Breaking the Jinx

Race account:  UPLB National Age Group Triathlon, December 14, 2013

The UPLB triathlon is a sentimental favorite. It was my first triathlon in 2003. That was a decade ago! Has it been that long? I also hail from Los Banos - born inside the former university hospital (now CMT building) about 200m from the race start/finish, schooled in its womb till college, with the University as my childhood and adulthood playground.

You would think that such familiarity with the locale gives me race advantage, but for some strange reason, my race performance almost always suffers when I am in my hometown. I rarely cramp during the swim leg, but I somehow did in my first triathlon race and several years after when I sought some revenge. On those freak cramping incidents, the debilitating cramp happens when I pull a calf muscle as I haul myself off the pool in the first round of the swim. It was the type that remained lock despite all efforts to relax and would hound me till the finish line. In short, on multiple occasions, I would finish the swim without kicking, bike with a single leg and basically walk off the run leg. The jinx was so bad that for this nth try I decided not to inform family members who live nearby.

 On my nth try:  Athlete #147

I was also there to accompany an officemate doing his first triathlon. I would have wanted to do the sprint distance which was my first race, but I opted for the mini-sprint so I can guide my friend. It turns out I have other friends joining for the first time, also accompanied by mutual friend. Great. That kind of support environment makes for memorable triathlon, and a lot of teams have been founded on this helping out spirit, my team Endure included.

Officemate Kazu in his first triathlon

My race plan was simple:  Enjoy and try not to cramp. I swam just two notches above leisurely, practicing what I preach to my newbie friend that there is no point in exhausting oneself in the swim when that means gaining only a minute or two at the expense of labored effort in the last two legs of the race. I was extra careful going up the pool in my first leg. Success, no pulled muscle. Three rounds more and I finally finished my stroll in the pool. I was so conservative in the swim I probably finished near the bottom of my swim wave.

The funny truth is, we are only three males in our age group. Half-Ironman finishers James and myself, and first timer Noy. There was supposed to be a fourth person, but he could not make it. The three of us joked it was just a matter of determining the ranking. All I wanted really is to break my UPLB jinx. I came in to help and enjoy, not race for myself. But we did jokingly admonish the perky youths 13-19 in our swim wave to respect their elders :)

I really intended to catch up in the bike leg. With the hilly Challenge Half Distance looming large in my mind, I have been spending more time on the bike. I hope to harvest some pay-off. In my assessment, I did reasonably well on the bike for the current fitness and training level I have. I tried to narrow the yawning gap between James and myself, but he was just way ahead in the swim and bike. I was expecting my friend Kazu who started a wave later than me would catch up with me on the bike, but we basically maintained our bike distance. In our assessments, we both enjoyed and met our expectations on the bike. By some miracle, the bike gap between Noy and myself narrowed down to as close as 400m, but I would learn from Noy later that he had cramps on the bike leg. Noy has not fully recovered from a recent illness.

I was surprised to catch Noy on the transition area. We left the area just seconds in interval. While I was not yet spent, I knew then that I haven't gotten back my previous running speed. I was still on the jogging phase of my training so there was no way I could outran Noy. All I wanted is to run after Noy as much as my training will permit. A newbie can pull up an overweight half-ironman. Overall I was happy with my run. For the first time, I was running on Baker Field grounds without cramps! My steady jog was interrupted only by short walks on inclines near the auditorium.

Eventually, I crossed the finish line: running, challenged but not spent. Just how I imagine perfect race should be. For the kind of excess weight I am carrying, it was a perfect effort. I was extremely happy to break the jinx. I made a mental note though that I can be faster and happier if I just lose at least ten pounds. I have the experience and maturity, but these qualities can only partially offset excess baggage.

Breaking the race jinx was my chief reward, but the sweet icing on the cake was getting a foot-tall trophy for simply showing up and finishing. James, Noy and myself, we had a dozen laughs on the happy accident that put us three on the podium. Newbie Gail, wife of Noy also ended up first place in her age group. Sometimes, the stars align, allowing ordinary blokes like us our moment in the sun.

Thank you God for the happy memories.

Noy, Gail and James

Halika Bata, Mag-Yakult Tayo

Race intimacy. I do not know if there is such a phrase, but this is something I have been longing for the past few months. I miss the good, old, inexpensive races. So when my left calf muscle finally loosened itself, I let go of Php300 for a chance to do my 4th Yakult 10-miler.

