Post Milo Marathon Ramblings

This morning, I went out to do an easy 10km run and although my pace wasn't fast, I felt winded and tired by the 7-8km.  "Only 2-3km to go", I thought to myself as I slowed down to a walking pace.  My, why is this short distance so hard to complete when just less than two weeks ago, I just completed the Milo Full Marathon?  Granted, I haven't been doing much running since that time, putting in just one 5km run the other night and with this morning ran as just my second run for the entire month.

I ended up contemplating on the Milo Marathon event as well (yes, our minds wander whenever we are out on the run and for me that is a good thing).  How did I survive and complete this event within the 6-hour cut off time?  I definitely did more mileage last year when I did the Run United Philippine Marathon and Subaru Marathon and yet in both races, my finish time was past six hours. 

I put in more weekly mileage as well in my other two Milo Marathons - which lead to one finishing at 5:55 and other at 6:09 (and not receiving a finisher medal for it).  Because of the Milo DNF, I stayed away from joining any Milo event for the past three years.  It was a defeating moment for me and I didn't want to repeat it again.  I took the easier way out, still joining marathons but those with very long cut-off time (7 hours or more).  It was always a Just to finish race.

And yet, here I was again on the starting line with my name on my bib and getting ready to complete it.  My training has been erratic as wasn't able to reach the minimum weekly mileage and that hurt me at the latter part of the race.  I wasn't that serious with this race, looking first at vetoing it, to running it but quitting 2/3 of the way and running home (instead of the finish line), to deciding that I should see this race through from beginning to the end (thanks to Per for encouraging me to do so).  Per told me to just finish it and if completed beyond 6 hours, that's fine.  It was still better than quitting and I never quit in any race that I had started (never mind getting feverish or getting sprained during the race).

As my kids sometimes play and wear my finisher medals, the Milo one is the single one I keep away from them.  This one is mine!  Hands off!  I act like that character from Lord of the Rings (my Precciousss) but it is okay and they are happy with the other medals in our room.  Haha!

So what made this one different from all the other Philippine marathons.  Well, this blog entry is brought to you by the letter S:

SPEEDWORK: The one thing I didn't do before as goals before were just to get to the finish line.  This one had an added pressure of getting to the finish line within the gun time of 6 hours.  So I did various speedwork ranging from fast 10 x 200m up a hill, to fast 10km races and sub 2:30 Half Marathons. 

But speedwork were a bonus for me as I did speedwork so I could have faster 10km and 21km races.  This of course, helped me in the Marathon too.

SPINNING:  Rather than do running the entire four months (and get bored from it), I joined spinning classes at Golds Gym too.  It was tiring as well but I always felt stronger in the runs after doing this.  No pressure or weight on the legs, yet it improves in my endurance and stamina.  Aside from spinning, I also play badminton once a week and badminton feels like doing a little speedwork as well.

SALT TABLETS:  I bought a small container of salt tablets from Runnr that had about 30 pieces of it inside.  I had with me about 7 of these capsules as I was at the starting line of the race and took it every 45 minutes to an hour.  I always feel weak with too much liquid in me (from drinking Gatorade and water) and with a lot of sweat from my body, my salt level get depleted.  This helps boost it up again and gives me strength to continue on.

(TRIPLE DECKER) SANDWICH:  Before any race, my go to quick meal is a peanut butter sandwich.  It is still the same now but with one more slice (and one more layer of peanut butter spread in between).  I was so full from eating this that I wasn't able to eat the bananas anymore.  But this also helped as I didn't experience hunger in the race (I usually get hungry at 25 -30km).

SUPPLICATION:   def:  the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.  
I prayed that I can complete the Milo Marathon days before the actual event.  During the event, I said the Lord's prayers every kilometer to honor HIM and lift this race UP to him.  And for that this gave me:

STRENGTH:  At the latter part of the race, when it was the hardest for me, I kept repeating this life verse:

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me.  
I believed HE was there for me and that gave me strength, that I wasn't alone in this race


(No) SUN/ SHADED COURSE:  Forecast of thunderstorm for this morning but none came.  Even better, the sun didn't come out to burn us all out.  So weather was as perfect as it can be!!!  And I believe it wasn't out of pure luck that this happened.

But it still wasn't easy.  My feet and shoulders were painful and I really wanted to sit down a couple of times.  Due to lack of weekly mileage, I felt my legs about to cramp soon (thank goodness that didn't happen).  It was a hard race.  And as I crossed the finish line, and got the much coveted medal and loot bag, I had to sit in the sidewalk and just rest for a while.  I was so tired that I wasn't sure yet if I could drive myself home that day!

And although I was always below the recommended weekly mileage targets (worse as for beginner levels!), I made sure to hit the weekend mileage needed.  So that one I followed and did two 32km runs before tapering off for this race.

Thank YOU GOD for this, without which it would have been impossible for me to finish the race.

Praise to YOU Lord Jesus.

These two medals are my most prized finisher medals for 2016 as both had cut off times to get the prize.  Both hard to attain and therefore more appreciative once attained.

 

Race Review: Yakult 10-miler 2016

As one of the country's oldest running races (superceded by Milo Marathon), this is a race that all runners should do at least once in their lifetime.  Not only will you be giving importance to historical races that are still in existence until this day, but it has a very affordable registration fee vs other Metro Manila races.

For the 10-miler distance, the fee was just P500 and this comes with a finisher shirt, a bottle of yakult and a bottle of Pocari Sweat.

The starting line was at CCP, next to Star City, with gun start at 5:30AM.  We got there with 15 miniutes to spare to do some last minute toilet break, warm up jog and some static stretching.

Parking was easy and going to the starting line was quick too.  Route was pretty straightforward: running along Roxas Blvd. for both sides.  This would be a general flat route except for the two flyovers, which we had to do twice.

