Greenfield being my first 10k was a good experience after all. Let me tell you how my day started.
I woke up around 3:20am, took a bath,wore my race attire and had a huge banana for breakfast. As you may have noticed my breakfast was very conservative because of my bad experience during Condura when I had a nice carbo overload the night before and took 2 banana as my breakfast on the race day. I ended up suffering from stomach muscle cramp and so I learned from it. I drove my car from Dasma Cavite to Sta.Rosa, it was a smooth ride and I was able to reach the place around 5:05am. This was what greet me when I reached the place:
The 21k runners were already in the starting line-up. Minutes later, they’re gone and replaced by 10k runners:
They were just a few 10k runners in the picture but during the actual race, there are probably more 10k runners than 21k. We stayed inside that area for a few minutes until we heard an announcement that 10k will start after 42 minutes(nice!)
I was nervous on that day as I felt my shin splints cursing me the moment I got off from my car. This was probably the result of the 8k run I did the day before the race. I was told earlier that what I did was crazy. Before the start of the race, we were led to some stretching exercise by some instructor from Fitness First with American accent. I was really surprised that the pain in my shin disappeared after the stretching. So I thought I’m good and ready to rumble!
My goal for this 10k race is between 1hour and and 1.5. Anything beyond that would be failure and I could only blame myself for that run I did the day before the race. As the gun was fired off, I was surprised some runners were already sprinting like crazy and I was almost carried away by the their speed. However, I still maintained my comfy pace run while I let them bypassed me. On the 4th km, a lady with takbo.ph suddenly popped up on my left side. We probably ran together for more than 300 meters until I broke the ice. I asked her if it was her first time, she told me it wasn’t her first and that she had joined many races before. I was nervous I would end up eating her dust after running together so I was planning for an escape route*laughs*. As we reached the 2nd water station, I told her I’m gonna drink some water but she told me she would continue. Was surprised she just let it go as I didn’t notice if she was wearing any hydration belt. And so I stayed in the water station for 12 seconds, enough to stay away from her as I don’t want to embarass myself by being overtaken by her later in the race.
There were kilometer markers in this race but some were misplaced. Like for instance, I was suddenly surprised when I saw 7k sign when I was sure I haven’t even reached the 5th km. It also happend on the latter stage of the race but wasn’t really bothered by those. The water stations were good, they provided cold water and sponge. The marshalls were very courteous and cooperative that I had to give them a high five for each marshall and police I would encounter in the race. I probably wasted a good minute by slowing down to reach their hand just to appreciate their work.
I’m very happy with my race as for the first time, I didn’t walk the entire 10k race except when approaching the water stations. On the last km, I sprint and overtook 15 runners to finish the game by 1:01:44. Not bad for my first 10k.
Lessons learned
1. As much as possible, never run the day before the race. I must say that I could have improved my speed if I didn’t harass my leg muscles the day before. Maybe some discipline on my part on that matter.
2. Try not to walk if you really want to improve your time. I’m still in the process of learning to continue running while approaching water stations.
3. As much as possible, look for a possible target and when somebody runs with you, run with him/her. I learned that in order to increase your speed, join people who are faster than you. It was a mistake that I have to shy away from that lady from takbo.ph. I could have maintained a better speed as she was obviously more experienced and faster than me.
4. It’s a mental game too! I always thought that running is just a matter of building stronger leg muscles,stamina,lungs and increasing your lactate threshold by increasing your milage. What I learned was that what you feed in your mind has a huge effect on your game. I noticed that during the race that I find myself slowing down, I was telling myself that I need to slow down to avoid any feeling of pain, this means no injury. In reality, pain must be embraced and you must condition your mind to accept it and prepare how to deal with it.
And finally before I end this post, here’s me and Sir Jovie aka The Bald Runner
- Master Runner - Bald Runner
Let me tell you guys that I’m doing this in preparation for a marathon on October (42km-Milo) then UltraMarathon (102km) to be organized and directed by Sir Jovie next year. I’m doing this one step at a time….hopefully, I’ll reach my goal..in God’s time.
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