The Yakult 10-mile race is a classic and it never fails. Once again, Rudy Biscocho started earlier than advertised and I was late again. I did better this time actually. My friend Sid and I were just 4 or 5 minutes late! My Yakult tardiness record is about 30 minutes, so late I ended making a wrong turn at the start and running a total distance of 21kms instead of 16!

Sid and I were taking it easy after an arduous Sierra Madre ride the day before. Easy runs can do wonders to the body and spirit, especially on asphalt roads and cool weather. With no time pressure and under the cover of darkness, we even managed to do pee stops along more rustic portions of Roxas Boulevard (We were too late for the portalets at the start). Peeing on the road -  one of life's guilty pleasures and something I have yet to do on the "sosyal" grounds of Bonifacio Global City. I did pee on the road on queaky clean Singapore during a marathon along with dozen others unable to find an open restroom in the wee hours of the morning.

The Yakult course is two loops along scenic Roxas Boulevard - best road for a run in my opinion if a race starts earlier than pollution. I am glad to report that I ran all throughout, even on the flyovers, and catching with many others along the way. Sid and I gradually caught up with the race crowd, and by km12, I upped the ante a bit by promising myself and my faster companion that we should overtake at least 20 runners from then on. We were on a negative split mode so it was a good challenge. Slowly we overtook them, mumbling the count to ourselves a good distance after every overtaken runner. Halfway through we already reached our target, so we simply counted how many more we can overtake. By the time we reached the finish line, the count has reached 42. We outlasted all 42, even the lone brave heart who tried to overtake us back. Not bad at all for an easy, cruising run capped by 3 bottles of Yakult.

It was fun observing the runners running towards or away from us. This crowd is clearly different from the usual crowd, but on that particular morning I actually welcomed the change. Like us, this crowd was here for a basic run, and we got what we wanted. There were two Kenyans, a generous sprinkling of nameless, serious runners, and hosts of ordinary people out to push themselves a bit. I saw familiar faces from Adination BHS, MOA and Alabang, running ninja Sam, forefoot runner Mar, as well as meek runner Anna taking photos and still basking on her TBR marathon finish :-)

In the middle of the run, Sid and I encountered a runner or two shouting "Endure" to us. We smiled and nodded back. I thought maybe they recognized me from my blog, or from our recent Endure BlackBerry Aquathlon, but our funny conversation from some people at the finish line made me think otherwise. At the finish line, we made small talk with a parent of our aquathlon participant. Before leaving they had a photo taken with us. They were on their way out when suddenly the dad blurted, "Wait, Sid, ikaw ba yung nasa Endure video "Halika Bata, Mag-Triathlon Tayo". We all had a nice laugh. Sid, sikat ka na. Haha.

You can view Sid's video for Endure's BlackBerry Love video contest here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8tNI63Ex0o

Check out Endure's BlackBerry Love on Facebook if you want to win a BlackBerry Curve phone.

A Race That I Deserve (Part 2)

I climbed up the stairs to Transition 1 heart leaping with joy. At that moment, my worries vanished and all I felt I was pure, unadulterated joy. I was so pleased with myself I did not notice I lingered in transition one for 5 precious minutes! My usual T1 time would be under 2 minutes, but I took a mental note to spend time eating and drinking at transition instead of slowing down and worrying about it during bike time. I was aware of the daunting task of hill climbing up ahead. I was prepared for that, but not the pleasant shock of doing better than expected on my swim. On hindsight may be I could have spent just 3 minutes in transition (nutrition and hydration included). But overall my transition time was time well spent. I wanted to savor that one shiny moment.

I subsisted on cheers of friends to allay whatever apprehensions I have on the bike. Of the three disciplines, running is actually my weakest, but I fear biking the most. I am not afraid to have scratches, but I do not want broken limbs and God forbid, bike-induced disability or death. That my sense of balance was forever affected by a swim-induced middle ear infection in the past does not help.  But thanks to Subit and my cycling buddies I slowly conquered my fear and handicap. In preparation for the race I ventured out of residential villages and Mall of Asia onto the roads of C6, Daang Hari and the treacherous roads to and from Ocean Adventure in Subic. Slowly I was getting used to riders ahead or behind me, and vehicles passing by me.

I left transition one on my bike, smiling for a photo op courtesy of friend Jan. I was also armed with conviction that despite the trials of the week, all was well and that I had prepared well. My God would take care of me.