I was hoping to beat my PR pace from Fed Run two weeks ago by going faster than that week's race pace of 6:25 minutes per kilometer.  I also hoped to do the last 5km at below 6 minute pace, as it serves as training for the sub-60 PF 10km race in two weeks time.

I planned to start at 6:45 pace and keep it that way, and bring it down eventually.  But today was an especially hot day and that made it harder to accomplish what I wanted for this race.

I was able to do the 6:45 pace for first 11km but as for the 5:59 pace for the last 5km, it wasn't easy.  Effort wise, I was having a hard time here vs Fed Run 16km two weeks ago.  I don't know whether that is a good or bad thing.  On one hand, I was going faster overall as pace was faster but on the last part, pace couldn't hit the sub-6 minute target that I wanted for it.

It was a hot day too and that could be another factor to me having a hard time here.

With 2-3 km to go, I took a quick look at my average pace and saw that it was at 6:25- 6:26 average pace.  I wanted it to be at worst 6:24 pace so I kept going faster.  But was having a horrible experience with this target.  Pretty soon, I hit 6:24 (thank GOD) and just had to keep the pace through the end.

When I crossed the finish line, I was wheezing and panting so much that it seemed that this was my first exercise for the year!!

But by God's grace, I made it to the end and beat my pace from before (which at that time seemed impossible to beat).

Wow, a 6:22 average pace for a 16 kilometer race.  Praise God!

After I had recovered and gotten finisher shirt, Alvin and I went back to the car and I noticed how every piece of clothing that I wore for the race were drenched with sweat.  From the shoes and socks to the shorts and shirt.  More bad news was when I got home and took a hot shower as realized I had chaffed all over my thighs!  It is safe to say that summer is here! And a painful one at that!

I enjoyed the race and the route and I was quite happy with my time and pace.  I hope that I can get stronger and that this will be easier for me in the future.

Pre- run food: one cup of black coffee and one Taiwan pineapple cake

GU gels: one piece taken at 10km mark

Pocari sweat: drank at multiple parts of the race.  Even more than water!

Pace:  1km: 6:27, 2km: 6:44, 3km: 6:44, 4km: 6:40, 5km: 6:39, 6km: 6:50, 7km: 6:41, 8km: 6:25, 9km: 6:33, 10km: 6:08, 11km: 6:24, 12km: 5:58, 13km: 5:59, 14km: 6:05, 15km: 6:04, 16km: 5:26

Two more weeks to go for the PF sub-60 10km race!

Race Review: LEZGO Run 21km 2015

When I heard about this race, I laughed to myself, thinking, "what a cheezy but funny name for a race!".  It just sounded funny (especially if you said it out loud). 

I looked if there were any other races during that same weekend.  There was, which was the 7-11 race, which got me more interested in it as I did it last year too.  But with a 2am gun start for a 21km race, I decided not to register for it as felt that it was just toooooo early for me!!!

"I might as well just do a long run by myself", I thought to myself.  But somehow this Lezgo run just kept coming back to me!  I started exploring the route map (okay Roxas Blvd is generally flat except for the flyovers) and the gun start (okay 4am is waaayyy better than 2am!). 

So last week, I went to New Balance Glorietta and registered for the 21km race.  There were no more singlets available for my size and I got the smallest one that they had (XS!!!).  But never mind that as priority was getting the race bib.  LEZGO for this race.

I was with Per at that time and when she saw the race, she laughed at it too.  LEZGO for this!!!  You got to admit, it was a catchy word and we spent the day using the word for all sorts of situations:  Want to have desserts?  LEZGO!  LEZGO home na?  Okay LEZGO Home! We were enjoying ourselves with it. Hehe

On race day, Per decided to join me in case there were problems with the parking.  Since she didn't register for the race, she volunteered to park our car and just wait for me at the finish line.  Alvin joined too as he wanted to run with me.  So LEZGO for the 21km race!!

We left the house a bit late a 3:30am and drove to Roxas Blvd and to Star City, where the starting line was.  Luckily, the line to the car park was short and I quickly parked there and Alvin and I walked to the starting line.  Per stayed behind to try to get some sleep.

This was my first solo race for the year as I usually ran with Per so it was sort of a self assessment race for me in terms of how strong or how fast I can finish this race.  I didn't have any big goals for this race as I didn't know what to expect from my own performance:  just a 2:35- 2:40 finish time.

My strategy was simply to take it easy on the first 10km, go a bit harder on the second half and try to go fastest on the last 5km.  Weather was nice and cold and not much cars yet at 4am so that was good too. 

Alvin and I proceeded to run at around 7:20- 7:30 pace and I ran more of how I felt and not how I wanted my pace to be.  I switched the view of my Garmin watch as I didn't want to look at the average pace for the entire distance.  Instead I looked at current pace and lap pace.  I felt good but didn't run faster as I was also cautious as things have a way of reversing quickly especially for a race this far!  Alvin was having a harder time as he didn't have anything to eat that morning and at 4km, we parted ways in the race. 

It was just me and the road and my more immediate goal was to reach the 10km mark so that I can take my first GU.  I was looking for any sports drink  at the water stations but all they served was water.  Good thing I thought about bringing two GU with me for this race as back up. 

Eventually, there was a banana station set up and I ate a piece of banana there as I was hungry.  There was also Gatorade served at the latter part of the course but at that time, I just drank water.

During this race, I make it a point to pray to God by saying the Lord's Prayer in various parts of the race.  It gave me strength and I lifted this race up to HIM.  Whatever happens, it is His Will and not mine. 

I kept going after taking my GU at 10km mark.  I didn't go faster though as figured it was still far from the finish line and more than having a good finish time, I wanted to finish strong in this race.  I wanted to finish with a happy look and not one of defeat.  So I controlled my pace and kept going.  I thanked God for making my legs strong and not tight.  But I was starting to get hungry too.  I was starting to feel pain for my feet as well.

I realized that I had to go faster before I became too hungry or feet became too painful that I would walk at the last part of the race. 

