I ran Unilab race last Sunday (March 6) at BGC with the goal of at least finishing it at 2h:15m. Sad to say, my official time tells me that I finished in in 2h:21m. Same old reason, plantar pain on my left foot triggered the problem. I knew at km 15 (where I reached it in 1h:30m), I was already done. I end up utilizing most my right leg to push myself forward while my  left leg was just there so that I could remaing standing. Its painful and excruciating, hence my right leg paid dearly for it. I was attacked by cramps on my right calf 200 meters from the finish line, I ended up standing for few minutes on the side-line while a friend named Carly looks on. Hahahahaha!

It looks like all my impending serious training will not materialize unless I address this issue first. Could it be the shoes? Also, I noticed after the race, a portion of my plantar near the inner side was swollen. So my theory is my feet is expanding but the shoes is too tight for me. Why does shoes don’t come in widths here in Pinas! I might go for a bigger shoes or do more convincing to buy a heat-moldable custom insoles from Runnr store.

I know its going to be a harder and longer road to recovery for me.

Road races nowadays are very expensive. My say on this is that runner always have an option. There are always cheaper races available (see Kikay’s list–> http://kikayrunner.com/2011/03/march-2011-races-spotlight/) I just hope that companies will help promote running among the madlang people by shouldering part of the registration cost, anyway its for their marketing effort naman. And hopefully, some entrepreneur-runners can organize races themselves like Team Endures Aquathlon (contact Rico of http://sheerwill.blogspot.com/ for details). Finally, some runners don’t want the medals,singlets,lootbag and all other marketing hype. As for me, I only need a race to have the correct distance, better security/marshalls and sufficient hydration! If any race organizers can get these three right, I guess he/she don’t need to jack up the cost of race registration!

Cheers!

In his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place (the movie version is 127 hours starring James Franco) Aaron Ralston described being trapped for several days against a canyon wall with his forearm crushed by a giant boulder. Using his own knowledge (he’s a mechanical engineer), he tried to device a lift to get rid of the huge stone. He also tried to hack parts of the giant boulder using his dull knife, thinking that it would crack on its own where he could break it apart easily. Unsuccessful and with no rescuers around, he thought he would die soon and so he decided to write an epitaph showing his birth date and his assumed date of death. With limited resources, he was also forced to drink his own urine. Finally on the 5^th day, upon realizing that it would take time before rescuers could find him, he cut his own arm using a dull knife to set himself free.

The decision to cut his arm clearly saved his life as he was able to escape the deep canyon border and was rescued by the authorities. The question is, what triggered him to do it? Read the rest of this entry »