NB08: Racing to Taper

The weekend was so action packed, high in mileage and truly calorific. I don’t know where to begin.

Let’s start with the ShoutOuts!

• Kristine – Running will always take you back! Welcome back to racing. Anna – Faster! Stronger 10K! Winner! Derrick – Congratulations on your 1st 10K. Chuchay - GoGirl! Congrats for placing in your age category. No more sleeping for you. Hubert and Smokey – running after each other worked! Kathy – PR ito di ba! Woohoo! Beni – you make racing look so easy.
• Tin – kahit somewhere out there ikaw, congrats on your GK 10K. Mesh and Vicky – PRs with layers and layers of clothes!!! Woohoo! Now did you get me a hug from Brian Sell?!?
• New Balance, Xtribe – thank you for putting up a wonderful race. I am excited to run the next one.
• MALAMIG – ang tubig, ang 100plus at ang weather. Pati yung finisher’s medal malamig. Wagi! 
• Thanks to JunC for the running pix. Opps, DATC, I grabbed one din pala from your blog. Tanx!

Beni, Anna, Kristine, Smokey, Derrick, Chuchay, Kathy and I left Manila early to have a leisurely drive to Clark. After 3 pitstops to buy supplies, we finally arrived at Clark Hostel. We found out that check-in was at 2pm so CoordinatorExtraordinaire Kathy picked up our race packs and RFIDs then we went to down to Friendship road. Then we went up Friendship road and down again. After awhile, we finally found Jun-jun’s. This is our first carboloading session. Not a lot of carbo but we really ate a lot. Jun-jun’s serves the best BBQ. They say that the secret is in the sauce.

 

After lunch we were finally able to check-in at Clark Hostel. Our room was in the annex and was pretty basic but it’s promixity to the starting line was fantastic. This will be the first race where we don’t have to get up really early to get to the starting line.

After having a little nap, Beni, Anna, Kristine and I decided to watch the Kiddie Run and the 5K Fun Run. I have been to a lot of races but never as a spectator so this was again something new and exciting for me. When we got to the starting line, it was very refreshing to see the faces of the 5K runners. The kids have such big smiles on their faces. The starting gun went off with a shower of confetti. Parents, yayas and kids all dashed out of the chute. My favorite runner was a little girl in pink with race bib #96. She was one of the last one out of the chute. She was so excited to join the race but still had time to flash a smile to the spectators cheering for the runners. 

After the kiddie run started, we slowly made our way near the finish line. While walking, I met Vener and Cristy. After exchanging hellos, we continued to the finish line to cheer for the kiddie runners. 

We sat in one of the benches to get good view of the 5K runners as they sprint to the finish line. We watched in awe as the 5K lead pack zoomed away. While we were waiting for the 5K runners to return to the parade grounds, we saw Mark&Tiffin. It was nice to catch up with them. We all watched and cheered as the 5K runners sprinted towards us. After sometime, I saw a familiar face sprinting towards us. It’s Cristy! I had a camera but I of course just started cheering for her and failed to take a photo. Back at the hostel, I found out that she finished 4th. Wow, Mr and Mrs RunUnltd! 

Before dinner, they all decided to have a short run. I passed and opted to do some stretching instead. Carboloading #2 was at C Italian. Panizza, pasta and woodfire chicken, the best!

Race day. RoomieBeni and I slept early so I didn’t have problem waking up. I got out of bed at 3:15 and stepped out to check the weather. The ground was wet and the air was cold. Accuweather said that we were in for a cloudy day and I really prayed that it was an accurate report.

I was out and running by 4:20am.I needed to put in extra 7kms to meet my training mileage. After running 5kms, I decided to stop and met up with the rest of the gang. Near the starting line, I said hello to runner/bloggers Jay, Dindo, Wayne, Jinoe and Wilbert (talagang finally). So many familiar faces at the 25K starting line, I was beginning to wonder who was left running in Manila.

The race started at 5:49 and thank God for that because I really don’t like running in the dark. The Parade Grounds was lit but it was still dark in some areas. 

I have planned how I will run this race. I wanted try running a negative split so the plan was 7:00min/km on the 1st half and 6:45min/km on the return. 6:45 is my target marathon pace and I wanted to practice running at this pace.

Unfortunately, I was not able to factor in the outbound 6km downhill. When we were running the downhill, Kathy and I just decided to run it. This turned out to be good decision because the time we gained the downhills made up for my much slower 2nd half.

The suffering started at km18 and it didn’t stop until km22. I walked a few meters and chatted with a few runners, offered Almonets, distracted myself by waving to the kids sitting on the side of the road and the fences. I was not thinking of giving up … no retreat no surrender … but my walking breaks were getting frequent and longer.

I consider myself very lucky that the runners on my pace where very supportive. Special thanks to Rod for making me resume slow jog on one of the uphills and Henry for pacing with me on the last 3kms. This is one of the few times I couldn’t chatter away. Truly a rare occassion! 

The sight of the parade grounds was like a shot of adrenalin for me. From my 7:49 pace, I covered Km24 in 6:30 and Km25 in 6:07. 

After I crossed the finish line, I knew I had 2 more kms to complete. I walked around a bit first because my calves were so tight. I walked back to the route and was in time to cheer for Beni as she raced to the finish. 

When I was doing my last kms, I saw Jonel, DocJoe and Chito and we started running together. After 3kms, I said byebye to the UltraBoys and headed back to the hostel. I was almost crashing when I reached our room. 

Today my taper period officially begins. I have to admit I am quite relieved that I have done the bulk of my training runs. Now, its the time to give my battered feet time to recover. This is also the time to work on my mental game. 3 more weeks folks!

P.S. The Newtons won’t be going to SG. Soaked with water and sweat and battered with hard running, the uppers which was mostly made out of a meshlike material was not very supportive after 21kms. I felt like my feet were spilling out of the soles, pinkie toes almost brushing concrete. I still love my Newtons but my earlier assessment that for my running form and foot type that they are only good for races up to 15km.