My next goal after surpassing 10km was to reach the 15km mark and to race the last 6km to the finish line.  I would keep the last GU as reservation and use if I felt I needed the extra push.  I continued praying.  By praying, I not only honor God but it also served to remind me if I was going out too fast or not.  Luckily, it was still at conversation pace and not out-of-breath pace when I silently prayed to God.

At 15km mark, I thought, okay, now is the time to go faster!  I pressed the button of my Garmin to see my average pace for the race.  It was at 7:15 pace/ kilometer.  In order to do a 2:30 finish time for a 21.1km race, I had to bring average pace down to 7:06 pace/ kilometer.  I had to run faster!!! LEZGO!!!

I pressed button of Garmin again to revert back to the lap pace and new goal for me was to bring all succeeding kilometer paces to below 7 minute if that was possible.  And it was!! Thank God!! 

My split time are as follows:  16km - 6:46, 17km - 6:43, 18km - 6:42.  With only 3km left to go, I took the last GU as it was now or never!  It helped me go faster again:  19km - 6:23, 20km - 6:22.

I had no idea what my average pace was for the entire race and I didn't want to know until I crossed the finish line.  That would be my ultimate assessment!  I had no idea if my last 5km was enough for me to cross the finish line at 2 hours 30 minutes.

 My final goal in that short distance was to try and break 6 minutes pace for the last km!  I had no idea for this one too as I was focused on reaching the finish line as quickly as possible.

I saw Per sitting at the sidewalk and I shouted her name right before I crossed the finish line, where I immediately stopped my watch.

game face on! hehe

The first thing I saw was the current pace, which was at 5:59!  Yes, goal achieved!
Then I pressed Garmin to see my finish time.  What came out was this:

TIME:  2:26:44
Pace:        7:03
Distance:    20.80km


Praise God!  The distance was short 300 meters but with my pace, it was for sure a sub-2:30 race.  I wasn't that out of breath and if the 300 meters was there, I felt I could have lowered my average pace further by 1-2 seconds.

I was so happy and thanked God for being there for me.

What was even surprising was when I got my LEZGO 21km medal and at the back, was inscribe this:

AMEN!  (It felt like God was talking to me directly!) Thank You Lord for the nice weather, strong legs and giving me strength to cross the finish line.

Congrats to the organizer for a well executed race.  Obviously I loved the medal but the finisher shirt was nice too!

Post note:  I wanted to check last time I ran sub 2:30 or pace faster than this and it seems that this did not happen for the year 2014 or 2013!  The last time I ran FASTER in a Half Marathon was in January 2012, more than 3 years ago!!!  God indeed surprised me with this race.  Thank You again Lord!!

Race: Run United 2 32km

My goal for this race was simply one:

JUST TO FINISH!

That simply meant reaching the finish line from the starting line in one piece regardless if I ran or walked the entire way.  Pretty much relaxed way to go about it.  My end goal was simply to complete the Run United Trilogy for this year so that I can get the Trilogy Award at the end of the year (or at the start of the New Year).

No pressure right?

Well a day before the race, I read on Facebook they there is now a 7:30AM cut-off time for all runners!  For the 32km race category, that was a 4 hour 30 minute finish time requirement before roads are open to vehicles.  

Suddenly, I got a headache!  How do I go about this?  I started thinking what my pace should be like, how much GU gels I should take with me, what to eat the day before and the morning of the race.  

It has now become a race to finish it before the cut-off time!

On the race day, there was an update on their Facebook page saying that shuttle buses will leave CAVITEX (where the midpoint is located) at 7:30AM, so there would be plenty of time to get to the finish line before the bus comes and gets you!  But I wasn't sure how strict they were with the cut-off time.  Maybe I might finish after 4 hours 30 minutes, but then there won't be a medal.  Or I do get the medal, but I won't be in the official results.  

I can't let the leniency of the race director be reason for me to slack off during this race as that was the same kind of thinking that lead me to not getting a finisher medal in last year's Milo Marathon (when they became strict with the cut-off vs not being strict two consecutive years previous said race).  Not only was this race riding on my time, but on the entire trilogy too!

Now, add to this anxiety, was my 32km time a year ago which was at a horrible time of more than 5 hours and you get some idea of the stress I was feeling the day before the race.

My goal unfortunately has now been upgraded to

FINISH AT 4:30 OR LESS (GUN TIME).

One good (and surprising) thing was Per offering to drive me to the race.  Wow, I was shocked as I know how much she lacked sleep due to her pumping and here she was, offering me a free ride to the race start.  That would eliminate added stress of finding a parking spot in Luneta Park!  Of course I took that offer and gave my thanks to her!

We left the house 30 minutes before gun start but even with that early departure (or was it late), we had a hard time going there.  The reason?  They closed off Roxas Blvd., to all traffic and we were forced to take the small, tightly spaced service road to reach our destinations.  Of course, there were a lot of cars on this single lane road.  The clock ticked.  Now I am worried about getting to the starting line before their starting line cut off time!

So that meant we had to get there before 3:15am (gun start at 3:00am).  Getting there past 3:15am meant an automatic disqualification!  Oh man!!!!

 This is definitely a race of stresses!

So my immediate goal was  (drum rolls please!):

GET TO THE STARTING LINE BEFORE 3:15AM!

We were caught in traffic once again but I saw more runners so I asked the security guard where Luneta Park was and he pointed to the Philippine flag nearby.  Yes, there it was.  I gave my quick goodbyes to Per, left the car and fast walked to the starting line.  The gun went off while I was still walking and I saw the 32km runners pass me by.  That is okay.  I am going to make it before 3:15am.  Hahaha!

Yes, last goal down!

I started the race around 3:08AM, so I had to mentally compute how much time I had left for the 7:30am cut-off (whether imposed or no).  Getting to race a tad later meant you had to run a tad faster as well!

