Summer season is officially over! The rainy season is here, and with it, the dreaded bed weather. I became a victim of this bed weather on yesterday's race. My sleep was so deep I did not even hear my mobile phone alarm (or I might have turned it off while sleeping). Good thing my running buddy Ryan gave me a call at 2:30am (and I was supposed to wake up 1am due to my pre-race rituals).
I had a very light breakfast, a quick shower and then prepared my running gear (and after race clothes). I left the house at around 3:30am and arrived 30 minutes later at BGC. Surprisingly, no long queue yet on the parking lot and I secured a nice spot which was very near the starting line. Fortunate as well that the race gun start is 4:30am and not the usual 4:00am so I still had time to apply Bodivance on my legs, take my Roctane, and do a quick pee break.
21k runners were greeted with a rather weird pre-race warm-up (it was more of a dance than the normal stretching). And then we were sent off. Usual running buddies Rom and Ryan were with me for another sub-2 attempt. Mindset today is I'll continue running if they can't follow my pace anymore.
The weather was cool - perfect for an early Sunday morning long run. I knew I was in condition to perform a sub-2, and I promised not to look at my GPS watch until the race is over (just to surprise myself).
Ryan told us to go on at KM2, when he experienced a bad case of side stitch. I left Rom at around KM8; he was out of breath and was not able to keep up with the pace. And so I was left alone.
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| Don't you just love Buendia flyover? |
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| Almost at the finish! |
I could not find any fault again on this race (even the weather cooperated). It was what every runner usually expects from a Runrio-organized event:
- Cold and overflowing hydration
- Secured race village and well-manned race route
- Organized baggage counters
- A nice 21k finisher medal
If there's one thing I would just like to suggest though, is getting rid of separate race kit claiming. I'd prefer receiving my race kit as soon as I register. Last June 21 (Friday), I left Paranaque just to go to BGC and claim my race kit and then back to work from home. I had to fight through Friday heavy traffic and the hassles of a rainy day. But since this race was opened for registration rather late, I understand some resulting logistics issues.
Enough of the chit-chat! On to my fave part - the event photos!
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| with idol ultramarathoner JP |
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| with fellow bloggers CJ (Run Adobo King), Thirdy (Thirdy Lopez) and Dennis (Running Fatboy) |
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| with fellow HP runners Rom and Jhino |
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| with my running buddy Ryan |
Plotted my pace - I'm very happy with my performance! Fastest kilometer at KM2 (4:56) and slowest at KM4 (6:00). My pace was almost steady throughout the race!
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| Mandatory performance graph. Haha! |
Runner 0164 conquered another 21k at the World Vision Run! Congratulations to Runrio, World Vision and Tupperware Philippines for staging another successful race event!
*** Photos courtesy of JP Navarrete, Thirdy Lopez and Manghusi Photoshop ***
