Be Cool Runner

It was a really lonely race for my first 21k, first of all I went there with no running buddy my lone running buddy is in camsur ironman, I met a few people I know but I dare not pace them, their freaking fast, ben chan and some MTR participants last year.

I had the goal of just finishing, despite the fact I felt like i’m really slowing myself for the first 10k, thinking I will do a negative split, somehow I did pretty bad on the second half, for one I was exactly the lone runner between  all the fast ones and the really slow ones. the first half was a little fun coz I can still see runners ahead of me, and some runners at my back, I finished it 1hr 11mins, just about my regular 10k run. But the second half all those runners must have run pretty darn fast I totally lost sight of them, and the runners at my back must have run pretty darn slow that it was just me and my waterboy in a motorcycle, I just felt really lonely starting 14k, people in the sidewalks started yelling “Last ka na?” I just lost my adrenalin during this time, I kept looking at my garmin and it was like a really long process of getting from 14k-15k…each 100meters felt like a mental torture, physically I’m fine, my legs a bit heavy but mentally I felt like a loser, constantly doing math on whether or not I can make cut off. my pace from 6:30min/k at start of turn around turned to 8:30-to as low as 9 mins, and this is where I lost a lot of time. So I did a 1hr 11mins first and 1hr 28 second pretty bad, to think that the second part was downhill.

Seeing that I have 30 mins to run a 5k to make cut off I tried picking up the pace, but that was it, not much juice left felt like I was alone doing long runs. I finished the race 2hr 39 mins, not making Milo cut off, and felt really bad knowing I can do a 1hr 10k in my trainings, but then again I didnt work on my long runs maybe that’s why. But at the brighter side of things I finish my first 21k, and they were nice enough to give me certificate and giftpack..YES!!!

And I fullfilled a personal goal to run the Milo 21k this year.

Pro’s on Milo

Lots of participants on the 10k, 5k and 3k, cheap registration

Cons

Less than 100 runners in 21k I think, and not much recreational runners, mostly qualifiers.

Maybe three water stations that are really far apart.

98 percent concrete roads.

First Truly Pinoy Triathlon
Organize By: Provincial Government of Albay
Headed by: Councilor Celoy Chan, of Legazpi City Government
An Event for the Magayon Festival last April 24, 2009

This is probably one of the CRAZIEST and MOST FUN triathlon event in the country, actually I’m not sure it can be called a triathlon event, check out the photos and tell me..

First Event.. 85km biking around the base circumference of Mt Mayon Volcano.

Second Event: 2.6km Extreme River Running in Yawa River

Third Event: 2.6km River Tube Riding/Drafting or whatever you wanna call it.

Note: Special Award given to best Tire Tube Design

Fourth Event: 4.5km Pagulong – truly Pinoy style! Running with tire tube

GAME NA KAYO FOR NEXT YEAR?

I think i look more wasted during botak race than during the happy run, hehe

Botak 5k was a tougher race for me, I dont know if going to Manila too early for the race actually affected my performance, lacking sleep and training, but nevertheless I think I did good knowing I probably broke my PR. I was planning to do negative splits, but somehow I thought it’s a 5k might as well go all out.

After the happy run race results I figure I should pace some woman runners who are up front. Coz somehow most of them will be at the 25-28 min race pace and sub 28 mins is my goal. So I picked a fast lookinh 10k woman runner to pace.

So I went fast for the first 2kms and it sort of burned me out that when I reach my 3km up to the time they hand out baller bands for 5k I had to slow down, it’s like a wall I never thought existed for a 5k race, it is also the time I felt like I’m not gonna make sub 28mins and runners I’ve pass started catching up with me, maybe 20 runners or more got pass me that time, even saw an old guy run pretty fast, it was when I reach km 4 that I looked at my watch and saw 22 minutes which gave me my second wind knowing that I can make sub 28 if I go a little faster, I started running fast again, right up to about 100meters from the finish line I can see 27 in the timer and I was really excited, but suddenly there’s this girl coming up really fast behind my back and started running head to head with me and the crowd was really cheering her, for that brief moment it wasn’t just a race for PR, it was a race with this unknown runner stealing my place in history.. hehe being a sprinter back in my previous life of soo long ago, I found the last few drops of energy to go all out and sprint the stretch, for that brief moment it was just me and my heart pounding, the crowd was tuned out, I was in the zone, I’m not giving this up I repeated it over and over in my head, and somehow I WON!!! yeeeees! but amidst the excitement I forgot to stop my timer.

Well after the race and downloading my heart rate race data on my pc, I think I probably made sub 28 mins, probably in the 27mins 20 secs to 27 mins 50 time, I still have to wait for race results to really know, but I’m really crossing my fingers I made sub 28mins which was my goal. I also made a new MAx HR at 197, something I couldnt achieve before something that was just at 191 a few months back.

Next goal: race a 10k or further reduce 5k time..sub 26?? hehe now that is a bit ambitious, but if I cant do it in the next few months hopefully before the year end   and I still have my 30k while I’m 30 years old.

It’s my first race, well my first legitimate one since my bandit run at Milo 5k last year.

Date January 25, 2009

Venue: Fort – a great place to run, it’s good to my joints too, I expected the first 5 minutes to be somewhat of a torture, since I had only about two hours of sleep the night before(was too excited), but somehow I just got into the rhythm and started running fast. i think the well paved roads are just amazing. Compared to where I run in Legazpi, now I feel like rocky on training, I need to train more on pave asphalt roads.

Organizer – 5 stars! I think they got everything right. Freebies, certificate of finish, water stations, Krispy kreme donuts and banana! wow! it’s just amazing.

Parking – I felt the parking was pretty secure, and it was just near the event.

Personal record : did my 5k- 29mins and 25 sec. I gotta check my previous blog I think I wrote there sub 30 min 5k so I guess I just achieved that, now I think I’ll aim for sub 28 mins on my next 5k, after that I’ll do a 10k.

My next run… hmmm runnew? or botak? we’ll see