The route for this race was different from all other Run United races of this year or that of previous years in that it started from Luneta Park (or Kilometer Zero) and headed toward CAVITEX for the U Turn back to where the starting line was.  A pretty straightforward route and one I liked.  Of course it still involved going up two flyovers twice but for most of the way, it was nice and flat.

Having the race start at 3am was good too in that we would be able to avoid the sun for at least the first half of the race.

What was unfortunate was that their banana stations ran out of bananas quickly so I had to make do with Gatorade and water (all cold Thank God) and my packed GU gels.

My pace was good in the beginning but at the second half, I was getting weaker and running slower.  My back was hurting at the last one third of the race and my feet were sore from running.  Still, I kept going because of the fear of not making it to finish line.

I slowly counted down the last kilometers and looked at my watch.  Looks like I am going to make it!

I crossed the finish line at 4:15:40 gun time (with chip time at 4:12:15), got my medal and finisher shirt!  And made it to all my goals!  Praise GOD!

Chip time wise I ranked 1262 out of 2794 runners with a 45% percentile!  AWESOME!!

Better news was me beating my last year's time by nearly AN HOUR!  

THANK YOU LORD!

Some bad things though:
 1.  Ran out of bananas twice!  So didn't get a chance to eat it.  The last banana station was near the finish line so I decided to forego it and just finish the race.

2.  Slower second half of the race.  Positive Split.  BOO!

3.  Back hurt.  Feet hurt.  And I couldn't walk properly for the next two or three days.

But even with this, I gained so much more from a good time in this race.  Thank you Per for deciding to drive for me even though I didn't ask of it (was that the Holy Spirit talking to you?).  Thank You God for keeping me safe the entire time.

Next race:  Independence Day 50km!  GULP!

Extreme Back to Back Race!!

RACE # 1 - OUTBREAK MISSIONS INTRAMUROS 5KM


Considering this is an Outbreak Mission, there are less running and more walking but it was still a tiring one as we walked on the uneven walls of Intramuros, do quick sprints as we try to avoid the Zombie Horde and try to solve the mission.

Our race started around 9:30PM...

at the beginning

 And we were a team of 5, but one of the rules of the game was to group ourselves into 10-15 members so we found two more groups and designated ourselves as TEAM CHOPSUEY!

Immediately after we were released into the Zombie Infestation, we all ran separately as we would do our best to avoid their Zombie hands on our precious "red tape" lives.  It lasted two minutes and most survived with all three red tapes intact.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case for Per as she lost all three lives in that two minutes.  How that happened we had no idea!  She was dead in this game!

But at least she had no pressure to run against the zombies!  Haha!

There were a few more attacks inside the walled city and there was a new gimmick as well:  we would follow the red light on the ground and we would be safe.  Of course we didn't expect the red light to disappear mid-way and there was a big panic as zombies headed toward our direction! 

As in previous Outbreak Races and Missions, casualties were bound to happen and one of our team members fell to the ground early on and cut her knee and elbow.  There were also some people who couldn't handle the stress and wanted to quit the game altogether.

So from 9:30pm start in a 5km race, we ended at 12 midnight!  Two and a half hours!!!

team Chopsuey

Luckily Alvin found an extra life and gave it to Per, who needed it badly  This time she kept it intact till the game was over and got a dog tag out of it.

Definitely not the end!

We haven't eaten anything yet for dinner so off we all went to Binondo for some authentic Chinese food!

Forgot the name of this place but it was really really good!  Thanks Alvin for the nice recommendation!

After having our midnight dinner, it was time to go home, take a shower, and sleep for two hours because at 5:45AM, it was time for

 RACE # 2 - TAKBO NG PAMILYANG MANILENO 10KM

 My legs were tight from Outbreak and I lacked sleep.  Still, I managed to wake up at 4AM and took that as a sign that I could do a 10km race.  Not sure on the pace though as I wasn't 100% that morning.

I wanted to at least do a sub-7 minute per kilometer pace all throughout the race and beat my 7:34 average pace that I did in a 10km race last January. 

Even with the tight legs which thankfully got looser at the second half, I was able to maintain a 6:45 average pace and even brought it down to 6:31 average pace and do a negative split!  I beat my previous 10km record for the year by more than 10 minutes!

PRAISE GOD for this!

Too bad I didn't make it to the top 100 finishers for the10km category and lost my chance to get one of the finisher shirts but it was still a fun event!

10km Route Map

two conquered races over the weekend!

Of course with all the running and lack of sleep, I ended up sleeping for more than 10 hours Sunday night!!

Thank God for keeping me healthy, safe and strong!


Thanks Alvin for the ride to Luneta and for the race kit for Sunday's Run!

Race: Yakult Run 10-miler 2014 Edition

Yakult Run is an almost annual event (there was a year where they didn't hold the race) and has been here for quite some time.  In fact, last Sunday was its 25th edition.  I had hoped that there would be a special finisher medal to commemorate this event but sadly that wasn't the case.

But the registration fee for 10-miler (16km) was affordable at Php 500, and with that fee, we got a good race, a red singlet, a cotton finisher shirt and a small bottle of Yakult at the finish line.

It was still a good race as course took us to both directions of Roxas Blvd., before the final turn to where the finish line was located.  Too bad it was short 600 meters! 

The kilometer markers were also put at the wrong locations (the first few were 300-400 meters more than where the actual km markers should have been and the latter were short 400 meters to where the km markers should have been - verified by my and my sister's Garmin separately). 

There were ample water here but no sports drinks offered, which was fine as race wasn't that long.  I also had one emergency GU gel with me, to which I consumed at the last 5km, where I would try and go faster than my average pace.

My goal for this race was to get a 6:50 average time, so that I could beat last year's pace of 6:54.  To do that, I have to maintain a 7:00 minute average pace at the first part of the race and go down further at the last 5km.

