Last Sunday I joined Quezon City International Marathon under 21km category. I joined this race as part of my training, being my last long run for a major run next Saturday – Subic International Marathon where I will run my 2nd marathon race. I have no intention to go for sub-2 hour for this race, my intention was to double-check my running form on downhill, check my breathing pattern, study if consciously “lifting” my knee will help me propel forward efficiently, check my cadence, test negative split and so on. Being new to this route, I was actually very careful not to screw up nor encounter any injuries. The worst thing I could do for this race is go all out, hit sub 2 hours and showed up with tired legs on my marathon revenge. Yeah, I’ve been preparing madly for my marathon revenge this Saturday. If you want to know why I consider this my “revenge”, please read my first marathon encounter here. For two weeks, I’ve been going to gym regularly to strengthen anti-gravity muscles particularly on my hips and quads to prepare for long downhill runs. These are the muscles that would absorb most stress on downhill run. FYI, I was told that the Subic route for 42km would consist of 80%-85% downhill with relatively flat roads, if your quads is weak, good-luck and be careful.

Now going back to this race, I woke up around 2 am with only few hours of sleep (actually almost no sleep, call this race jitters, anxiety whatever). Turned on the T.V and the first sentence I heard that day was Kuya Germs trademark statement:

Took my breakfast (oatmeal, banana and coffee) and by 2:30 I was already on the road waiting for the bus. I have issues driving long hours (I bet going back to Dasma Cavite from Quezon City would take more than 4 hours) so I didn’t drive that day and went for the bus instead. As there was no air-conditioned bus that early morning, I hopped into a regular bus going to Quezon City. I swear you could smell Manila in my entire body that day! I reached my destination around 4:15 am and used the remaining time to put my bag to the baggage area, do warm-up run, stretched and by 4:30am I was already near the starting line and made smalls talks and photo-ops with the rest of the takbo.ph gang for the remaining time.

The race started exactly at 5:00am. I started slow this time, eventually pacing with Jinoe for few kilometers with his 6:10-6:30min/km pace. I got bored with the pace and with my lack of discipline in negative split, I found myself eventually running faster until I left Jinoe after 3 kilometers or so. I continue with my pace but slowed down considerably on uphill but attacked downhill roads viciously. The route after the first U-turn consists of several long down-hills and I found myself running fast with longer stride but low cadence. Along the way, I would meet some takbo.ph guys and would yell at me “Sam, is that chillax pace??!!”. I just smiled back and continued my pace. Quickly I realized that this made me tired easily (eventually slowed me down the rest of the race) and I adjusted by switching to shorter stride and quick cadence but alas, too late for the change as flatter roads and an uphill near Trinoma would soon greet me. Somewhere along this road I would encounter cramps on my calves and would stop from time to time. Boss Jinoe would eventually overtake me near this section of the road. Bryan would shout “Go Sam!” when he saw me stopping during one of my cramp attack. And with this learning, my plan on Subic’s downhill would be to go for high cadence, soft knees; don’t attack the hill; glide or “roll” down the hill with shorter strides, quick, light steps. I finished the race after 2 hours and 11 minutes (unofficial). Now as for the race itself:

Good:
Kilometer markers
Plenty of Marshalls
Plenty of hydration along 21km route (although I noticed shorter tables-not an ideal “international” standard)
Medal looks kick-ass!
Very challenging route
Prizes for the winners are really good

Improve:
Baggage area too far from the finish line
Awarding ceremony took too long to finish with winners queuing for their checks until 12pm.

I would like to congratulate Cresencio Sabal for wining 42km (local-first prize) and earning php150,000 for it. The guy also just won last week’s Milo Marathon Finals for 42km and got php75,000. Oh he’s wife Aileen Tolentino-Sabal(local-first prize) also won in the women’s division yesterday and also got php150,000. Her sister Ellen Tolentino placed 6th and earned php8,000. You guys should really treat me next time we meet! As expected, the Kenyans ruled the international competition. They will again race in the upcoming Subic International Marathon.

Goodluck to all of you and see you on Saturday!

Me and the Pacers