 

                                      Out of Transition (photo by Jan Blando)

What Comes Up...

I knew the first 7kms will be mostly uphill. I knew there’s a part there consisting of almost 3 kilometers of straight climb. The first time I did that I was spinning up at lowest gear and speed of 8-9kph. I wished then I could go lower in gear and faster in speed, but that was it. Friend Erick advised me to just comfortably spin and I am forever grateful for that tip. On my second recon, I managed to spin up that same climb at 9-10kph, small improvement but I took what I could take. On the actual race, I adopted the same strategy of spinning up, with that mental image of my hips, thighs and legs acting as set of two coherent pistons slowly but economically chugging to the top. I smiled when I saw my cyclometer reading of 10-11kph on the same climb. Heck, at one point I even reached 14kph! Well what do you know! Yeah, slowly but surely I was improving. Best part was that while I may have panted a little climbing up, the limbs were still relatively fresh. I was saving those limbs for the run. The spectacular forest view was a bonus.

If there was another thing I hope to improve on my biking skills, it was to have just the right dose of assertion if not aggression. I have long abandoned the concept of competing with others and trying to pass or catch up with others. I only compete with the standards I set for myself. But it’s another thing to simply let others pass by when I know I could actually do better. Once or twice during the climb I let another biker go ahead of me, only to be forced to trail behind him and follow his slower speed because I was hesitant to overtake. At the bike turnaround I even let the rider behind me go ahead and make the turn first! I should get an award for generosity, sportsmanship or maybe stupidity! Haha. But I promised to work on the roots of this hesitation:  fear that I would get sideswept as I try to overtake, uneasiness in doing turns, and my still evolving idea of the ethics of overtaking and being overtaken.

...Must Go Down

Then came the downhills. Ah, the downhills. I attacked them still with caution, but the recon we made definitely shored up my confidence. In those downhill rushes, I managed a few times to max the gears and pedaled to go faster. With hands firm but relaxed-as-I-could-be on the handle bar, I leaned forward, made myself as aerodynamic as possible, and let go. I surrendered to gravity, my training and steadfast belief that my God would protect me. My cyclometer which I avoided at downhills would later tell me that I reached a career high of 59.9 kph at some point. I must admit I was still afraid in parts, but I was glad to have actually enjoyed the downhill rush in certain parts. In the years to come I hope to enjoy the bike leg as much I enjoyed the swim in this year’s edition.

But the downhills are not without its downside. On my way back there was yet another long, continuous, curved downhill where I spotted a participant seated on the ground beside his bike. Two bystanders seemed to be checking on him who seemed dazed or maybe momentarily shocked by what appeared to be a fall. It was a sharp curve and a fast fall – too fast that even though I wanted to check on him I was simply going down too fast to safely stop. I hope he was alright.

When I made past the 90-degree downhill curve leading to Airport and away from Dungaree, I knew the treacherous downhills were over. First thought that came to mind was: maybe this time I could safely overtake. Maybe this time I could reap the fruits of holding back a little during the hills and patiently spinning up those climbs.  I surveyed the bikers ahead of me. Uh-oh, they were already few. Have I been so conservative?  Coming from the Ocean Adventure turnaround I was overtaken by 2 bikers. Could I overtake at least 2 bikers on the second half – while sticking to my strategy of comfortably hard ride?

The Long Chase

My first target was to finally overtake the guy whom I kindly or stupidly allowed to make the turnaround before me. Nice fella actually but I think it’s time I took the lead. Prior to downhills I even had to slow a bit so this guy could take the plunge first and I could enjoy the downhills by myself. Safety first for me before ranking. Comfortably spin and mind my cadence and soon enough I would naturally overtake. And I did. I did the same with 2-3 more bikers. Soon enough I saw a friend and batchmate from dragonboat rowing and underwater hockey years ago. I believe the hills took some wind and leg power from him.  With smiles and cheers of “Go, Go, Go”, I passed him. After him there seemed to be a chasm. Uh-oh, where are the rest?