I had to choose wisely where I will drink my water because there were some stations that lines were long and would mean losing seconds or minutes in this race.  There were also some stations where the crew were still busy filling up the plastic cups so that was something I had to skip as well.

I was able to maintain my pace and when the time came where I had to go faster, I ate the GU gel I had with me and went out at a faster speed.  This worked for me until I felt pain in my right shoulder and lower back.  But I resisted the pain or the temptation to slow down because of the pain and kept going at the pace that I wanted.

I crossed the finish line at 1:45:19, with an average pace of 6:50.

GOAL ACHIEVED!

THANK YOU LORD!

Happy finishers

Milo Marathon 42k - Quest for the medal

From a very close shave at last year's Milo Marathon Finals 21km event, wherein I finished at a time of 2:29:52, 8 seconds from the official cut-off time of 2:30, and got myself my very first Milo Finisher medal, comes another challenge for this RUNNING FATBOY:





A very close shave!


....Milo Marathon - Manila Eliminations 42km with a cut-off time of 6:00:00 (average pace of 8:31).


Good luck to me! And good luck to all participants for this race. I heard that it is the biggest one to date with over 38,000 participants (more than 25,000 for the 5km leg alone).


GOD BE WITH US THIS COMING SUNDAY!

Run Rizal 16km - Sept 18, 2011

These were the only photos I spotted of myself via Facebook. Oh well, I guess it's (a LITTLE) better than nothing.

I haven’t been joining races for a month now and that’s saying a lot as I usually join on a weekly basis. But with the slow time I had in Run United 2 last August 21^st, it was time to take things down a notch and focus on real “training” care of Ultramarathoner friend Alvin.

Being out of commission so to speak made me excited to join for a race again. Unlike my other road races wherein I always start my race late, this time around, I was there a few minutes before gun start and was able to do some warm up walk and stretching as well. How’s that for improvements?

The course for this 10-miler race starts from Luneta Park (where the Rizal Monument is located) and heads out to Buendia Avenue via Roxas Blvd. but instead of going up the flyover, we turned right and ran on Diosdado Macapagal Avenue for the U Turn near Coastal Mall and retraced our steps back to where the starting line was. I pretty much liked the route given that there were a few turns made, no flyovers to climb on, and gave me the motivation that I needed for the last few kilometers (kept imagining the finish line to be right in front of us).

There were ample water stations and a few Pocari Sweat drinks were given out along the route as well. At the start till the end of this race, I was having pains from all over my body. From the calves and shins to just the calves and once that disappeared, pain went to my left knee and right shoulder. It was strange but I was able to deal with it and kept on going. Breathing was important for me (more so for the last 4 kilometers when I was exhausted and just wanted the race to be over) and wearing my barefoot shoes for this distance took more effort as well (no cushioned heel landing when I’m tired). At this stage, I was running for a few seconds at a time with my eyes closed (and missing my comfortable bed)! But I kept going (hard to stop especially with the hard stares I’m getting from Alvin) and even skipped the last few water stations to try and finish this race as quickly as possible.

And finish it I did at a pace wherein I was out of breathe, dizzy and about to vomit (but didn’t) and at a good time too. I was able to beat my 15km PR for 2011 with a 26 second faster pace (6:57). So this is what racing feels like!

After crossing the finish line, I received my 19^th finisher medal for 2011 and a loot basket composed of vitamins and supplements samples. The loot basket was taken by my wife but the unique Rizal medal will be mine to cherish!

Thanks to Alvin for pushing me for the near 2-hours time on the road. Now it's time to vomit!

Finish time here (according to my Garmin): 1:50:57

A very unique medal! Won't happen again in any of our lifetime!

2nd year of RUNNING! - my top 10 races

It has been two years already for this RUNNING FATBOY! Has it been this long? As they say, time flies when you're having fun!


2nd YEAR OF RUNNING
FROM NOV 2008 – OCT 2009

TOP 10 RACES

The top 10 races isn’t categorized based on which is the best race in terms of starting on time, having kilometer markers, having sufficient water stations and marshals, having good gift packs, quick race results, accurate course distance etc. but rather it is ranked on which races are most memorable for me as a person first and as a runner second. So here it is, in NO PARTICULAR ORDER, my top 10 races from Nov 2008 to Oct 2009


November 16, 2008 – Clark 25k (Php 550) – 3 hour 03 minutes 26 seconds (25km PR)
This was Janine and my longest distance race when we joined it. I had a big phobia of burning out here as that was what happened to me a month ago for a race that was 4kilometers shorter. Good thing I was more careful this time around. I survived the race and got my second finisher medal. More importantly, this was a race where a lot of our friends tried their hand at running. They did the 5km on a Saturday with us supporting them. On our race itself the cool weather, out-of-town experience, accurate distance and the very nice singlet and medal made this an automatic favorite for all of us!



March 22, 2009 – Condura 21km (P500), 2:15:09, 21.1km (Half marathon PR)
First run on the Skyway. That alone was unforgettable! It was an exciting race with very nice shirts and finisher medal. The shirt was even better for me as this year I went to see the whale sharks in Donsol. Condura made it to my top 10 years two years in a row!!! That shows the quality and commitment they gave to the annual Condura race. I also got a half marathon PR (and up to now, still unbeatable)!



April 19, 2009 – Greenfield Sta Rosa, 21km (P 500) - 2:17:28
Kudos to Coach Rio and Vince for putting an out of town race with free shuttle bus service for those people who have no access to Sta. Rosa. Registration is easy as well, as runners can do it via the internet. The torched route, the surprise finisher medal and lots of water for that hot day made this an experience worth doing again. Photovendo service was a nice addition to this race too!


