First, I have to thank these guys for making my 9th marathon a memorable and bearable one: Cyril Magajes and Joseph del Prado from Team Six30.
Yup we did it alright and the entire race was like:
Like I said, last All Woman Race was my comeback race. To my dear reader, this is not something that I am proud of. I lacked training. I only had my experience to back me up and my guts. Other than that, none. Note to you reader: please don’t run with your ego or end up really injured. But how did we survive? Let me tell you.
I did not want the whole world to know I’m doing this marathon. This was not something to be proud of, all I have was guts and will. Every time someone would ask me, all I say is, “Let’s see. I’m not sure. I haven’t registered yet.” And I actually had Cyril to conspire with my plan: no posts in any social network. I didn’t want to jinx nor preempt it.
And yeah, after the gun started I thought, well yeah I’d better expect the unexpected and silently I have Cy to depend on when I begin to be weary. Now, this marathon was a fun one. Cy kidded, “We can still run with our hearts.” And this marathon became a series of lines coming from Jonas.ph on #lrtbanat.
“Kapag iniwan ka na, huwag mo ng habulin pa. May darating pa naman.” (When something(one) left you, don’t chase after it. The right one will come to you.)
This isn’t true with competitive runners though. They will really chase after the podium. For us, let’s just leave it and continue with our pace. It prevents you from any injury and even heartache (seriously!). This was as early as Km 5.
By the turn from Coastal Road (about Km 13), “sa mga pinaghahawakan mo, at least ito nagbibigay halaga.” (For the things that you’re holding onto, at least this one’s valuable.)
The cold water, Gatorade and banana are really a comforting treat in the race. Most of us runners, here in the Philippines, we run as early as 12mn or in this case, 3am. Most of us do not take anything to eat. Bananas and water are already treated as a feast!
As we were about to reach Buendia flyover, a familiar voice hurriedly reached us, it’s Joseph (del Prado) another team Six30. Now there are 3 of us to share the journey, inch by inch, later reaching the 24th kilometer.
This one’s an exclusive here in the country where Window 1 is where you can buy stored value tickets for MRT: “Ang Window 1 ay nakalaan para sa mga nagbibigay na walang hinihintay na kapalit.” (Window 1 is for those who are paying without expecting any change.)
The spirit of marathon is really alive in the National MILO Marathon. The 6-hour cut off gives you that challenge to push you farther and all you can give is your performance in the race and it’s all or nothing!
I told them as long as we are not swept off we are still in this race and as we reached Km 34 we know that we will endure this marathon!
By Km 38, Cyril like I always say was a diesel. He has picked up the pace while I the unleaded was maintaining a 7:30-8 kph. I told Joseph we will reach before the cut off. With our rate of run-walk (we tried the Galloway method on the first half marathon: 1km run: 1min walk), I told him we need to maintain our fresh legs until the finish line.
I had Crossfit to sustain my core as I usually complain this one’s giving in at the last parts of any race. As I am a forefoot runner, by Km 36 I activated my hips, transferred weight to my core and front part of my thigh and did midfoot.
“For your safety, please do not step on the yellow edge platform. Iwasan po mag-fall. Delikado.” (Avoid stepping on the yellow edge platform to avoid falling.)
By Km 40, Cyril was a good 100-200m away from us. I told Joseph we can be 5-10 minutes before cut off. Thanks to the weather and the favorable conditions, we are injury free and we will finish it.
And so we did! Cyril did 5:53:52 (gun time)/5:50:45 (chip time) and Joseph and I did 5:55:20 (gun time)/ 5:52:32 (chip time).
And after the race we are still in high spirits. We finished another marathon and we passed the Milo standards! Yes, this should be a lesson to train really hard for a marathon for a more favorable and conditioned time but for a come back race, man am I so happy for this!
Pictures courtesy of Running Photographers, KB and Photo-Ops!
“Always Run With Your Heart” with 38th National MILO Marathon First, I have to thank these guys for making my 9th marathon a memorable and bearable one: Cyril Magajes and Joseph del Prado from Team Six30.