The "ovals"
By Sunrise Fan
@sunrisefan (28524)
Philippines
November 5, 2018 8:58pm CST
I've always been mentioning that my wife and I do our early morning walk at the "ovals". It has only been recently that I found out that not everyone knows what an "oval" is. There are some slangs and words/terms that other Mylotters write which I too do not have any idea of but I was perhaps too shy to inquire what they meant.
Good thing one Mylotter came forward and asked me politely what an "oval" is. That made me realize that it's not all the time that we understand or know what the other meant :)
The "oval" is the name (at least in our country/place) that we call of the race track for track and field events in sports and I've attached a photo of it here :)
17 people like this
19 responses
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
And here's another shot of the ovals :) BTW, the track of our ovals is rubberized.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
And here's a clearer shot of some afternoon joggers. I took these shots one afternoon at the rooftop of the stands with the intention of catching the sunset on camera.
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@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
Yeah I guess there are many of us who are used to calling it but is not familiar to others. It's been a while since I also go into our own oval in my place. During my younger years we used that to learn how to ride a bike. It was fun activity back then that no matter how hot it is you enjoy the place.
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@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
@sunrisefan Well in my place it was not yet rubberised back then so it was allowed back then. I just do not know if they have it rubberised already.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
Biking though is not allowed on the tracks as it would damage the rubberized tracks which was very costly for the provincial government to install.
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@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
6 Nov 18
Thanks for sharing that since I didn't know either. I have always called it a track. :)
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
We call it here in our place as "ovals" because of the oval shape of the tracks :)
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@Letranknight2015 (51499)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
I actually haven't been into a place like that. The closest was the former Rizal Stadium back in my highschool days when we were required to watch NCAA games.
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@hereandthere (45651)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
i remember watching a concert at rizal stadium
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
Oh is that so? We do our walking there because it's just a little over a kilometer from our house.
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@JudyEv (325651)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Nov 18
I knew what an oval was but I've had the same thing happen with people not knowing some of the terms that are really familiar to me. When words and phrases are second nature to you, you don't think about people not knowing of them.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
Hehehe! Happy to know that you're familiar with the term for tracks, Ms. Judy :)
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@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
6 Nov 18
I have seen one of those tracks here and there were a lot of people using it. 
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@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
6 Nov 18
@sunrisefan Yes, the track I saw was near a big field with some trees also in the area and so the air would be cleaner and fresher.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
@1hopefulman So that's really very conducive to exercise.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
I'm sure people prefer using the ovals (tracks) to walk, run or jog than taking a road run where you inhale the smoke from passing vehicles.
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@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
8 Nov 18
@sunrisefan Never. I am not fond of walking and even my husband. 
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
8 Nov 18
@SIMPLYD Oh yes - I remember you have another exercise :)
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
8 Nov 18
Have you ever tried doing a walk around the ovals?
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@hereandthere (45651)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
there is another mylotter (based in bicol) who also lives near a university and talks about taking walks there. her husband also plays tennis there, if i remember correctly. is that in silliman?
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
@hereandthere Track and field events of city meet, palarong panlalawigan, regional meet and palarong pambansa one time. Soccer can also be played in the center field. Even archery is played at the far end. Behind the stands in one of the pictures is an olympic-sized swimming pool.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
No, the one on the photo is the provincial coliseum. Silliman has its ballfield but their track is not like the one in the province and is not rubberized. It's plain soil only.
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@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
7 Nov 18
I didn't realise that not everyone knows what "ovals" are .. maybe because they only think of it as a shape ...
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@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
8 Nov 18
@sunrisefan yes you could be right .. ;)
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
Because it's only a name probably coined in our place hehehe!
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@sofssu (23662)
•
16 Nov 18
@sunrisefan Not really, The term oval has been generalized to any ground for sporting activity.. because most racecourses and grounds used to be oval shaped.. so the usage there is right I guess.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
16 Nov 18
I see. So it's not only in our place that there's the term oval for this - only thing is we differ in its usage.
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@DianneN (246643)
• United States
7 Nov 18
@sunrisefan I used to walk at 5;30AM during the week before school. It's hard to do now with the high school in session and practices for the teams. Saturday is usually a football game, but I felt strange walking during games, so stopped. Lol! Our town put in walking trails, so I walk there mostly.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
@DianneN I guess you have walk trails under mini forests and parks just like in NZ, Ms. Dianne. If you prefer to walk at the ovals, can you not do it in the early evening and are the tracks lighted then?
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
Yes, the normal and correct term is track :) Probably it's only us and a few other countries call it alternately as ovals. Did another 10-round walk at the ovals a while ago early morning :) They limited the walking and jogging for the public from 4AM to 6AM because there's an ongoing city meet of different schools in the city. Their events start at 6 and will continue for a week.
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@Hannihar (129391)
• Israel
12 Nov 18
@sunrisefan
So do you walk or run around the whole race track?
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
12 Nov 18
@Hannihar That's always my goal - not to exceed 5 minutes per round and I'm glad I'm able to achieve it :)
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
12 Nov 18
I just do brisk walking for 10 rounds in about 47 to 49 minutes.
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@oahuwriter (26780)
• United States
6 Nov 18
It was a good thing someone did ask, for I too did not know what an oval is. I walk in place at home or go walking when I am out and about on the bus. Riding the bus gives me a lot of exercise.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
6 Nov 18
It really pays to ask when we do not know or understand and I'm glad someone came forward and ask :)
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@oahuwriter (26780)
• United States
8 Nov 18
@sunrisefan
Me too. Sometimes knowledge is not universal.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
That's right. You don't get to inhale the smog.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
Interesting to know about the skating rink being called oval :) It's fitting though.
@acelawrites (19273)
• Philippines
7 Nov 18
Yes, it is a familiar term for a race track.
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@ilocosboy (45157)
• Philippines
9 Nov 18
Yes even in my place we refer to that racetrack as oval-- maybe because of the shape.
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@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
9 Nov 18
Now I found out that it's not only who refer to the track as ovals :)