The others I saw after the second turnaround at Asian Auctioneers. Heck, the faster ones are already at km 35 or so and I was just at about km 27. Spin, spin, spin I did again, lured by the speed of the faster cyclists but held back by the thought I still had kilometers more to go. Do not be tempted to speed up by taking so high a gear. Stick to the comfortably hard gear. Be patient. I had my new aero bars on, but since I lacked practice on them, I used it just for one or two stretches where the road was really flat, wide and almost vacant. At that time I was averaging on handlebars around 28kph, which I could have raised to 30kph, but I was so worried about the run. I tried doing instantaneous cost-benefit analysis of gearing up versus saving up, but in the end my desire to have a reasonably good run prevailed. I really wanted to run the last leg. Cramps are abomination for me.

                                     At about km 30 going to Waterfront 

                                                      Photo by Pio Sugay

I passed by the spectator-decked Waterfront almost by my lonesome. Heck, where were the others? I drew in the cheers and the energy of the crowd, but I really wanted to find the others and be part of the race again. I saw them only after the final turnaround at Asian Auctioneers. At that point I also saw a couple of riders just coming from the Dungaree part. Great, I was still part of the race and was far from the last. Spin, spin, spin I did again, until I finally caught up with another friend from the early wave. The hills also made him suffer.  I learned later from results that there were many other riders after me. I might have been too safe and conservative, but I did not do so bad after all. To have survived the hills without incident, even managing to actually have fun riding the downhills at certain moments was reward enough. No flat, no brake failure, no broken chain, no skips in gearing, no incidents. Thank God! My come from behind catch-up on the second half was just a bonus of my patient strategy.

 

       On the ramp, off to run

    Photo by Carina Manansala

Finally I was running. Now I could ask myself if my strategy of holding back in the bike will pay off in the run. I saw some fast runners - that was a good sign unless they were already in their last round. I was in good spirits and good condition - the legs were very far from cramping, a little tired but not heavy. I was surprised I could actually run the moment I got off the transition ramp. So far so good.

 Photo by Gerard Cinco

I was running slow but steady. I was hoping to run at 7min/km average pace - good enough pace for a standard triathlon considering my 10K personal best is just 1:06. Unfortunately my 14 month old Garmin seemed to be nearing its end-life and died on me even before I biked. I played it by ear. Ran comfortably hard, trying to be conscious of form and heart rate. 

Glad to know I was neither the last biker nor last runner

Photo by Migs Castro

I was doing okay until my my third round. I felt the difficulty of the run after that round. It was not a wall that I suddenly bumped into. It was a slow struggle to win over fatigue. Yes, fatigue was finally seeping into me.  It was very similar to the feeling I had running the last 5kms of my  first marathon. I tried to analyze what it was and what caused it. I was not cramping. I was well-hydrated, maybe even a little overhydrated in an effort to fight the heat. But I was used to the heat. My late training starts always caused me to involuntary heat train, till noontime heat at times. I almost finished my second, big, Clif Brownie Bar. Should I have eaten more?  The way I always eat a lot during training? Should I have brought the hopia I always eat during marathons? Maybe. Maybe I should have run longer and more frequently during training, instead of heavily favoring the bike practice? Maybe. Did the physical and mental stress of the recent week finally catch up with me? Maybe. Ah, lots of theories to test during future training.

I did overtake a couple of runners. Despite the creeping fatigue, I managed a 200-meter dash to the finish. Finished strong and smiiling. Thanks to constant cheers from friend Ellen and the merry group of takbo.ph at the finish line. You guys are a wonderful bunch of people. 

Sprint to the finish line, Stop watch, then Smile =)

No, that was not my time.

Photo by Pio Sugay

But here are some things I do know:

• I finished 290th out of 318 finishers. Not bad for someone whose initial goal was simply to finish this training race.
• I outswam 54 triathletes and had a splendid time in that lovely bay.
• With my conservative bike strategy, I still managed to outbike 17 people.
• Except for water breaks, I ran all 10kms of the last leg. I outran 45 participants - with a run deviation from personal best of only 10 minutes.
• I may have not achieved the best case scenario of 3:30, but my 3:41:89 is just seconds away from Gelo Arellano's 2009 time  which I appropriated for myself as some sort of benchmark.
• I initially thought I had been too conservative. But my immediate post-race heart rate and spent feeling akin to finishing a marathon told me I gave it all that I've got.
• I came out more confident for Camsur, secure in the thought that slow the improvements may be, they do manifest themselves. I leave this race enriched with more intimate knowledge of what my body could do and knowing specific areas I could actually test and work on.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the race, and would fondly remember the fun recons we had.
• The support and cheers of friends - how do you put a price tag on that?

I got a race experience that I deserved - nothing more, nothing less. 

