Robinson's Buddy Run (July 12, 2009) - Post Race

GOAL: To achieve a new couple 10km PR. Time to beat: 1:16:21

Bad Pre-race Start: We only had 2.5 to 3 hours sleep the night before! I had to cancel my planned additional 5km run that Sunday morning as that would end up with us just having 1 hour of sleep time!

There were a lot of runners by the time we got to the race venue. There were a lot of tents. There were a lot of food and drinks (I had Milo, Gardenia wheat bread, yogurt, iced tea, Tipco juice drinks, etc. even BEFORE the race started!). It was very festive!

This was a buddy race and Per and I were required to wear the buddy bib with the same number and wear the official Fit and Fun singlet for our 10km race.

The race started at 6:15am but I didn't mind the 15-minute delay. I had too much fun eating and drinking here to complain! Hehe.

The 5km runners started their race first. They were differentiated from the 10km runners by their red or white singlets. The 10km runners wore either blue or gray singlets.



Our countdown bib! To zero and we were off!

We did a steady 7++ min/km pace for the first 5km. I had with me a bottle of Pink Gatorade in case Per needed it. But it wasn't necessary as there were ample water stations here and they were giving out bottled water bottles. Good move! I would prefer bottled water to water cups at any race as I can always keep the bottles with me instead of forcing myself to finish all the water. At one point, I had a bottle in each hand but realized that it was hard to twist the cap off and discarded the water bottle.

It was nice watching the fast runners and seeing who their Buddy Partner was. Some ran together while others got left behind by their faster partners! It was an eye candy for us as we saw a lot of bloggers and celebrities in this race.

The route was mostly flat except for the portion heading to Lawton. It was there when Per got tired and had to walk a little bit to recover again. By that time, we were over the halfway mark and on-target for a new couple PR but I know that it was still early in the race and things could still go wrong. Thank goodness that did not happen. :)

On the last 2km, Per started to speed up but I told her to slow down as it was a bit far from the finish line. She agreed to it and we went back to our race pace of 7++ minutes/ km. By the last 1km, I told Per that this is it! It is time to surge to the finish line.

REWIND (to exactly a week ago):

Per did her 10km race at the Milo event. She burned out at 9km and had to walk the last 1km to the finish line. She had a terrible finish time (the worst for 2009) at 1: 22. She was disappointed at her performance but was glad she completed it.

FAST FORWARD (from the REWIND) (a little bit to last Friday):

I asked Per what her goal for the buddy 10km run was. She said she was aiming to finish it at below 1:20. I secretly targeted a new couple PR of below 1:16, and IF it was a good day, to go sub- 1:15. I didn't tell Per my secret goal (insert evil laughter).

AND BACK TO THE REGULAR STORY:

We saw the finish line at the next corner. We were running fast and I was surprised by Per's speed but I didn't want to be the one to slow her down again so I stuck to her pace. I went ahead of her so she could chase me down. The big red FINISH balloon was there and we crossed it, stopped our Garmins and walked to get our gift bags! As we walked to get said items, we both heard our names mentioned by the announcer. Wow, this felt great! It was similar to what they do in International Races: calling out your names when you have finished your race!

Per lined up to get the Free Instant Photo while I went back to the car to drop off the heavy duty gift bags and get my camera.


Awarding Stage behind me.

The big red balloon!

10km Finisher!

Drinks I got at the finish line. Hmmm, what to drink? So many choices!!!

Everyone is a winner in this race as evidenced by the overflowing gift pack from Robinson's Supermarket and a complimentary magazine from Women's Health.

So many drinks! Choose your poison!

It's like we went to the grocery! Contents of just one gift pack (and we had two)! Wow!

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This race was definitely worth the Php 350 entry fee for all the stuffs we got from it. We were happy in terms of how it was organized: there were a lot of marshals, drinks (do I really need to point this out?) and separate lines for 5km and 10km runners at the finish line.
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This was one of our most memorable races for the year and we are eagerly anticipating the next Buddy run!

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Oh yeah... I nearly forgot to mention our finish time! Well, we crossed the line, stopped our Garmins and saw that we finished this race at a time of 1:14:54 with a distance of 10.06km. Per's target time achieved! My target time achieved! Goal of new couple 10km PR achieved! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!