GROSSLY overweight and out of shape after delivering her first child last year, sprinter Eloisa Luzon-Medina entertained serious second thoughts on whether she should resume her athletic career but reported just the same to the national team training camp in Baguio City last October.
With the encouragement of national coach Julius Nierras and the iron-willed discipline that comes from being an elite athlete, Medina managed to get back in fighting form and swept the women’s 100 and 200-meter runs at the end of the Milo-Patafa Performance and Time Trials at the Imus Sports Complex in Imus, Cavite over the weekend.
A former Palarong Pambansa standout, Medina topped the century dash in 12.66 seconds and still had plenty to spare an hour later, completing a sprint double by ruling the 200-meter dash in 25.66 seconds in the games backed by Lily’s Peanut Butter and the Imus City government led by Mayor Manny Maliksi.
Anfernee Lopena ruled the men’s 100-meter run in 11.13 seconds but had to play second fiddle in the 200-meter race to national teammate and 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Clinton Bautista, who broke away in the last 10 meters to win in 21.74 seconds to the latter’s 22.11.
“Talagang pinaghirapan ko ito at nag-sipag sa training kasi matagal kaming walang training dahil sa pandemic,” Medina said of her strong performance in the competition organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Associated and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Medina, who married fellow national teammate and 400-meter hurdler Francis Medina in October 2020 then gave birth to baby Theo early last year, said she nearly gave up on her career when she went back to training in Baguio last October.
“Gusto ko nang mag-give up at that time kasi napakalayo ko sa mga teammates ko. It was coach Julius Nierras who worked me out at 400 meters for my first meet (at the Ayala Philippine Athletics Championships) in Baguio last December, so I am very grateful to him,” she said.
“I really had to discipline myself and diet if I wanted something to do something good for myself because I have set goals for my athletic career,” added Medina, a gold medalist in the mixed 4×100-meter relay in the 2019 SEA Games, who is now down to 52 kilograms, just two kilos over her competitive weight. She revealed that she bloated to 68 kilos when she got pregnant.
Rather than being a distraction, the baby, who is now being cared for by her parents in her hometown of Kibawe, Bukidnon, now serves as the athlete’s extra spur to do better and qualify for the Vietnam SEA Games in May.
“I call these my treasure marks,” said Medina of the still-visible stretch marks on her belly.
“Pinu-push ko po talaga to qualify sa 100 meters and win a medal kaya gusto kong mag-train for the event,” said Medina, whose winning time is one second off the bronze medal qualifying standard of 11.66 seconds set by Singaporean ace Veronica Shanti Pereira in the SEA Games three years ago.
“I was not really expecting to win the 200. My goal here was just to try to maintain my workouts. Pero masaya pa rin na ako ang nanalo,” said Bautista, who topped the men’s 110-meter hurdles in the SEA Games held at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium in Capas, Tarlac in 2019. He easily won his pet event at the start of the three-day meet at the Baguio Athletic Bowl last Wednesday.
“Medyo napagod at naubos ang lakas ko po dahil one-hour lang ang pagitan ng 100 and 200 races,” noted Lopena, also a member of the gold-medal winning mixed relay squad in Tarlac, of his runner-up finish in the latter race.
