Results are out! Please check the result here.

I was surprised that the outcome is 3 minutes off from what I was expecting. My 16km Earth Run 2 Sundays ago and my 15km at Mizuno last Sunday, both I finished at 1:42. A very disturbing performance of mine. I need to improve badly!

Update: Mizuno just changed the result and my official time is now 1:38:56

I have no idea what kind of prayer the organizer of Mizuno Infinity Run 09 invoked, but it certainly worked like a charm. For my readers abroad, its been raining with very strong wind here in Manila from Monday to Saturday. Add to that our weather bureau announcing there would be three straight rainy mornings starting Thursday, we were all gearing up for a rainy race just like Earth Run last Sunday. But as luck would have, Sunday became a very hot and sunny day we all had to endure and conquer. God must be on the side of Mr. Biscocho!

So I picked up Rodel and his brother in Bacoor and parked my car near R.O.X around 4:50am. A couple of takbo.ph guys were already there wearing their signature takbo.ph singlets. We stayed at ROX, chatted, stretched and had some photos taken (yeah we Pinoys are picture crazy). I also saw coach Rio instructing a foreign looking guy which turned out to be Mr. Fernando Zobel de Ayala and upon checking the color of his bib, i realized he’s running 15k too (Update: he finished the race at 1:19!!)! I ran half-kilometer to warm up and immediately noticed tight muscles on my legs. This could be the result of my lack of training the previous days, with last Sunday’s Earth Run being my last run! I ended up massaging my legs to relieve and free up tight leg muscles and next thing I know,its already 5 minutes before the race starts. Just like your typical Biscocho organized race, it started at exactly 5:30am (although some bloggers complain it started 5 minutes earlier).

The first 5 kilometers were easy. Although I felt tight leg muscles, they disappeared after running for a kilometer. I stayed true to my plan by running comfortably albeit a little faster than what I’ve planned. The next 5 kilometers was a struggle already, I was no longer surprised why my leg felt so tired easily, probably the result of having no runs at all. Jinoe catched up with me and we ran together for few meters until I have to tell him that he can go ahead of me. I tried to cheer up all guys I personally knew within the takbo.ph circle by calling out their names. If I see them wearing their ipods, I just wave my hands to greet them. The next 5 kilometers was the toughest part of the race. I felt like I was just dragging my legs and my focus this time is to finish the race not going beyond 1:40.

The starting road going to Kalayaan flyover is where I have to tell my mind to focus on the race. I remember Doc Lyndon near that part of the road and upon nearing him, I said to my self to attack the hill. And off I ran the uphill without stopping until I have to slow down near the topmost section of the road…and stop. I stopped for 5 seconds and suddenly, a macho in his 40’s gently reminded me “guwapo wag kang hihinto, hinay hinay lang, pagpababa na road, hatawin mo na”. In English, “Don’t stop looking for love, It can be found In the strangest places”. OK just kidding, he was telling me not to completely stop, to continue running slowly but when downhill comes, run normally. And so I followed his words of wisdom and ran away from him as far as I can. Lesson learned: follow experienced runners, you’ll never go wrong with them. Hehehehe!

Upon reaching the road near the Finish area, I was looking at the clock and noticed that that the time was 1:39:02 seconds. As my target was not to go beyond 1:40, I ran faster and overtook 8 runners to ensure that I won’t missed my target. Finally, I finished the race 1:39:35 seconds (update: it was 1:42 according to race organizer!), hopefully the race result will show identical time

Regarding the race, here are my observations:

1. Water stations : There were actually two tables available for some water stations if my memory served me right. One table would serve Gatorade and few meters away, COLD water in plastic cups. I’m very particular of this aspect in every race I joined and I’m happy to say the race organizer did this one so well. Cups are already filled with cold water/gatorade, I don’t remember passing a water station where I have to wait for the water guy to fill it up. I’m not surprised why majority of the runners in this race left their hydration belt at home.

2. Marshalls were easily identifiable via their race uniform. Without asking them, they would tell you which road to go. I remember almost running towards a 10k road (I joined 15k race) when a marshall quickly reminded me of my mistake. I believe they were all well instructed and very pro-active. There were also police in uniforms to ensure our security.

3. Kilometer markers are available.

4. No pacers available unlike last Sunday’s Earth Run. If this is available, this could be an almost perfect race!

5. I’m not really looking forward for any loots or give-aways, but the finisher’s singlet is a good idea. At the back of the singlet is displayed “1.10.10″ and we were all surprised to know later that this race is actually a time-trial race and whatever our finish time for this race, it will be compared againts our time on next year’s Mizuno race.

Lessons learned:

1. My testing with negative split for this particular race reveals that I’m not for it. With finish time of 1:42 last 16km and this race (15km) 1:39, my pace was obviously slower. The lack of training probably has something to do with it but from my observation, I already run out of steam and energy in the last section of the race. Positive split might be ideal for me.

2. I noticed that fast runners are slim, I got to lose 15lbs to reach my optimal running weight!

3. Respect the race by training for it if you want a decent time.

Here are other pictures.

Que with Jinoe in one of his funny moments

See you guys next year for another Mizuno race!