For that I thank God, family and friends. I look forward to doing this again - fitter and wiser next time, and in company of greater number of triathlete friends and supporters.

In Moments like These

  

Race Moments

A Personal Best

Made possible -

by a buddy on your side,

smiles and cheers,

and push by a friend.

Personal triumph

Shared.

Remembered.

For moments like these,

I join races.

Half-ironman dreams are chased one race PR at a time. For 2010, I have lined-up a slew of half-marathons, hoping to bring down my personal best to close to 2 hours before I set foot in Camsur in August. For the Century Run, I have a small, realistic goal: bring down my PB from 2:32+ to sub-2:30. Simple enough but it has evaded me for quite sometime. A number of my Biggest Loser Contest (BLC) Season 1 batchmates are now doing sub-2 or zooming towards it, and here I am still trying to hurdle the 2:30 physical and mental challenge.

It's not that I don't have the will. I have it in heaps I think. My goodness, I am Sheer Will! It's just that everytime I try to press on the speed gas, physical issues pop-up:  plantar fasciitis, stiff calves and the like. Clearly the pains are weight and training intensity related. I am enrolled in BLC Season 2 now, but for the meantime I have to find a training strategy that will yield me sub-2:30 without breaking my legs.

For the Century quest I went back to my proven combination of progressive fast-slow intervals and even tempo runs. I did this more careful now about differentiating between stress that improves and stress that injures. Stress, then rest. Repeat cycle till you reach your goal. I did my last short tempo run Thursday prior to the run. The accumulated stress of training put me a little below target pace, but I left it at that. The last two days prior to race I would rest completely, hoping to reap training gains on race day itself. Massage and prayers would take care of the rest.

I have also welcomed the support of friends. Running buddies EO, Tracy and Doc Marvs, fresh from their Condura Marathon would party at my target 7-minute pace. For the most part of the race, I tried to stick to an even pace of 6:45min/km. I know myself enough that I would naturally slow down on the hills and might not be able to maximize racing downhills for fear of stressing my calves too much. I would also strictly follow Galloway 50m walk breaks at water stations. Taking all these into account, I figured I would actually average 7mpk. I am happy to note that despite the difficult Bayani Road on the half-way back, I pretty much ran an average pace of 7mpk. Best part was I was doing 6:30 mpk on my last 2 kms and a sub5mpk on my last hundred meters. A PR, an even-to-negative split run, a strong finish - always my preferred combination.

But I owe my pacers big-time. Fiercely independent me is normally uneasy relying on others, but Milo marathoner me learned long ago that some pursuits are best chased collectively. And so I smiled seeing and running with EO, Tracy and Marvin close-by or within sight. On km10 I was just on target but EO just allowed me to stick to my race plan, assuring me that he would push in the last 5kms if needed. Tracy would always be her smiling, positive self assuring me that it could be done. Marvin would always announce with glee an oncoming downhill.

At km 16 going up Bayani Road, our party of four was actually a minute or two ahead of schedule. EO told me he can pace me at 6mpk if I wanted, but I did not want to risk our gains by burning out toward the finish. I told him I would try to survive the uphill back and run the rest at 6:30mpk. At km 18, we are still a minute or so ahead of the 2:30 schedule so I was becoming more confident. It was at this point that I truly appreciated my pacers. If it was me alone I might slack off or even doubt myself that late in the game. But at that point, I was running not only for myself, but also for my pacers. If I race alone my triumph or failure is mine alone. That day I did not want them to share in a failure. I wanted a shared triumph. At that point, two phrases and a song occupied my mind. Half-iron dreams and Posible would echo in my mind, in between strains of Rivermaya's song Posible. Half-iron dreams. They are possible. I aM Possible. With that thought I raced the last three kilometers, the last two kilometers being my best laps.

I crossed the finish the line surrounded by friends, with a heart leaping with joy for a gun time of 2:28:44 and chip time of 2:28:11. A humble time by most standards, but it was the best race experience I've had in months. Glory be to God and thank you my friends.

Lead Pacer EO, for just being there and believing in my race plan

Cheerer Tracy for being a constant, positive presence

 Pusher Marvin for mentally and literally pushing me in some parts.

Smiling at the finish line with pacers EO and Tracy and takbo.ph's Jinoe

For moments like these, I love races.

