My 2nd official race. I was so excited to register for this race. When the route was emailed to me, I became more excited. Can't get anything in my head except the race.
And so Friday came. I made it a point to sleep early. I was supposed to go to this race by myself since my family cannot fathom waking up very early to watch me run. But in the end, they did. I was up by 5 am. My things were all ready the night before. All I had to do was grab my bag and leave. We arrived in Makiling Street AAV by 5:40 am... There were already a number of runners waiting, stretching and checking out the map route.
It was kind of intimidating. There were more experienced runners in this race than in the PIA. I can easily tell. Most were lean and muscular sporting a sun-tanned look. In other words, it was very obvious that I was one of the newbies. I saw Tweety De Leon in the crowd. She runs too - extensively as I gathered.
I did my stretching (as I learned thru hours of reading)... Then the race began. The 10K runners went ahead followed by the 5K and then the 3k. Most of the 5k runners sped ahead of me at the start. I go.. man, I'm really a newbie!!! They were running like it was a sprint. I figured if I do that I'd be dead tired in less than 2k so I just went on with my comfortable running pace. After about 100 meters or so, the route went uphill. Geez!! Didn't expect an uphill route. But then again, I can say I'm actually semi-trained since I go to the gym regularly to run. At this point, the other runners were starting to slow down. I really can't remember what happened to the rest of the runners. I was so concentrated on my running I didn't notice where the other runners went. All I remember is that at some point, there were a number of runners walking. I passed some of them. Proudly, I didn't resort to a walk. I ran all the way up to the finish line. May not be fast as to a runner's standard but it was an ok pace for me.
At the 2.5km mark (u-turn) there were only two of us. It was a male runner. He went ahead of me for the remaining 2.5k but I didn't mind. I think he finished about 5 minutes ahead of me. I also saw a male runner dragging his foot going back. I think he got the cramps. Oh well, STRETCHING!
At the last 1km, I saw my son, mom and dad walking along the route looking for me. I was so glad to see them!! It felt like forever reaching the finish line. My son took pictures of me too which was great. I have a remembrance of the race. I clocked in at 47 minutes. Slow but ok for me. For now, I don't intend to do a fast finish but I want mileage. I'm doing the Southern Race this Sunday for 5K again. On the 17th, there's a Power Run at the Fort. I will be brave enough to try the 5 Mile = 8 Km. I hope I finish it...
By the way, I was so lucky to have a picture taken with no one else but the Bald Runner!! I'm really impressed with this guy. He has a Team called Bald Runner Elite and boy are they really elite. I heard that some of the runners now are actually training for the Iron Man Philippines happening this August in CamSur. That must be really something.
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