FIC Run - Couple 10km Race

This was the first couple race that Per and I did since way back in Sept. 2010 (it was so long ago that I had to re-check on the facts). Prior to this race, Per had joined a few 5km races while I usually did the longer ones. We would then meet at the finish line and share our running highs and lows from our individual races (new PR sets, leg pains, heat of the sun, cold weather, etc.)

But this was double the distance that Per is used to so I agreed to accompany her for this race. I had my camera with me as well so I can take some pictures of this race.

One thing I noticed about the 10km race category is that the back of the yellow race shirts had different advocacies on them and it was interesting to see the different causes this race category was contributing for. I was most curious about the Red Whistle advocacy as runners had red whistles around their necks as well.

The shoes that I wore for this event were Brooks Cascadia 7 Trail shoes, which I am slowly trying to break in but it still felt heavy and I had a hard time running in them. Hopefully, it will be easier when I use it in the Trail run in Tagaytay this coming Saturday.

While I had problems with my shoes, Per had worse problems with her legs and I can see the frustrations in her face at halfway mark (5km) as she had to slow down her running pace and even walk a bit. She said that her lungs were still fine but her legs were giving her some pain. She started to limp a bit too and her running form was out of synch. At one point during or near the 7km mark, a marshal even asked her if she was still okay to continue. This never happened to either of us before so you can imagine the pain she was going through.

There wasn’t much anything I could do to help aside from giving her encouragement and hydration when she asks for it. This is her race after all and only she can decide if she will finish it or not. But she was determined to complete her race and I was there just a few meters ahead of her, hoping that she could use me as her target runner.

By 8^{th –} 9^th km, Per’s leg pain subsided a bit and she was able to go faster. I counted down the distance to Per every 100-200 meters and hoped that it helped her to keep running.

Per successfully finished her first 10km race post-pregnancy and I couldn’t be more proud of her accomplishments. She didn’t reach the time goal that she wanted but given the situation, it was still a great performance.

As is the case for a Runrio races, there were ample hydration areas and we get to choose whether we wanted water or Powerade Orange or Powerade Blue. The route was nice too as it went behind International Schools and around BGC. There was a new part of the usual 10km route as we ran at Burgos Circle as well. The race started quite early too, which was quite good as it avoided the runners from the Summer Heat.

We finished our race early and I was able to add 10 more kilometers after that (and kept bumping into fellow runner blogger Roelle - Daytripped Running Blogspot, during that time).

Pictures I took from my own camera:






new route!



accomplished!
Congrats Per!

We are racing together again! Yay!