May 30, 2009 – Adidas Night Marathon 42k, Singapore (Php 1,938), (New 42k PR - 6:31:34)
Although I had a very, very bad experience here, it still made it to the list because I am happy to have survived it. It was my first full marathon and the course passed through trail roads, lakes, overpass bridges, and had a lot of people doing the full or the ultra marathon. They also had a movie marathon for the supporters of the race that ran from midnight till 7AM. I super loved the finisher medal because of its massive size and because I worked really hard to earn it (not just for the race but for all the long runs I did to train for it). The finisher shirt was something I can wear proudly too. Of course, I also ordered the photo certificate and had it framed as a memory of this very tiring 24-hour episode in Singapore (finally slept after 26 hours of being awake! - Darn that shopping!).



July 19, 2009 – Globe Run, 21km (Php 300): 3:09:17 – new couple 21k PR
Good chip timer. Nice free photovendo photos. New course as it passed through Ayala Avenue. But what made this race extra special for me was that it was the first 21km race for Per. She, with no training whatsoever. She, who promised before not to run anything longer than 15km and just go back to 10km again. She, who joined this race out of impulse (2 days before) and had a super strong finish. I was proud of her and she amazed me by her endurance. After this race, the possibilities for her became endless.

Close to this was July 12, 2009 - Robinsons Fit Buddy Run 10k (Php 700 for two): 1:14:54 - new couple 10k PR
It was great joining this race but the best part was when it was over and our names were announced as we crossed the finish line. We got a new 10k Couple PR that time, some free photos and a mega sized gift pack from the Robinson Group. We felt like champions after bringing home said gift pack! Well Done!



August 15, 2009 – Kenny Run 15k (Php 600): 1:39:14
Last day as a bachelor run! “Crazy!” “Seriously??” “What is wrong with you?” These were just some of the reactions I got when I first mentioned it to my friends. But they weren’t my “running” friends. The running friends gave these answers “Hell yah!” “I’m Game!” “Put me in 15km.” and these are people who have a role in my wedding! Unfortunately, one runner was injured after the race (note the word AFTER!). Ahem. Good thing said person was able to walk down the aisle the following day (not the bride at least...Phew). Hehe. First Philippine night race. Nice black and white singlet material. Good food at Kenny’s. Free surprise photos at Photovendo (surprise because none of us saw where the cameras were).



December 28, 2008 – Kappa 10k Run, Hong Kong (HK$ 160 = Php 1,025.60) – 1 hour, 1 minutes, 48 seconds (Foreign run)
Hong Kong run! Nice shirt. Nice view! Very cold weather as running in the mountains. First time running in Hong Kong too so it was a memorable experience running on unfamiliar terrain.


December 7, 2008 – Yakult 10 Miler (Php 150) – 1 hour 36 minutes 23 seconds (10 miler PR and 15km PR too)
Simple but efficient. Loved the flat route. Happy that this even beat my existing 15km PR to think its 1 km longer! Price is super cheap too for a long race and lots of water stations here.
Similar to this would be the Milo 21km (Php 150 + Milo packs) as used the same route, had cheap price and lots of drinks too!



Oct 18, 2009 – QC Half Marathon 21k (Php 500) – 2:29:21
As it is another race by Rio, I know there won’t be a problem with regards to water stations here. The finisher medal was huge! The new route is fantastic and took us to Commonwealth Avenue where there were 4-5 open lanes reserved for runners only. Plus, the unbelievable fast Kenyans added to the attraction of this race. You will definitely run where the Kenyans run!


Oct 25, 2009 – Adidas Half Marathon 21k (Php 500) – 2:18:11 (Foreign Run)
Finally, we were able to join this race after missing it last year and it was wonderful. Aside from the great looking Adidas yellow shirt, it was very festive with 7,000 runners for the race. The route was wonderful as it headed towards Buendia and there were a lot of cheerleaders motivating you to keep going forward. That they were from my Alma Mater did not hurt too.


Pictures below on some of the Top 10 races we joined for the year:

For my first year of running and top 10 races for that time, copy and paste the link below to another webpage:


http://runningfatboy.blogspot.com/2008/11/numbers-game.html

Milo Finals 21k (Oct 11, 2009) - Post Race

I registered for this for two reasons:

1. I needed to do a long run with a total distance of 32km

2. The race I originally registered for: Celebrity Run 21km, moved its race to December 20th. And I still need to look for another race with a 21km distance, hence the Milo 21km.

Per ran out of 10km slots here and rather than registering for the 21km and having a DNF record, we decided instead to run early morning before the start of the 21km. Jason wanted to join as well and at 4:30AM, we've parked at our spot and started our runs. We ran along Roxas Blvd till the 3.5km, then ran back to the starting line.

Unfortunately, before we could reach the starting line, the 21km runners were off. We were so late! Good thing, this was the first time Milo used Chip Timer technology (care of Rio) and still maintained its registration price of Php 150! So, there is no pressure for me to chase after the runners knowing that I can see my results in net time or Gun time.

By the time I've started, there were only a handful of runners on the course. Most were late comers like my friends Rico and Neil and I had a blast hanging out with Rico at the early part of the run.

There were ample Gatorade and water stations and I noticed how long the tables were and that there were appropriate trash cans to throw away your paper cups once you've used them. The weather was perfect and as in previous runs, I liked the flat course in this race.

So far so good!

By 10km of the race, I took out my first GU and finished it. I kept running at a steady pace.

Things were on my side as got the cheap NB 903 shoes that Neil bought for me and the not so cheap compression pants I bought at Runnr store in Fort Bonifacio. Both items never worn before. Both needed for my November 8th Full Marathon. Both used that Sunday as a test run, no pun intended.

Along Buendia, I met the very cheerful people of Rainier and Takbo.ph and their cheers uplifted my spirits and made me smile. I got a cup of oranges and continued my run to the turning point, to which I came back to the aids station and got myself a cup of bananas. Que and Jinoe, good job! You guys deserve a pat on your backs for the efforts you made to make sure each runner feel they could finish their individual races.

