Doing the Full Marathon

The dilemma whether to enter a full marathon or not is starting to nag at me. I didn't think that it was going to be this hard to decide to do the full mary. I'm eyeing the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon this December to do my first ever 42K but then I'm very very scared to do it. The more I think about it, the more butterflies I get in my stomach.  I really want to do it but I chicken out with the monstrosity of the distance.

The training plan is already with me.  It's a 16-week training plan which means I need to start this coming August 07 to be ready for the December 05 road race.  The training plan spells total commitment. It involves not just running but cross-training 2x a week.  The biggest challenge of it all is fitting this plan with work & family schedules. I am lucky to have a very supportive family when it comes to my running. They all gave me a go to do this which means being out almost every night starting August to do my daily runs.  Good thing that my son is already in Grade 5 and totally independent when it comes to school stuff.   Aside from the daily exercise, I will still have to incorporate the training to proper marathon diet. I hate dieting! :) 

To date, I have done 8 half marathons. I have decided to stop stressing myself out joining weekly road races and focus on plain running for now. The popularity of the running sport here in the Philippines is starting to put additional pressure on me when it comes to keeping up with registration schedules.  I started increasing my running speed in the gym which I think is long overdue and I enjoy it tremendously. I've committed to run not less than 3x a week at a comfortable hard effort. I will definitely do speedwork once a week at minimum of 9.7km/hour at 5x400 and yes I will start doing my long runs every Sunday.  This in preparation for the formal training in August.

I do not have a running coach.  The training is going to be a self-training plan with no running group.  I treasure my running hours where I can just keep quiet, hear my breathing & footsteps and listen to music.  These are moments when my mind feels light and fresh. I'm one of those runners who prefer running alone than with a group. 

I have two days before I give my final instruction to my sister to register me for the 42K.  And yes, I WILL DO IT. Let's not talk of target time but I hope I can finish in 6 hours.  Finishing though will be enough.  After almost two years of running, I will do the full marathon.  It's the scariest thing I will be doing so far but then again it will put so much excitement in my life.  I know that if I get to finish one, I will do another and another and another.  Is ultramarathon next in line?  Wahahaha.. Ambisyosa talaga!!

Revival of the Running Blog

Didn't realize that my last entry was October of last year, after my first half marathon..  Updates since then are as follows:

(1)  Yes, I did run Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon last December at a dismal time of 3 hours and 16 minutes. I cried when I crossed the finish line. Leg cramps killed me starting km. 10 so I had to walk more than half of  the route.  Even a jog was impossible.  Ang yabang ko kasi!!! Couldn't resist the temptation of running a half marathon in Laoag a week before the SCSM.  So, I did.  Though I had a great time running that race,  it took a toll on my legs. The route was almost 22 kms and the amateur runner that I am,  my legs didn't have time to fully recover.  I went into the SCSM run with aches on my legs.  I tried to relieve them temporarily by putting tons of Bengay & other mentholated patches... didn't work. In any case,  it was a lesson learned (haha.. later on you will say na matigas talaga ulo ko).  If there's anything I'm proud of with that race, I didn't stop. I still finished.  Come to think of it, it will be difficult to stop as well dahil sobrang daming runners.  It was something like 40,000 plus runners. The street was filled with people. You can't just stop otherwise runners will run over you.  Haha. Blessing in disguise for me. That prompted me to keep on moving until the finish line at Aberdeen Court. But of course,  I will come back with a vengeance...  SCSM di pa tayo tapos... :)

(2)  To date, I have ran 7 half marathons... I will be running my 8th half marathon this coming April 24 at Greenfield  Sta. Rosa. Unfortunately, I  haven't been achieving PRs because of the simple reason that I'm not training for it. After the SCSM,  work got stressful. Didn't have that much time to run long on weekdays. My usual 30 km mileage per week went down to 10km per week.  The half marathons I've been joining are more of LSDs.  If there's anything though,  I am no longer scared of the distance. In fact, it's becoming normal for me to register at 21km. During race day, I feel it's my dose of weekly caloric burn.  I've been doing my 21kms at an average of 3 hours per race.  Completed half-marathons as follows:

        (a)  Condura Run - February 2010 

        (b)  Century Superbods 

        (c)   Unilab Run

        (d)  Globe Run for Home

All happened two weeks after  the other (See, I didn't learn anything from the SCSM experience).   Condura Run went well.  Route was longer than 21.20 km.   Running the Skyway was one beautiful experience! Except for the nail that pierced my right shoe over the Kalayaan Flyover, the entire race was comfortable.

Felt some pain on my right foot "talampakan" during the Century Superbods run starting km 14.. eventually did a slow jog with gait change.. Ok naman...Unilab was the worst... Pain on the right foot went back with a vengeance starting km 12.. couldn't run anymore because it felt like there was something stuck on my right foot.. wanted to quit the race but then again I figured I already paid for it so I decided to walk until the finish line.. For two weeks after that, I didn't run. I became a gym biker .. Came into the Globe Run with only one goal in my mind.. to finish comfortably without pain... and I did... :) with the help of new running shoes from Nike+. Nag-plug pa ano?  My NBs 1225 are just too heavy. Now the Nike LunarGlide is a better fit for me.. It's very light and stable. Of course it pretty pricey but choosing between comfort or being thrifty .. I will go for the first anytime...

(3)   Two weeks ago I started going back to my 30km mileage in the gym.  Makes me happy to say that I can now run for 5 kms straight with a speed of 8.80 km/hr.   That's about 34 minutes for a 5k.

(4)    Goal is to run a 32K this year (November 2010) during the 3rd leg of Runrio Trilogy and do the full marathon February next year at the Condura Skyway Run.  Things may still change because I still have the SCSM run in mind.  Maybe do the full at SG, I'm still not sure.

I've been running regularly at least 3x a week.  I won't consider myself a running addict yet but I can't go through the week without a run.   YES, I LOVE RUNNING AND I THINK IT LOVES ME BACK... :)