New 32k PR at Unilab Run 2011

I promised myself I'll be having a new PR at the 32k Afroman distance the next race opportunity. Last 2010 at the Unilab Run United 2, I finished in 4 hours, 2 minutes and 19 seconds. This year in Unilab Run United 3, I slashed 35 minutes off that time and clocked in at a strong 3 hours, 26 minutes and 50 seconds!

Thanks to the weekend long runs and weekly trainings at McKinley hill, I've managed to increase my endurance on long distance running. The 25k run the previous week at the NB Power Run event worked to my advantage, as I have a gauge already of how I need to conserve energy at the latter part of the race.

I paced with two Team Alpha1 teammates - Martin (Coyote) and our new member Byron (Achilles). We were targeting for a sub 3:30 finish, with a need to sustain a 6:15 to 6:20 minutes per kilometer pace. The plan was also to do a steady start, pick-up speed at the middle and finish strong.

By kilometer 22, Coyote declared a "walk break" which I did not want to entertain. I knew that if I walked with 10 kilometers to go, fatigue will set-in. I decided to go ahead; I wanted to keep my legs moving. At around 7:30am, I started to feel the heat. It was not particularly helpful that we were running in Roxas boulevard area where there's very little shade. Hunger also started to kick-in, with no banana stations and no Powerade drinks in hydration stations. I just managed to be content on small sips of water at every hydration station I pass through.

At the final curve with the finish line in sight, I was elated to see 3:26 on the digital timer display. With a bit of a sprint, I crossed the 32km arc in 3:26:50. I did it! I performed above target!

Deemen, FFS, Rocknrolly, Achilles, Bandit

A few more meters to the finish line!

Post-race breakfast at Dennis the Grill Boy, Mall of Asia (Welcome, TA1 Byron!);
Watched the Pacquiao-Marquez controversial match after

"You passed 134 runners!" Oh yeah!

Next year, I'd probably eye for a sub 3:10 finish. Well it doesn't hurt to dream anyway.

Run, Rain and Pain: 25k at the New Balance Power Run

I'm not a fan of the rain. I miss gym workout sessions when it rains. I miss my running training program when it rains. I'd rather stay home and keep dry.

All that changed on a rainy, Sunday morning of November 6, when I forced myself to go out of bed, and attend the NB Power Run event. I didn't want my money to go to waste; I paid 1000 bucks as registration fee for this! Hehe!

Good thing I'm all geared-up for the downpour. I had my running jacket on as well as a cap to protect my eyes from the rain. My pair of shoes helps keep out water as well. Puddles of water were everywhere, and there was a particular area in the race route were flood waters were about an ankle high. Runners had no choice but to submerge their running feet. Wet shoes... Wet socks... Blisters!

Luckily, I had running company with me, my teammates from Team Alpha1 Coyote and FFS. FFS graciously offered to pace me and Martin. No pressure for me though, as this is my first 25k event, with a sure PR as long as I finish. I appreciated how FFS controlled our pace at the first few kilometers - making us slow down on road bends, advising us to keep steady on uphills, and on top of that, running ahead of us when we're approaching hydration stations and handing us cups of water as soon as we reach the water station. Now that's good pacer service!

We picked up pace at the final 10 kilometers, and by this time, we were overtaking a lot of runners who weren't able to manage to balance their energy reserves well. FFS' strategy worked! We managed to finish in 2 hours, 36 minutes and 59 seconds. Given the weather condition, that's a great time.

Almost at the finish line!

Team Alpha1 25k Finishers

Post-race breakfast at Pancake House

Runpix Analysis - Notice the negative split at the final 11k!

Now the only problem I had with this race is why the heck the finisher's medallion given during registration? If there's any rationale to that, I'd like to know.

First Back-to-Back 21k Races: Run United 2 and Earth Run

Unilab Run United 2 - August 21, 2011 (5th Half-Marathon)

This is my 2nd time to do a pacer duty (first one's from BGC run - blog can be read at this link). Chrissie and her sister Lyn have 3-hour PRs for 21k and we set a goal of 2:30. I know 30 minutes is quite a big slash from their previous PR but it's worth a try.

I arrived early at BGC and met up with Team Alpha 1. Told them I would have to pace some friends and we'd just meet after the race for some post-race breakfast. I then went to the 21k assembly area to meet the Lim sisters.

Target is to do a 7-min per kilometer pace, which equates to 2 hours and 27 minutes for 21 kilometers. The extra 3 minutes would serve as buffer for quick water breaks.

We were doing well the first few kilometers but I could feel the high humidity and I was sweating profusely. Between kilometer 6 and 7, Chrissie told us to go ahead. She seems out of breath, and it looks like she's having an asthma attack. I asked Lyn if we should go ahead; she said we could because she knew her sister will be alright and will just finish the race with her own pace.

And so there were two. I'd regularly check on Lyn if she's ok with my pace and we'd slow down at times when she feels she needs to catch her breath or hydrate. As usual the Buendia flyover's a killer, specially on the way back to BGC. Numerous times I'd be much ahead of Lyn, and I just do quick back glances if she's still visible. I needed to do that to motivate her to keep running, because if I run beside her, I feel as if she's the one pacing me and not the other way around.

