“We live in Calamba, Laguna and, at that time, my work was all the way in Batangas. By the time I made it home, flood waters have entered our house and was already three feet high. I found my wife, Lee, and daughters Therese and Gaita atop the dining table,” Toots recalled.
The incident made a mark on Therese. Whenever it started to rain, she’d worry about the possibility of flooding. Whenever there was a huge puddle on the street, she would insist on being carried.
Hoping to alleviate their daughter’s fear of water, Toots and Lee decided to enrol Therese in swimming classes.
It worked. Since she was around kids her age and since her coach Omar Paredes (an Ironman finisher and the first Filipino to finish the extreme triathlon Norseman) made classes seem more like a fun game, Therese started to gain confidence.
Swimming became a part of their family’s routine. Toots would bring Therese to swim class then he’d go running to pass the time until the class was over. He had no qualms encouraging his daughter’s increasing fondness for sports, being an athlete himself: He was part of the football varsity team from grade school to college, and continued to pursue the sport even when he started working.
Molding an Ironkid
Therese’ interest in sports steadily grew, and she started joining swimming competitions. When she was 10 years old, she learned that an Ironkids triathlon race was going to be held in Nuvali and she was eager to join. Toots, however, objected. “I was confident about her swimming skills, and she also runs as part of her training,” he said, “but she didn’t how to ride a bike!”
Determined, Therese borrowed a bike from their neighbor, taught herself how to ride, and pushed through with racing in Ironkids in October 2011. Everything went well except for one thing: she crashed on the bike.
It was a minor mishap, thankfully, and did nothing to sway her spirit. Strong-minded as she is, Therese immediately got back on her bike and finished the race.
“It definitely makes me proud to see her shine. My wife and I make it a point to remind her that she should do sports only if she wants to, and not to please other people. As long as she’s sure that this is what she wants, then we’ll always be here to support her,” Toots said. “And I will always be here to help her train.”
Pursuing his own race
But while it’s Toots who helps Therese with her training, the doting dad readily admits that Therese also inspires him in his own athletic pursuits. In fact, it was when Therese started getting interested in Ironkids that Toots also thought about racing in Ironman as well. The father and daughter signed up for the Cebu race in 2013 – Toots in Ironman 70.3, Therese in Ironkids.
This was a bold decision for Toot’s part, considering it was only a mere eight months before the race when he registered, and he had no prior experience in open water swimming races. While he was no stranger to triathlons, he was used to having the swim portion done in a pool. Thus, where it used to be Therese conquering her fear of the water, it was Toots’ turn to learn how to embrace it.
“I called up Coach Omar to ask if it was possible for me to learn how to swim 1.9 kilometers in just eight months, and he reassured me that yes, I can do it,” he recalled with a laugh. “After registering, I immediately plunged into training. The nerves creeped in, but I asked myself, if I don’t do this now, then when am I ever going to do it?”
It wasn’t going to be easy though. One time, while training in Laiya, Batangas with a coach for an open water simulation, he panicked and almost drowned – completely forgetting that he actually had a buoy strapped to him that he could’ve used.
Biking was a challenge also for Toots. “I needed a tri-bike for my size because what I had was a second road bike that was small for my size. Long bike rides were new to me and I had never biked on a national hi-way,” he said. “It was another first and it was something I needed to be comfortable with to be ready for the 90 kilometer-bike course in Cebu.”
In the end, all the hard work and preparation paid off. Toots successfully completed his first Ironman, and with a good time to boot.
He hasn’t stopped since then. Toots continues to race, often training alongside Therese whenever he needs to prepare.
And he has no plans of slowing down any time soon. Sports is a huge part of his life, and he’s glad that it has also brought his family closer. “I love that I get to share similar experiences with Therese, and that my wife and youngest child are always there support us,” he said. “It makes me happy that sports has deepened our connection with each other.”
Toots maintains that in sports, as well as in life, it’s important to have a why. “If you don’t find an answer to ‘why,’ then you will have no reason to keep going,” he said. “I do sports for good health, for self-fulfillment, and of course, for my family. They know that I committed to a goal, and I’m accountable to them. I have to cross that finish line,” he said.
“I also love how every race gives me a story to tell, whether it’s about conquering the open water or getting back up on the bike after a crash. It’s up to me to make sure that it’s going to be a good story with a great ending, one with me triumphantly crossing the finish line.”
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