This particular race has many firsts for me:

1. First to run under the rain
2. First to run a race with so many uphills
3. First to try drinking 100 Plus (which I did not realize was carbonated)
4. First to let somebody challenge me on the race near the finish line
5. First to break in a new shoes on the race day
6. First to run with no sleep the night before the race

As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I had a vehicular accident involving a motorcycle Saturday lunch time. To make the story short, I was told by police to shoulder all expenses so that I won’t be arrested and my car will not be impounded. That night so many questions were bothering my mind. I was not able to sleep, I’m very worried, the race preparation I did that night was not enough to get my brain into “race mode”. After writing my post that night, I slept around 11pm. With my mind still not cooperating with me to sleep, I was all awake thinking several things, the next thing I knew, it was already 3:45am and I need to get my ass up to take a bath, dress up, have a short breakfast and drive the car to McKinley.

I picked up Rodel and his bother in Bacoor and we reached McKinley around 5:15am. There was some confusion where to park runner’s car, I was told by a race marshal to go another building so I did a U turn and parked my car on the 2nd floor of that building. I saw Luis on his way to park his car too. Without waiting for him, I asked Rodel’s bro we could head straight to the race area by jogging to serve as our warm-up. As I exited the building, the rain was very obvious. I was actually excited about the rain as I haven’t experienced running race-mode in that atmosphere. As we reached the race area, the announcer told us that the race will start 30 minutes late and all runners (3k,5k and 16k) will start at 6:00am. With this scenario, I figured out to make some “minor” adjustments to my strategy. I told Ferds and Gabs that we’re gonna do comfy(1st-4th km)-hard(5th km -8thkm)-slow(9-12th km)-ultra hard pace(13th-16th km) in the race. However, as we started running, I noticed that it would be very hard to follow that plan as the 3k and 5k would also be running with us. I decided to run faster to give my self more space and to follow the pace I want, however Gabs and Ferds were nowhere to be found I ended up running alone in the first 6km. Later in the SMS Luis sent me, I was told that I was running 4:20/km(laughs) which was waaayyy beyond my comfy pace.

Ferds later found me and we ran together for 2km or 3km. With no sleep later that night, I wasn’t able to maintain my pace and I just told Ferds to go ahead of me. As I was running alone, it was this time I started observing the race. Here are my observations:

1. Water stations were plenty. I didn’t encounter a single water station running out of water. Cups were already filled with water. Some water stations also have bottled water.

2. Race marshalls were helpful, they were not just standing flesh and bones.

3. Markers were very helpful. I believe no one got lost during the race unless they ignored to read the directions for 3km and 5km roads.

With these three factors, I believe the race organizer did a great job. Kudos to Adevents for making this race a successful one.

The climax of this race for me was the last kilometer. I tried pacing with sir Felipe Dumpit. He knew I was struggling, probably because of my sleepless night plus with no training at all for uphills, the look on my face would be very obvious on that stage. He was saying encouraging words, that the finish line is near and I can do it. All I need were those words and soon, I would found myself running faster. On the last 200 meters, a guy on my right started running with me. I knew he was inviting me for a challenge. And boy we were running really fast! I noticed the crowd was starting to get involve in our little race and soon enough, they were yelling and cheering at us. As I was wearing my takbo.ph singlet, it will not be too easy to hide to save my face if I lose that game*laughs*. Utilizing the remaining Ninja power left on my legs,(plus the will to save my face), I exploded and zoomed in to the finish line, way ahead of him obcourse I was so wasted after that particular little game I had but at the same time very happy of what I just did. Looking back I thought its really all about mind game. The encouraging words from sir Ipe and the crowd cheering at us made me sprint like crazy. Later I found sir Ipe and I have to ask him his finish time as I don’t have any to determine mine. He said he finished around 1:41 and knowing I ran ahead of him, I probably finished the race earlier than that. Later he told me that as he was looking at me ran towards the finish line, he noticed the crowd was cheering very loud on our little game and he was very thankful he wasn’t the one who ran with me to the finish line. Hahahaha! Sir if it wasn’t for you, I could have just walked all the way to the finish line. Thanks sir!

As I was sitting alone after a very explosive finish I did, Doc Tap approached and asked if I’m OK. I said I’m OK so he left me. I tried to stand up, walked, jogged and stretched just to make sure I’m really OK and didn’t injure myself after the crazy stunt I did. And yeah boy I was happy, I’m not injured! I went back to where the takbo.ph guys were hanging up and after some photo-ops, we all decided to go to Mac Do for some food. I guess with the lack of sleep, my memory was so jumbled I didn’t know where I parked my car. I have to look for Luis because I knew he parked in the same building where I parked my car. As we reached the building, we went to the 2nd floor and Luis easily found his car easily, meanwhile I was scratching my head figuring out where the heck I parked my car. I knew I parked it near the CR section but I still couldn’t found my car. I went to the first floor and 3rd floor and still couldn’t found my car. After 15 minutes, I went back to the 2nd floor and finally have to tell the guard that my car is gone. He told me that there was one black honda city on the other end of the building and so I went there. True enough, my car was there! As I was on my way to Mac Do, I got an SMS telling me to visit the patient I just hit….and so I went straight to the hospital to face my life’s reality again

Lessons learned:
1. Don’t try anything new. On this particular race, I tried 100 Plus for the first time and realized later that drinking carbonated drinks during the race is not good for me.
2. Get enough sleep the night before the race. I do believe that had I got some sleep, I could have improved my finish time. This is a huge factor during race which most runners actually ignored.
3. I really have to be serious on uphill training. I have no uphill training at all, as my area where I run is all flat. Now I got to find a place where to practive uphill running, or maybe just buy a manual treadmill which is usually 45 degree inclined.

But then where can i get the money after shelling out php51,000 for the hospital bills!! Hahahaha

Update:
Monday lunch time, the patient is already discharged of the hospital and now resting in his house. Thank God I can now sleep soundly.

The pictures (all grabbed from Doc Erics photos):

Takbo.ph Guys

Related posts:

1. Mizuno Infinity Run 2009 Post Race Report
2. Botak Paa-Tibayan 42k Race: Post Race Report
3. Earth Day Run 2010 Race Review
4. Run For Family (August 02’09) Race Report
5. Earth Run: Race Preparation and some drama

Tags: Earth Run Post Race Report