The sight of the finish line gave us a quick burst of energy as we ran the final stretch, finishing with a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes and 32 seconds, 11 minutes shy from the goal but still a big improvement from her record time. What a great feeling to make someone else set a new PR!

Camera-ready Lyn and Me - finish line in sight!

Post-race breakfast with Team Alpha 1 - Langhap sarap!

Earth Run - August 28, 2011 (6th Half-Marathon)

Peer pressure: refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. That's according to Wikipedia. :p That's what made me make a last-minute decision to change a supposed 10k run to a 21k. Bry was such bully (lol), he convinced me to run another 21k a week after Run United 2. I didn't know if I'd survive a back-to-back 21k race, now that I've just come back to running.

I usually psyche myself days before a race depending on what distance I'm about to run. A week before race day I was psyching myself to do a sub-55 minute 10k run. With only a few minutes left before gun start, I had difficulty changing my mindset.

With Team Alpha 1 - first time to don my red TA1 singlet

The entire race was a disaster - it seemed like all types of negative thoughts came to me - I'd not finish the race, I will be injured, I need to find an ambulance immediately. In fact, I was getting ankle and knee pains which I believe were just caused by these bad vibes. I needed to clear my mind and just enjoy the run. At kilometer 12, I started to feel better and I was just ignoring the race boo-boos (no water at water stations, water stations where runners share the container lid just to get a sip of water) and went on. By this time I knew I can finish this and get my hands on that finisher medal.

And as I cross the finish line after 2 hours, 22 minutes and 14 seconds later, injury-free, still feeling good and holding my finisher medal, I knew I just underestimated myself. Never again. :)

Post-race: Serenitea addicts (except Marvin, haha!)

2011 Comeback Run: Yamaha Run for the Heroes

After three months overseas and not being able to run, and about half a year that passed being out of shape, I craved going back to running. I wanted a well-organized race so I registered for the nearest Runrio event - Yamaha Run for the Heroes scheduled July 3, 2011 (7 months after my last race event SCMS 2010). I'd take it slow and just registered for 10k.

I had a few weeks to go back to the gym and prepare for the race. I got really worried when I easily got tired running 5k's on a treadmill. The farthest I've run prior to the race is a 7k (and on a treadmill as well).

Come race day, I just wished the little training I did would suffice to endure the 10k distance. I was still hoping to do a sub-1. Glad to have been with HP officemates Joel and Eleni who were both running 10k too.

Finishline photo

10k finishers' photo wall

I finished with a time of 1 hour 1 minute and 16 seconds. A bit far from the goal I've set, but hell yeah it feels good to back on the road

Runpix

Run BGC: My 3rd 21k Run

November 28, 2010 - One week before the BIG Marathon Singapore day - one more long distance run. This time, I've decided to pace someone else doing 21k - my good friend Rap. Target is for him to get a new PR. We'll do a Galloway, alternating 7 minute runs and 1 minute rest. Hopefully, we'll have a better time than the 2:47 time Rap got during his previous 21k event (that was in Adidas KOTR).

The start/finish arch

Me and Rap before gunstart

It was my responsibility as pacer to keep pushing Rap to his limits, and after a lot of bullying (LOL!), we finally finished the race at a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 28 seconds, beating Rap's previous PR by 7 minutes! Woohoo! That's quite a feat!

Ivo, Ying, Rap, Me, Char-char, Tita Celeth, Geoff - after the race

21k Finishers - Proud Medalists :p

Superposition - Junar, Rap, Me, Geoff, Ying

Fort Strider's Run: My First 16k

It was a last minute decision to run this race - I didn't even invite my usual running companions to join. The only reason I registered for this event was that it matches the 16k requirement on my marathon training program for September 12. Of course I tagged Eugene along.

Race Pros:

• Registration center at Paranaque - After my practice run at Manila Memorial Park, had a 5-minute drive to Nelson Auto Repair Shop in front of Paranaque Medical Center to register. Yes, you read that right - an auto repair shop that accepts race registration.
• Cheap Registration Fee - 300 pesos only with a free singlet! I didn't like the fit though, so I didn't wear it on the race day.
• Manual barcode timing system but guess what? The results were released at the same day! Big wow!
• Ample water stations (and Pocari Sweat stations too).
• Hyper race marshalls cheering racers on. I love hyper race marshalls!

Now on to the cons:

• Race Route map was released 2 days before the actual race day. When we arrived at the venue, we found out that they scrapped the initial released route and just used the usual Runrio map, modified a bit for 16k.
• Late gunstart with no warm-up. Everyone was surprised when the gun fired to signal the race start without any heads-up whatsover.
• The event name is FS marathon - why the hell are they using the word "marathon" for an event with only 16k as the farthest category?

My legs felt very heavy at the start but after a few kilometers, I felt the leg muscles loosening up. I was really grateful Eugene paced with me until the finish line. We did a steady pace of around 6 minutes per kilometer - just the right pace we're aiming for our upcoming SG marathon. We finished in 1 hour, 34 minutes and 46 seconds.

And since we didn't have our usual running photographers with us, we had to settle on only a few shots from my celphone camera. Here's a pic of the start/finish line before the 16k gunstart:

And here's a post-race picture of me and Eugene from the race village stage:

12 weeks to go before the BIG day. I need more training!