La Salle Run - July 13, 2008 (Post Race)

One run (yes, and a very big one), One family (hmmm, not so sure about that one), One La Salle (yes, from DLSU, to CSB, to DLSZ to La Salle Dasmarinas and so on and so forth). This was one Major run of La Salle made up mostly of students who did the 3k and 5k (speculating here that it might be a requirement for their P.E. classes!).

Got there before 6AM and then it started to rain! Hard! Everyone gathered inside tents to await the rain to stop or at least slow down. (Per and I were at the Nike Tent and got talking to
Coach Rio about the Nike+ Sportsband).

Then, the MC said "16K runners have already started the race." What the hell??? I didn't even hear any announcement to gather at the starting line! Shit, no more stretching for me. I, along with about 15 other runners, ran to the starting point and off we went. But with no marshalls, we got confused as to which way to go. Good thing some passerbys pointed us to the right direction and pretty soon, we caught up with the rest of the 16km runners (of course by then they were already coming back from the loop while we were just headed there). Rain got worst but we just kept on running (no other way out of the rain than to finish the race).

Pretty soon, the 16k runners merged with the 3k and 5k runners. Saw Janine with Imp walking together and Alvin later on doing his 5k run. Rain got a little bit stronger. But that didn't dampen my spirits (no pun intended). Had quite an opposite effect in fact. I think the last time I was out in the rain was when I was still in Grade School so quite an exhilarating feeling to be out again and get all wet and not have strangers give you an odd look. I never felt this energized before which was a good thing as kept a good pace all throughout the race. After completing the first loop around the area of 8KM, I still wasn't tired. Very surprised by this feeling as suffered two weeks before at the 15k Mizuno Race.

In the end, I finished at 1 hour 38 minutes based on my time. Official time will definitely be longer since I started late. A very good time for me given the Mizuno race was at 1 hour 40 minutes and that was 1 km shorter than this one.

Think course layout gave me a good finish time as mostly flat or even downhill so not too tiring vs. running on an inclined plane. Still, I am very glad that my endurance level is improving and it gave me confidence for my race this coming October in KK. This is the longest race so far for me..

Now some good points on the race:
1. Ample water stations everywhere
2. Goodies bag. Magazine, medicine and power candies. Make up for entry fee
3. La Salle Singlet. Wore this during the race and didn't experience any chafing so quite good. Made by Nike by the way.
4. Good course for me as flat most of the way.
5. Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts for those patient enough to line up.

And of course bad points:
1. Not enough marshalls given the number of racers who joined this race (5,000 I think)
2. Linked to above point, 5k runners got lost and a lot of them ran only 3.3k after making a wrong turn instead of running straight ahead. Per said it was the security guard telling the 5k runners that they should turn left when that turn should only be for 3k runners.
3. The very long line at the finish line for the 3k and 5k runners.
4. Didn't hear announcement that 16k race has already started.

Picture Trivia: How many people in this picture (including me) is wearing green?

(I count 18)

Why am I only person in this group wearing green? And to think there are at least two verified La Sallians here! Hmp! hehe

Meet our newest runner: IMP! And in Green too! Go La Salle!!!