Saturday, April 17, 2010

Merrell Adventure Run 15k - Race re-cap



And What An Adventure Race!

I would consider this the hardest of all the trail running events I have joined the previous years (King of the Mountain and Men's Health All Terrain Race).

There were the 3km, 5km and 15km categories with specific cut-offs time for each race to get a finisher medal. My race was the 15km race but with cut-off time of 2:45, I thought it would be a sealed deal and another medal for my Xmas Tree Collection! (It wasn't but more on this later).

Race started with an upward climb to... the top of the mountain! What the hell? I hoped this was the most challenging part of the race. (Again, it wasn't). Going down this mountain may be easier for the lungs and leg muscles but one had to be more careful as one small misstep can lead you tumbling off it. Path was small that only one runner can pass through it. But view (once you've caught your breath) was quite nice.

More trail running. More climbing over boulders. Some running on sand (quite hard too but easiest for me compared to everything else). And some river crossing. I thought it was just one river but ended with about 5 bodies of water (rivers, streams and even a place where the labanderas were). It was a cool feeling for the feet but pebbles would just go into my shoes and socks.

At that point, I knew I couldn't reach the cut-off time and my heel pain was acting up again. I was doing more walking than running (but so were most of the other runners....I'm making up an excuse I know!). The best sight out of all this was the WAWA DAM. By the time I got there, a flock of photographers were taking pictures of this area. We went through a few more tunnels for the last 1-2km. And then, I saw the finish line. Yes, it's almost over! But then the marshals guided me AWAY from the finish line and into an area with huge boulders that we had to climb over! GRRRRR!!!! This was torture. This was hard and tiring. And I still haven't removed the pebbles from my damp (from the river) feet.

I was saying ouch the whole time and I didn't know anymore whether it was from the heel pain or from the pebbles. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I finally got back on the road, crossed the main bridge and finished the race.

A time of 3 hours plus plus for a 15km event!!!! Yikes.

And I didn't meet the cut-off time so no medal!!! Double Yikes.

And dirty socks and shoes for the poor maid to clean!!! Triple Yikes

But it was a great experience and quite worth the Php 450 I paid some weeks ago.

Now, I'm hungry again so will look for some food in the house. Need to replenish the lost energy burned at the race (A typical Fatboy excuse!)

See you soon!

P.S. I am soooo glad to be wearing trail running shoes for this event and suggest anyone thinking of joining any trail runs in the future to invest in a good pair of these kinds of shoes! Normal running shoes should not be used for these races. :)











2 comments:

MinnieRunner said...

What trail shoes have you bought for the event? I used my Adidas Trail 16 and it did give me balance. But I guess it is not for crossing the RIVER!!!

Running Fatboy said...

hi minnierunner,

Its North Face shoes which I bought last year pa from a sale. Haha. No idea what model though