tuberculosis in 2001, she will become the first Southeast Asian woman to have run across the United States once she completes Takbong Pangarap.
Mateo Macabe is a noted athlete in the local running circuit and Joy's trainer and running partner, having run across the Philippines with her in 2005. He will be her pacer and navigator during Takbong Pangarap.
Chuck Crisanto is the team manager of Takbong Pangarap. A long distance event record holder for the Ateneo, he has served in various professional capacities under four Philippine presidents.
