After running more than 1,000 kilometers from Aparri to Sorsogon, Gerich Dijamco did not raise his hands in triumph. He did not shout for joy, high fiving teammates and organizers. He bowed down and wept.

Gerich, a senior systems lead analyst at Smart Communications, is now only the second Filipino to complete the Luzon 672-mile endurance run. He began running in 2018, the year his four-year-old daughter Keira was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.

As visits to oncology wards became routine, running became his outlet. Carrying the weight of his young child fighting a serious battle, Gerich began with short jogs to help clear his mind. Longer runs helped steady his fears. Over time, five kilometers stretched to ten. Fun runs became marathons. And when even 42 kilometers no longer felt enough, he ran past the tape towards the world of ultramarathons.

The longer the distance, the more space he had to think. And the more he remembered his daughter’s bravery.

“So far, she’s okay. We’re thankful that she has gotten better after undergoing chemotherapy. She’s off medications now but she’s still being monitored,” he shares. “She is the reason why I turned to running. I was inspired by my daughter’s courage.”

The Aparri-to-Sorsogon route stretches roughly 1,081 kilometers across Luzon — a relentless test of endurance requiring runners to cover around 100 kilometers a day within strict time cutoffs. Of the five who initially committed, only two finished.

Gerich started the race still recovering from the flu. Rain fell at the starting line. His pace was slower than planned, shrinking his recovery windows. Rest became shorter. Fatigue accumulated. There were moments when quitting felt reasonable.

But in those moments, his mind returned to the hospital — to children who had to postpone chemotherapy because their families could not afford treatment. He and his wife had seen it firsthand.

“The fatigue I felt during the run was nothing compared to what we went through when Keira was undergoing chemotherapy,” he says. “I would remember how hard she fought to live — how brave she was for us. And then I’d ask myself: how could I give up just because I was tired of running?”

Endurance racing can be lonely. Runners traverse long, unfamiliar highways with little more than their thoughts and a support crew trailing behind. For Gerich, however, one daily ritual anchored him: calling home at the end of each stage. He never let a night pass without speaking to his wife and children.

“Nakakatuwa… kahit pagod ka na, tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang saya,” he says.

In remote stretches where signal could falter, it meant a lot that he was able to stay connected. His official sponsor TNT supported Gerich’s ultramarathon journey. Gerich was able to to check in consistently with his family with TNT's coverage, powered by Smart’s 4G and 5G networks. Hearing his daughter’s voice, now stronger, became a form of replenishment.

Those conversations reminded him of why he was on the road in the first place. He admits there were stages when he might have stopped if not for those nightly calls.

As he entered the final stretch in Sorsogon, the local running community stepped in. Hydration stations appeared every few kilometers.

“I really appreciated their support. When my shoes gave out, local runners scoured through their teams to find a pair in my size,” he says.

And runners from the province even joined him in the final stretch. Drawing on the quiet kinship that binds the running community, they rallied him toward the finish line. For them, basta ka-tropa sama-sama hanggang dulo. “I was really, really tired. But their cheers kept me going,” recalls Gerich.

Exhausted but carried forward by collective energy, he crossed the line in the rain — a finish that felt less like victory and more like fulfillment.

“This has been my dream,” he says. “I’m glad it was raining. Nobody noticed I was crying.”

They were tears of relief — and gratitude. For his family. For the strangers who cheered him on. For his daughter, most of all.

Today, Gerich hopes the achievement will be remembered not only as a historic endurance feat, but as proof that hardship can be transformed into advocacy. Running became a platform. Each kilometer became a moving reminder of what it takes to fight childhood cancer — and that families battling it need support beyond sympathy.

He dreams of building a group that can extend tangible help to children battling cancer — families like his, who know the cost of treatment and the weight of uncertainty.

“I don’t want families to feel alone the way many of us did in the hospital,” he says. “If running can become a way to connect people who want to help with children who need it, then that’s the real finish line for me.”