Mike's YOLO moment

Mike Escabillas and a YOLO Moment

The pandemic hit the pause button on many aspects of daily life. As weeks rolled into months, the gnawing feeling grew that perhaps everything I have and do now is all that will ever be. But the human spirit demands that we refuse stagnation, that we make mad dashes at spontaneous excitement and make bare our vulnerabilities as we seek kindred human connections to join our life’s

Mike Escabillas, 36 (certainly doesn’t look it), a marathoner who works in labor management at an information technology services company, has running somewhere near the bottom of his personalized hierarchy of needs, i.e. it’s highly important. That’s why, regardless of the day’s stress and the conditions outside, you’ll find Mike out running most weekday evenings and weekend mornings–a loyal attendee at the Church of the Saturday Long Run.

As we welcome the long, hot, summer days of the second quarter of the year, one fact is pressed on anyone running in The Philippines: it’s pretty difficult to run in this country. “Manila pre-pandemic was already a struggle with the tropical heat and humidity's constant presence,” shares Mike. “Add the compulsory mask-wearing while running in the pandemic and it felt like a struggle-fest in the first few months.”

At the pandemic’s onset, running was an even more difficult task with regulations and changing hours-allowed-outside squeezing precious running-time out of runners’ weekly training logs. “I lost a lot of fitness,” reflects Mike, “but had big wins on the non-running aspect of my life.”

The gnawing feeling, the itch, to connect with fellow running-obsessed human beings nudged Mike into a group of running church service devotees–most of whom cluster around sun-block slopped weekend runs in search of weekly-dose of meaning. “I made new friends and ran with people more than I did before COVID-19 took over,” says Mike. While Mike fell in love with running anew, engaging in the sport for enjoyment without remaining fixed in training mode, he found a group of people with whom to share the activity–a welcome surprise in a period we initially thought to be a complete blip in reality.

The relevant blip within a blip (if you would) was the 10K Rogue Run Invitational. Hearing about the event, Mike was cautious but excited. He shares what he calls his YOLO light-bulb moment. “I'm a marathoner so the thought of running 10 kilometers, especially locally, scared me [what with] the summer heat, the safety of the roads, the pandemic. But with no races in the horizon, I thought of giving it a try, plus the concept of rogue running intrigued me.”

Mike conquered the relentlessly hilly BGC course with a time of 44:00:08 to finish first runner up in the men’s group. “It was fun and literally breathtaking,” shares Mike with a chuckle. “I wasn't fit but I tried to run it like a normal race and conquered the roads and quite a number of hills while seeing a few familiar faces as road guides and hydration staff.”

He rejoined the rest of the group at The Tipsy Pig BGC post-run, refreshing with a relentlessly chilly beer. “Just like my marathons,” Mike reflects, “the finish was worth celebrating.”

Perhaps within safe boundaries, even in times that oppress us, the occasional YOLO lightbulb is worth our attention.