I got back to Roxas Blvd., expecting to get tired anytime now. After all, this was what happened to me at the last Milo Half marathon so it's likely to happen again. Anytime now... 4km to go... its coming when you least expect it... 3.5km to go... took my 2nd GU reserve knowing I still had to run an additional 4km after the racce.... 2km to go.... wow, it is so near and I feel strong... I'VE NEVER FELT STRONG RUNNING THIS DISTANCE!....1km to go... I see the place where the race started...500meters... Turning point away from Roxas and heading into Quirino Grandstand... Crossing finish line! Awesome! The tiredness did not come!

My 21km race was my worst time ever at 2:33:40 (with pace of 7:17). Even compared at the last Milo 21km where I burned out and ran-walked the last 3km, this race was even slower than that one. But I didn't care as I have completed 28km and not yet sore or tired. Another 30 minutes went by running the last 4km and for some reason I was still strong. It was my worst 21km performance but my BEST 32km performance and that is the important thing here.

Factors that helped me were of course, the new pants and shoes. I loved the pants. Wearing it the entire time, my socks were dry for the first time (and hence no blisters) and no knee pains at all. Very worth my investments into it. Big thanks also to Alvin for giving me a target pace, letting me have my rest days and for letting me know how valuable a Negative split is. Thanks to Per and Jason for the company pre-race and to Sheerwill for the compny during the race. All of you guys made this my best 32km long run experience so far.

Another bonus - fast race results with my gun time in line with my Garmin and the tons of free photos by Photovendo. I got 40 shots! Wow!!! Also liked the gift packs they gave at the finish line. For Php 150, this is the best race in terms of value of money. Since I started running, I haven't missed a Milo Manila race and looking at keeping that tradition going forward!



Very happy in this race! The opposite to what I felt at the last Milo race.


Fun chatting with Sheerwill

Few meters from the finish line.

Performers at the Milo stage

Neil's first 21km run! Keep on running my friend..

The support of THE Mrs. Even knowing I had to do a long run, she still chose to accompany me at the race and read a book while I finish my task. Thanks Per! That meant a lot to me :)

'till the next race - QC in a few days. See you there!

Milo Marathon 21km Race (July 5, 2009) - Post Race

July 5, 2009 - Milo Qualifying Race for the Milo Finals in December 2009. This is the perfect event for the elite marathoners who want to race against the best and fastest runners in the Philippines. To qualify, they must finish a marathon in under 4 hours to be able to run again in December. This is also a good race for first time marathoners as it is well organized (it is after all the country's oldest road race).

As for me, I chose the shorter distance but longer than the previous two Milo races I have joined in 2008. Yes, this was the third Milo race that Per and I joined and every time we did this race, the experience was always different.

IT'S FLASHBACK TIME !!!!! TIME SPACE WARP!!!

June 2008 - Per and I wanted to try our first Milo race having joined already a couple of road races. Per will go for the 5km and I will go for the 10km. We left the house early but I made a mistake of going through Buendia to get to Luneta. They closed off this road for the marathon and I was forced to re-route to get to the destination. Parking was terrible and by the time I got to the starting line, the race had already started (some 10 minutes ago). It was raining hard too and with the strong rain, Per decided to go back to the car and did not start her race. I had a good time running in the rain (my first) but got bad finish time due to 10-minute "lost" time. Felt like a kid again as first time ran in the rain since like forever!


December 2008 - It was Milo Marathon Finals but found out that they also have 5km and 10km events for this race. Per wanted to redeem herself from her first Milo experience. To make up for the 5km race she didn't run last June 2008, she will run double the distance (10km). Since she wasn't that comfortable yet with this longer distance, I will run with her the entire time and we will aim for a couple PR. We finished the race. We had a good time. And we got a couple PR! Awesome!

Learned also from past mistake by a) leaving house earlier and thereby getting ample time to get to Luneta, b) passing through Pasay instead of Buendia and c) having a secret parking spot near the starting line. Awesome times three!

That was a good day! Redemption for Per and me.

END OF FLASHBACK TIME! TIME SPACE WARP TO PRESENT TIME!

July 5, 2009 - Followed the previous rules and got to Luneta some 10 minutes before my race will begin. The organizers have now put in a half marathon event with a cut-off time of 2 hours and 30 minutes. With three half marathons under my belt already, I figured I could do this and reach the cut off time.

But I haven't been training for this race so this will be a relaxed run with goal of reaching finish line before the cut-off (don't know how strict they are with regards to this but didn't want to find out the ugly way - being picked up by shuttle bus). Per will do another 10km but this time, she will be running by herself only.

As expected, 21km race started 5 minutes before the scheduled time (at 5:25AM) and I ran at easy pace. Half Marathon route was pretty simple - A run along Roxas Blvd going over two flyovers and going back where runners will make a right turn to Buendia and keep running there. Prior to the Buendia flyover, runners will make a U-Turn and head back to Roxas and go towards the finish line at Quirino. For the 10km runners, route was simpler - a run along Roxas Blvd with a U-turn after flyover and head back to the finish line at Quirino.

Aside from having a 21km event here which didn't happen in previous Manila race (as far as I know), there are now Gatorade and banana stations situated on the route. Water stations are there every 2km as well so this was quite organized. My only gripe is that the people at the Gatorade stations will only pour Gatorade in cups when runners stop there. Why didn't they do this before we arrived at their stations? That would save a lot of time for us. People were lining up just to wait for their cups of lemon lime Gatorade! At least it was refreshingly cold! There were also sponges handed out and water trucks to spray the runners passing by it.

On my performance, I was good for the first 10km, doing a steady 6 minute ++ pace the entire time but after surpassing the half way point, my pace got slower and I had to do a LOT of walk breaks. I was tired and far from the finish line. I kept on running with some walk breaks but lack of long runs hit my performance. Luckily, I was able to make it to the finish time before the curfew (barely) and got a time of 2:28:45. Phew! I was still disappointed as this was my worst half marathon time for 2009 but realized that I wasn't really pushing myself to begin with and I still achieved my goal here. I will try to do less walk breaks in the upcoming Globe Half Marathon which I registered for.