(Post title inspired by this Christian song)

In Moments Like These

In moments like these, I sing out a song

I sing out a praise song to You, Lord

In moments like these, I sing out a song

I sing out a praise song to You.

SWAC 4: All Natural Goodness

Sheerwill Aquathlon Cup 4th Edition

Camp Aguinaldo, 30 January 2010

"Organizing it may be hard, even a dent on the pocket, but when you see happy faces and look back at what you have collectively achieved, all the hardships melt away. Suddenly you feel you can do the whole process all over again."

SWAC started as a simulation aquathlon to make friends believe that the average runner can be an aquathlete too. Its participants have moved on to racing actual aquathlon events, but they continue to participate as athlete or marshal. It is on its fourth edition now, but up to now I am still amazed how SWAC came about and evolved. With each edition though I am slowly beginning to understand. SWAC may just be a series of simulation races - with no frills - but what it has is all-natural goodness. That goodness is manifested in these:

Fulfilled dreams
 In that morning runners became aquathletes.

 SWAC 4 Lite Category participants:  mostly first-timers

(400m swim, 3k run)

Julie the Hotlegs Runners discovers her legs can swim too. First-timer Julie wins the SWAC 4 Lite Female Category. Congratulations Julie!  Read her account here.

The couple who swims and runs together, stays together. Biggest Loser Contest (Season 1) Champ Bryan and Eire at the pool, doing the Lite together.

Read Bryan's account here.

Sid. Biggest Loser Contest (Season 2) weight loss contender. First multi-sports race experience.

Read Sid's story here.

Cess. She had to think of a clever way to make it to the event. Smart girl. Gutsy girl. First aquathlete done in her teens.

Read her story in her Facebook Notes here.

V for Victory. Erick outswam and outran everyone in the Classic category. Big in talent, big in humility. Congratulations, monster Erick =)

Read his race account as told by his wife Let here.

Competition

To compete with others...

Swim monsters battling it out in the Classic Category:  Ian, Jason, James, Deo

Top five in the Classic Division:  Vinci, Erick, Jason, Deo and Ian.

To compete with oneself...

 

Volunteerism

 Registrars and body markers

 Lap counters

Time marshals with some of the participants

Shared Birthdays, Joint Celebrations

Jan and Rico on Jan 31

Byran and Jet in mid-January, BongZ early Feb

Thanks for sharing in the food costs =)

Collective Effort

 Rico explaining the swim laps

RJ explaining the run route he helped map and measure.

RJ also reserved the venue while Tere helped secure permits and worked out food arrangements.

Many thanks for all the help. There were difficulties, but you two made it happen.

Triumph of Will

Wilnar. Milo Marathon finalist. Swimming newbie. Recipient of the Sheerwill Award for  summoning the will to learn how to swim. Congratulations.

Jet in transition. Tired but not beaten. Jet willing himself to practice swimming and finish the race. Sheerwill Awardee for sheer determination. Congratulations.

Ross. First-timer. All smiles as she was about to finish. One of the few ladies who dared to slug it out simultaneously with the Classic men. Sheerwill awardee for courage and determination. Congratulations.

Can do Attitude

SWAC supports entrepreneurial spirit and shares the Can Do Attitude with PhotoBongBong Yu and Carol.
On behalf of SWAC 4 participants and guests, thanks for the photo souvenirs.

Hearty Meal, Healthy Drinks

Free meal and drinks treated by celebrants, collectively shared,
traded over race stories, laughter, friendly banter and good-nature ribbing.

Fun & Laughter

Shared Memories

Shared experiences, shared birthdays, group photos, collective laughter,
common dreams, same fears, shared accomplishments

Will there be SWAC 5? Time alone will tell. It may be tough to organize one, but for so long as there are friends wanting to try and needing some encouragement, I suppose SWAC will live.

Who knows, maybe in the next edition we will swim and run on this island paradise?

Good times. All natural high.


(Thanks to Rodel, Bryan, Brando, Marvin and Bong Yu  for the photos)
Results of SWAC 4 can be viewed in the takbo.ph forum thread.

Sweet Mango Marathon

Cebu Marathon
10 January 2010

From the moment I saw the race announcement I had an inkling it would be a great race. As I finished my half-marathon there I felt more sure: it was a great race. A shoe-in for the Best Philippine Race of 2010 unless others up their ante.

I was impressed when they announced the race months before the actual event. This ought to be the practice, and thank God others are following.

