"on a shoestring"

(a 5k fun run at UPLB with my students, December 2009)


This is the reason why I wore this same shirt at the starting line:

(last minute stretching 6 minutes before gunstart)


Flashback…
When I arrived at the venue- Nuvali, it was 11:30pm May 21. I still can’t feel anything, I still can’t believe that I will be doing a 42k hours after. I was looking for a nice spot to set up my hammock to get some rest but I wasn’t able to find one.
I saw my TBR marathon classmates and ANR Alabang Group. The ANR Alabang group became our support group (more stories about them on the next post).
I’m not 100% in good standing coming from a Siargao and Cebu the past week, I lacked sleep  and didn’t eat well the past days. The last week of  marathon preparation was really bad except for more than an hour of surfing a.k.a. cross-training. =)


Still, I don’t want to think about this because it could easily discourage me from finishing the marathon. We had group pictures, met well-wishers, encouraged fellow TBR marathoners, prayed together.

dreamers and chasers (sana drinks and chasers na lang)

the Adination of Runners Alabang- our support groups and cheerers

prayer time, committing the run to the Lord

then the gunstart…


Pacing me was TitaniumRunner

At the finish line: Tired but fighting until the last kilometer


Official Time- 5:00:07  Chip Time- 5:00:02 (3 seconds shy of sub-5hr)
Split times: KM13- 1:46:30 and KM31- 4:08:32
Rank: 49 among 237 runners (41 among 173 male runners)


Gameplan: 21K-10K-10K (1km for walk breaks when tired, uphill and water stations). I would like to finish the 1st 21K as if nothing happened.


Nutrition: Since I knew that cold water and cold Gatorade will be over-flowing, I decided to just bring 2 small water bottles. I contains 3 hammer gels (2 espresso and 1 vanilla mixed), the other contains honey mixed with water. Someone gave me Nature Valley Bar and I ate fruits and chocolates whenever I can. I stop to every water stations to drink or dab water on my face. Honey helped me a lot as I did not experience hunger.

Costume Change: At KM32 I changed clothes, socks and shoes (the last 2 pics is very obvious). It was planned, thanks to Ms Nao for making this possible.


As far as I can remember, I like the trail part as I run faster during those parts. I was really walking the uphills to conserve energy. There are times that I would close my eyes to feel and savor the moment.

Sleep running?


Mt. Makiling has been my training ground during the marathon preparation and since Mt. Makiling can be seen from Nuvali my mantra was “I look up to the mountains, where does my help comes from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  (Psalm 121:1-2). This verse has helped me especially at the 2nd half of the run.