(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... :)