Half Marathon Finisher!

At the finish line, I got a loot bag filled with above food and drink items and a Finisher Certificate. For registration fee of Php 150.00, this was worth it! No wonder, we keep going back to Milo races!

As custom for previous Milo races, there were booths for Milo drinks to which I lined up and got two cups. I then headed to the car and see how Per fared in her 10km race.

The good news is: she finished her 10km race. Yay! The bad news is: she had a hard time finishing it! Similar to me, she was at race pace for first half of her race (I even saw her and we were both smiling and exchanged high fives). Then, she got tired and slowed down a bit. Ending with what she describes as "zombie walk" at last 500 meters to 1 km to the finish line. It was a worst 10km time for her for 2009 (again, similar to me). Her gripes was lining up for Gatorade and that there were no water at the finish line.

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The important thing here was that we both finished our races and learned some lessons behind that race. This event was very organized with marshals stopping traffic for us to pass by, lots of water, and new route for me! This was my first half marathon to be done from Luneta too! If there will be another Milo Half Marathon, I will definitely join it again.

Takbo Para sa Kalikasan Race - March 8, 2009 (post race)

Not enough sleep for this race! I had exactly 3 hours of sleep so wasn't up for this event. I would rather forfeit the entry fee, but I can't because I wanted to be there for my friends, who will be doing their first fun run ever.

So I finally got out of bed, turned on the TV, woke Per up, fixed my things, ate a small granola bar, drank some water, put Coleman and gym bag in the car, drove to Per's house, picked her up and drove to the venue, where we found a nice parking space. Time was approximately 5:30AM when we got there.

We met my friends and they seemed eager to run. Place was already filled up with people with the 10km runners at the front, 5km runners in the middle, 3km runners at the back part, and some other runners (including Coastal Guards) at the very back. Neil said since we didn't have any race numbers, we had to start from behind the 3KM runners, regardless of what distance we would be doing for that race! Oh man! I didn't want to be left behind the 10km runners as I didn't know the race route!!!! :(

The race started a little after 6:00AM with the 10km runners speeding off. I saw them depart and couldn't resist NOT joining them so I said a quick goodbye to my friends and looked for a way to get to the starting line. Too bad, I got lost here and went to the 3km starting area instead! I had to leave it and look for the 5km runners starting point. By this time, the announcer gave the 5km runners the Go signal as well. Good thing I found my way in and ran off, pressing my Garmin watch to activate timer once I've crossed the Starting Line.

Getting out of Quirino Grandstand was hard given the parked cars, tight roads and the hundreds of runners in between you and Roxas Blvd. But once I've gotten out, it becomes easier to run as the organizers closed off the entire road.

I got to my normal race pace quickly and just kept on running. It was a sea of yellow as most 5km runners were wearing the official singlet for this race. I was one of the few who didn't wear it and decided to wear my Nike Human Race shirt for the sole purpose that it would serve as my race number for this event.

I passed by the 3km turning point and after running for a couple of minutes, I saw the 5km turning point, where a lot of runners stopped at the water station there. I decided to skip that one (eventhough I was thirsty) and just continued towards the next water station, which was at the 10km turning point and after the flyover.

At least I was able to catch up with the 10km runners so that offered some relief for me. But I shouldn't have been afraid of getting lost as I found out that the route was a simple run along Roxas Blvd for all race categories. This course was quite similar to the Milo races but this was better in that the measured distance was at 10.07km so it was accurate vs Milo's 10km race where our distance was at 10.40km (Milo's official time results were adjusted downwards to reflect the 10km distance).

I was getting tired but just kept thinking to myself how near I am to the finish line and that kept me going. I was counting down the last kilometers until I made the turn off Roxas and into Quirino grandstand, to which I saw the finish line. The marshal was shouting "10km runners to the left, 5km runners to the right". Upon seeing me without a race number and without the official singlet, he shouted that I should go to the far right. I shouted back that I ran out of race numbers and just kept going to the left lane (much to his dismay), where I finally crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin timer.

Per was there waiting for me as she decided to do the 5km race instead. She got a new 5km PR of 34 minutes but was disappointed as she was aiming for 30 - 32 minutes. Still, a PR is a PR.

I didn't have any "real" goals for this race as just here for my friends but figured I can finish this one in under an hour. To which I did at a time of 57:56 minutes. My average race pace was at 5:45 minutes/ km, 1 second faster than my PSE Bull Run. But my PSE Bull Run will still be my PR at a time of 57:08.

Why the huge discrepancies? It's because of the distance finished: PSE had distance of 9.89km (I stopped my timer early due to looooooooooongggg line at finish line) vs Kalikasan distance of 10.07km. So PSE will still be my 10km PR even if average race pace point to this race!

On race itself: There were a total of 3 water stations, put in at every 2.5km distance so that was adequate enough. There were Pocari Sweat bottles handed out at the beginning and ending of the race. The yellow singlet fit me as Neil was able to exchange my XXS to XXL (or as I call it: the Running Fatboy size). No runners got lost as route was pretty easy and straightforward (figuratively and literally speaking!). All in all, even with the weird registration last week, race was good for me and Php 150 does seem cheap now (as most races are at P300 these days).

Neil and Marina had a good time in their 5km race and looked at doing some more races in the future. Unfortunately, their nephew Kyle didn't enjoy his run and shuddered at the thought of joining any more races!

We've decided to give him the one race certificate I got as he deserved it more than any of us (as he is just in Grade 4 and 5km is a long distance to run for a kid his age).

I'm quite happy that all of us were able to finish our races injury-free. :)


Yellow Team (Kyle, Marina) Vs Red Team (Per, me)!

RFB with college friend Neil

couples shot

RFB with the first timers. One resigned from this sport while the other two might come back.

Here's hoping Kyle will still change his mind in the future !