I was glad they had a website. A marathon of substance deserves its own URL in cyberspace. The fact that route maps were already up that early reflected the seriousness and preparedness of the organizers. The fact that they organizers kept updating the site certainly drummed up interest.

It had a timing chip for a reasonable price. Now who can argue with that.

The mango medal was a charming treat. I wanted to have one, but I was not ready to do another marathon just yet.

Note to organizers: If you are seeking first-time marathoners or veteran marathoners who had tasted a lot of things already, try to differentiate yourself or offer value by investing in a medal and a timing chip.

My faith in the wisdom of throwing money for this Cebu trip was reinforced when I went to the claim my race pack. There it was carefully stacked, sealed in clear plastic with my named printed on a sticker label. It reminded me of the pack I got from Singapore Marathon actually. There was no name on my bib nor a second bib for personal words of encouragement, but it was impressive just the same. I had my pack in 5 minutes, could have been less if I did not take photo ops with Metro Manila runners in the process :-)

The expo was spare but I was not there to shop actually. I was there in Cebu to eat  =)  More on this later.  The local expo was something I first experienced during the Adidas KOTR. Honestly, I do not know what to make out of our local expos. If the vendors will be selling the same models, for the same prices, and they happen to be readily available anyway, why the expo? I hope our expo can evolved into opportunities to sell old models at discounted prices, or avenues to introduce new models.

I was busy doing a last ditch tempo run and lechon guilt-laden 3k in the mall gym so I did not really catch the CLP program start. I did see the venue though (the swank Terraces at the Ayala Center, which for me takes the best of Greenbelt and Ayala Town Center architecture). I heard there were talks by Cebu runners as well as Metro Manila personalities. Too bad I missed these. I saw the Spirit of the Marathon playing on the video wall, and took a peek of the food offering there. Tempting but our small group already had ours at Sunburst. We capped the dinner with La Marea's wickedly sinful warm brownie cup. I was on BLC mode (Biggest Loser Contest Season 2), but I know a sustainable diet requires occasional treats. Sweet!

Movie showing at the Terraces

Tempted by La Marea treats

In between race preparation and the race itself, I managed to try the mall gym, check out the Runnr and ROX branches there, buy souvenir shirts, try Cebu lechon and manok sa buko (very much like tinola in a cool coconut shell), check out restos in Banilad Town Center, and do the Crown Regency Php1,000 package: dinner buffet, skywalk, skyride, and a very interesting club show ;-)

Stuffed with the Regency buffet and with just two hours of sleep, I excitedly trooped to the IT park for my half-marathon. Coming from the holidays, I was not expecting a PR for this but I wanted to tempo run this as much as I could hold. This was the first of the string of half-marathons I hope to do this year. For my standards, I did a reasonably well 2:38 for my half, with a relatively even pace of 7:15min/km on the first 15kms. As I expected,  my pace dropped a bit in the last few kilometers owing to lack of training for longer distances, but I was glad I improved my long run pace from the Rizal Day run. Also, I did my best lap in the last kilometer to the finish. In that last km I gave it my all. That was all that mattered to me that time, to finish strong in a half-marathon. May I finish strong too in the half that will truly matter for me this year.

I came to Cebu primarily to experience the running scene there. That it happened to be my first race of the year, and first half-marathon of a series was a great co-incidence. I was happy to have done this. As I was doing my last kilometer I kept telling myself. Keep pushing. Push the envelope. Level-up. The Cebuanos broke standards and expectations for this race. Do the same. I might not be in the best condition for a PR yet, but push at least in the last kilometer. Like my Cebuano brothers, I did.

It was a great race because the organizers thought really well of us runners. I think I saw organizer John Pages all over Cebu that weekend...attending to the kit collection, CLP and on the race day itself. Not to run  to oversee things was a selfless act on his part. I do not know the guy but what he and the club did was awesome. The greatness of the race experience lied in the fact that we runners felt there was a genuine effort to please. When I saw the fireworks at our race start I was mesmerized. Wow, what a nice gesture. The dancers in fiery red Spanish-inspired regalia were an awesome sight in the expanse that was the SRP coastal highway. There were also cheerers in Singapore but having your countrymen cheer for you on the road is an experience all-together different. I might not have stayed long enough to enjoy the Sinulog, but on that race I think I experienced the Sinulog spirit. Thank you my Cebuano brothers and sisters. Take a bow, you all deserve it. I hope to get my mango marathon medal next year.