Preparation

I’ve read a lot of blogs lately regarding this race and been warned that the route would be tough. Prior to this race, I did some changes in my running form such as strictly following Pose method (which obviously I was not able to do perfectly) because according to their website it will reduce knee impact by almost 50% and two weeks before this race, I also took the supplement Glucosamine Chondroitin as suggested by one member of team HardCore – Ivy. With a minor change in running form to address knee issues I encountered last SIM, and a supplement to deal with my cartilage and joints, I thought my quest for a sub-five hour finish time is doable. Funny how I reduced my goal from sub 4:30 to sub 5 hours, more on that on next blog post.

I woke up at around 1:45am and took my breakfast consisting of a banana, one sandwich coated with peanut butter, a cup of instant oat meal and a glass of water. By 2:15 am, I was already on the road and reached Manila Hotel where I parked my car around 3:05am. As I was one of those people who would be claiming their race kit on race day itself, I went straight to the designated area to get mine and thankfully enough, I got mine in a few minutes. I would like to thank Mrs. Mylene Lopez for keeping up her promise of separating my kit so I can easily claim mine. As a true blue boy-scout, I actually created my own race bib in case things don’t go accordingly. It was a real effort to make this one so I might as well post this.

Foreshadowing

On my way back to the parking area to put my race kit inside my car, I met 3h:38min SIM finisher/halimaw Wilnar and asked me if he could put his stuffs inside. We left after a few minutes and as I was checking contents of my hydration packet, I notice that my car’s key was not there. I lost my car key!! We hurriedly went back to the parking area where  Wilnar and I made a frantic search for my car key. Honestly, the event looked like a déjà vu. Flash back on my first 42km run , I also lost barcode of my race bib number. Same area, same 42km run and same race organizer. Hobby na to! Few minutes later, Wilnar called my attention and showed me what looked like my car’s key. He found it just three meters away from my car. Galing! If I didn’t bother to check the contents of my hydration packet, you would probably see in the ABS-CBN’s website in sports category an article titled “Run for Pasig River a Success – one runner lost his car though”.

After finding my key, Wilnar and I jogged/walked on our way to McDonalds at Kalaw st. where we were suppose to meet with other takbo.ph guys. Along the way, we met Gab, Cindy, Rodel and his biceps (a.k.a Argo), Jet and his friend. At McDo, we met the rest of 42km runners Poj and Doc Topher. After a few minutes of joking around, we finally decided to proceed to starting area.

The Run

I must admit that I plan to run positive split in this race. If my knees are going to bonk out on me on me after km 32, at least I have sufficient time to end up running/walking the rest of the race. The first half of the race was a breeze, I was running comfortably fast. Sir Jonel would soon join me and I tried to keep up with his pace for a few kilometers, until cramp attacks would soon hit me. I had no issue anymore with my knees in this particular race (not sure if it’s the pose form or the supplement I took or both), but cramps on my calves were the real killer. This would happen every 10 minutes. I was still able to run even during those attacks but as I reached roads passing Pasig City and the one going to Market Market (where I met Angel), they became too unbearable I would find myself screaming in pain. One support vehicle of one team even joke to me that I could get inside her vehicle, send me near to the finish line and fake a finish, she would make sure no one sees me*laughs*. This would happen twice, but I just ignored the temptation. I suspect a sudden change in running form caused this issue to arise with vengeance. Two kilometers before Market Market, I became too hungry I was already looking for convenient stores everywhere. This has not happened to me before, and I can only suspect that GU is not for me. Yeah it was my first time to use GU, I’ve been using Hammer gel before. I had four GU and I took it every 45 minutes. I noticed that I easily feel its effect a lot faster than Hammer gel, but its added “boost” looks like good for only 20 minutes.

When I reached Market Market, we went to Mercury Drugstore and bought the famous hopia cubes which have been gaining some fans among takbo.ph members. I really thought this one satisfied my hunger. I ate all of them in less than 2 minutes. As we went back to the road, we met Poj, Julius (Runnr store) and Gab. I find it too difficult to continue as the heat was too unbearable. We found ourselves walking and out of the blue, Chelly gave us sandwich tuna. That was the best sandwich I’ve eaten all my life and so we ate it and continued our run. With stomach full, I ran the entire Kalayaan fly-over and after that bridge, I did a brief stop over at 711 for a quick pee. Soon enough, the takbo.ph support team was there and finally, was able to replenish my hydration bottles. I only stayed there for a few minutes and together with Henson, we continued our run but not after securing myself a banana and chocolate bar from the team. Four hundred meters after takbo.ph support area, I saw a runner seating near the edge of the road, looking wasted while massaging his feet. Looking at my chocolate and banana, it didn’t take me long to give it all to him. Angel and I continued our run but not after the guy thanking us and saying “para sa inyo, tatapusin koto” (translation: For you guys, I will finish this). I’m really hoping that he was able to finish that race.

Due to too much heat, it was a struggle to run continuously and so we did employ the run and walk strategy. Looking ahead, I realized that the road is already open to vehicles. With no marshals to check runners, I noticed how easy it is to hop into a jeep, bus or taxi. Newbie runners would easily succumb to such temptations and I won’t be surprised if I hear one.

The Walk

With five kilometers to go, Angel and I rested for a few minutes under the shade of a tree and was surprised when I saw Sir Jovie and a member of team Hard Core walking. When I passed him after Km 21 (if my memory served me right) I knew he wasn’t having his day. He was already struggling walking and I actually thought he would finally register his first DNF in this race. I was wrong, he was there walking determine to finish the race he started. Right there and then I decided to walk with him together with a member of team Hard Core. He would update us about the status of next year’s ultramarathon where I’m one of the participants.

As we reached Roxas boulevard, we met one of the race staff and he informed us that if we can’t reach Quirino Grandstand in 25 minutes, we would be marked as DNF. Hearing those statement send chill to our spine and off I started running after Sir Jovie gave me permission to proceed ahead. However just before I turn left near the main intersection, I joined him and Nickko of Team HardCore to finish the race. It was actually fun running with these hard core runners and as we look at the digital race time, Nickko suggested that we finish the race “555 style”. That is 5 hours, 5 minutes and 5 seconds *laughs*. That didn’t materialize as we were able to finish the race in 5 hours and 53 minutes according to the digital race time displayed.

Conclusion

With two marathon attempts (SIM and PIM) after my Milo Marathon, I was still not able to achieve sub 4:30. Man I wasn’t even able to achieve sub 5 hours! To be honest, when I started training for SIM, I really thought my 2:04 half-marathon finish (EcoDash) is enough to give me at least a 4:30 finish time more or less in 42km category. But a marathon is a different beast. It requires a lot of preparation, physically and mentally. My only saving grace in joining this race is I was able to finish it (still no DNF under my running career!) and I lose 5 lbs- enough to  give fellow contestants of Biggest Loser Contest a run for their money.

Congrats to all those who finished this race! See you all in Condura Race 2010. This will be my 3^rd attempt at sub 4:30. I really hope to nail this one!