Race Review: Pinoy Fitness Sub 60 10km

This is the fourth year that Pinoy Fitness has done this race and unlike other 10km races, there is a time goal here of finishing the 10km distance in an hour or less than that.  Should a runner complete this, he shall receive a finisher medal and a finisher shirt.

But to cater to runners with no time goal or who are just after the distance, Pinoy Fitness had added another category "Walker Fun Wave", wherein once they completed the race, finishers will receive finisher shirt.

There are three wave categories for the sub-1 due to the number of runners interested in this challenge.

When I registered for this race, I opted for the Brooks Wave as figured that the earlier wave the better as air should be cooler and sun won't be out yet.  

I plan to be there by 5:00am at the latest so that I could be at the very front of the wave and save time.  This was the strategy I used in Amcham race.  Here that should be done even more so as the Sub-1 challenge will be based on gun time, and not on your chip time.  So the further back you are from the starting line, the harder it will be to finish within 1 hour from when the race started.

Unfortunately, every runner had the same idea and by the time I got there, I was at the very back of this wave.  It was super crowded and made me re-think whether registering for the first wave was such a good idea when most runners joined this wave, making it the most congested out of all three waves.

There was nothing to do but find a spot and do a little stretching.  The wait didn't last long and pretty soon, the race had started.

Of course, being at the back, I couldn't run yet and walked slowly toward the starting line.  At this time, I was counting the seconds slowly as I knew I can't just be sub-60 but at least 0:59:30 if they were going to follow the clock!  By my count, it took me 20 seconds alone to cross the starting line to start running!

It was a fast start as almost everyone was sprinting!  Everyone had a goal in this race.  Race route took us up BGC before we headed to Kalayaan Bridge.  

This was around 3km and my pace was comfortably below 6 minute per km.  On Buendia Ave, it was easier to run and I was able to speed a little for the time i slowed going up the flyover.  

Daunting was the task of going back up Kalayaan Flyover from Buendia Avenue as it felt steeper and longer.  "Just cross this", I thought to myself and I kept on going.

Back in BGC, there were only 3km to go.  I was running below 6 minute pace but I was worried if that would be enough due to 20 seconds I lost prior to reaching the starting line.  But I thought of an answer for that, and that was to show the marshal my Garmin watch , reflecting both the finish time and distance I ran!  I have proof!  Once I realized that, I became calmer and just focused on my running.

At 8km, I was experiencing some difficulty in running and breathing.  Am I hitting the wall?  But there were only 12 minutes or so to go!  I need to push myself but also careful and do body self-assessments.  I was wheezing more around this time.

Finally, I saw the finish line and sped to the rightmost side of it as that is where my finisher clock was.  So far so good and I crossed the line, out of breath and tired!  But happy especially when the marshal handed me the much coveted finisher medal.

THANK YOU LORD for this!!!

i didn't stay anymore after the race as felt it was too crowded.  Plus I was famished too. 

So I went back to the car, changed clothes to drier ones and had breakfast at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf after.

What a great Sunday morning!!

Pace per kilometer:

1km: 5:44, 2km: 5:34, 3km: 5:50, 4km: 5:47, 5km: 5:44, 6km: 5:59, 7km: 6:00, 8km: 5:58, 9km: 5:52, 10km: 5:31, 200m: 5:11

Water: drank twice in race: At 4th km and at 7km.

Gu gels: none.  Supposed to bring one for race but at last minute, left it in car as didn't want the "added" weight, all one oz. of it. Haha!

Thanks be to GOD, who was with me throughout this race.  I was never alone :)