Yakult 10-miler Race

This was my 3rd consecutive race in Roxas Blvd. after doing the Animo Run (Nov 23) and Milo Finals 10k (Nov 30) and I have grown to like running here for its relative flat course.

Per and I got here around 5:30AM (can't miss the huge Yakult bottle) and we parked right next to my sister's car who arrived the same time as we did! We looked for a registration area for Per but didn't find any. Rather than running bandit for 5KM, Per opted instead to stay on the sideline today and be the photographer for this race. Since it will be a 10 miler (16KM) race, I told Per to just wait in the car and come out after 1 hour 30 minutes since I don't expect to finish after at least 1 hour 36 minutes. Good enough for her to catch some ZZZ's as we got home late last night. She did join me for some 5-minute warm up jog around the area to which I did some stretching and proceeded to the starting line.

My target for this race is to run at a pace of 5:45 to 6:00 minutes per KM and I plan to keep looking at my Garmin to assess my speed. If I am going too fast, I will slow down to reach target level. If I go too slow, which would definitely happen often, I will pick up my steps and try to run faster. My goal for this race was to get a Personal Best. Having done only one 16km race so far at the La Salle Race in Fort Bonifacio and finishing at 1 hour 38 minutes 10 seconds, I hope to beat this record... hopefully. Of course, the longer distance will determine if I have the endurance to maintain this pace or not.

Entering the starting line, the gun was fired and we were off. While running, I heard somebody call out my name and turning around, I saw it was Christy. Bro J was right behind me too and Jinoe was right next to us! Pretty awesome having all the running bloggers start together and not even know about it. Vener, having just finished his marathon last week, came running ahead of us to stop... and take our photo !!! Haha. That was hilarious and a good fun start to this race.
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Pretty soon we each went off to our own individual pace and I got back to checking my Garmin. Seems I'm going a little too fast from my target so slowed down a little bit as didn't want to burn out so early in the race. We reached the first flyover soon, went over it and kept on running to a second flyover. I also spotted Ige Lopez running fast, then stopping somewhere and just wait around so I'm guessing he is running with somebody.

The water stations were ample and I stopped at every single one of them to have a quick drink before running off again. I was quite happy in that I didn't walk going up the flyovers and wasn't that tired yet. The nice weather helped a lot as no sun came out while we were running.
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Pretty soon it was the turning point where we got a straw from the marshals and came running back to the two flyovers, past the CCP area (where we started from) and past Luneta Park for the 2nd turn around point (and 2nd straw). By this point, I was feeling the fatigue and craved for water at the stations. But after getting big gulps from the plastic cup, it was enough to keep me running all the way to the finish line where Per was waiting for me. Naks! Hehe.

My final time according to my Garmin was at 1:36:23 ! A new Personal Best! Yahoo! My pace was at 6:01 min/ km so I was right on target pace. Not only that but upon checking all three 15km races I've done this year, this 16km even beat them all (my fastest 15km race was 1:36:46) !!! Double Yahoo! That was a very nice surprise for me! So so so happy for it. Hehe :)
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For me, this was a very organized race with results coming out a day after. Aside from singlet that comes with race pack, we were also given a Yakult bottle and a shirt at the finish line. Distance according to my Garmin was at 16.02 KM which was very very accurate for this race.
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Aside from the runners I met at start of race, I also met some more at the finish of the race: Gigi, Rico, Patrick, Wilbert, Que. My sisters and bro-in-laws and some friends also took part in the 10-miler race so there were a lot of familar faces here.

What oh what can make this Sunday better? Well, there's......


MANNY PACQUIAO winning against OSCAR DELA HOYA!

WE BELIEVE !!!


And then there's also...


La Salle Green Archers JV Casio getting the ball and scoring 2pts 6.6 seconds before the final buzzer giving La Salle a 1-point win over San Beda for the Philippine Collegiate Championships Finals vs Ateneo. Very exciting game that was.... Too bad I didn't watch the Finals where La Salle won over Ateneo :)

At the starting line.

Philippine's version of Cloverfield in the form of a huge Yakult monster! GRRRRR!!!!

Race photo taken by RunUnlimited

Carolyn with friend nearing finish line

RFB at last leg of race

Edwin & Stella nearing finish line

Gigay still in a good mood

Dave in his first 16km race! Congrats!

A very well organized race. It deserves THREE THUMBS UP! Haha!

me, Christy & Vener

Dave, Nat, me, Stella

Photo care of RunningShield. Que, Jinoe, Me, Patrick

Siblings

SIGURADO KA TIYAAAAANNNNN!!!! And a very FAT tummy from Running FAT BOY

Meeting Ms China (town) ?? HAHA!