Run United 1: My 21K experience
Posted: March 7, 2012
I joined Run United’s 21K expecting to garner a personal record. My last half-mary, which was at the Milo Marathon last December saw me finish with a not so good time of 2:59:24, leading up to the run, I had eaten well, I drank plenty of water, trained hard, slept well, spent countless hours working on to improve and maintain my running pace. So I was confident that I would beat my previous time of 2:59:24. Yeah, yeah, that time may be slow but for a first time 21k runner i was just happy to finish.
But my plans began to unravel as early as the 5km Near the PNR Station.My pace was excellent I run the kalayaan flyover like it was nothing and pretty soon i was zipping by my office at the RCBC plaza. Apparently, a days of rest and plenty of training were not enough to keep accidents from happening Then it happend just i was running with a pack of runners approaching the Skyway near cash and carry, I saw my self laying on the ground face down. The impact made me " Scream OUCH," while i hit hit the pavement face fisrt, and my knee was gashed open with blood spewing out. The incident made other runners gasp as I fell to the pavement and my drinking bottle went flying about 10feet in front of me. But with all my might and all pain on my knee I got up with the help of fellow runners who were kind enough to assist me.I singaled that i was okie got my water bottle and continued on with the race. Then it hit me It felt like my muscles in the back of my lower legs were knotted up. Every time my right foot hit the pavement I felt like some invisible dwarf was poking a sharp stick on my calf. I hoped that the pain would disappear after a couple of kilometers, and as I passed Balacran Church it did abate, but it was still there and I wondered if it would flare up in the final stretches, when fatigue and exhaustion have set in. I also noticed that I have left a trail in Path It was blood from my Knee which was Cut open. But in runners spirit I pushed on Not minding the Blood the pain, and the hardship of my aking calf.
I still kept to my original game plan, which was to run a 6:30 pace up to the half-way point, then go 6:00 for the final half, with the final stretch going balls to the wall. That should get me a 2 hour 30 minute run. But, as I crossed the 10K mark, my knee started to bother me, the open wound ached once in a while I felt my legs go heavy on me, my breathing was working overtime, and the fear of hitting the wall suddenly dawned on me. Was it because i was losing blood?? Was it because I misjudged my pace and started off too fast too soon? And yes the pain on my right calf flared up in the last 7 kilometers. I began to count the kilometers down. Five more, I told myself. Then four more. And not only did the pain affect my gait, but for some strange reason, as I ran along Roxas Blvd I could feel every sharp crag of the pavement through my Vibram FiveFingers. It didn’t feel like some reflexology massage; it felt like someone put sharp-edged pebbles inside my shoes. How could that be? I ran the same route last December using the same pair of minimalist shoes! How could the route suddenly feel so alien and so painful? Did the past seventeen kilometers make the soles of my feet tender and sensitive? I also realized "ang Layo pala ng coastal sa Luneta ". It seemed Like Roxas Blvd Never ended, But i did conquer the floyover over edsa, but still I still felt pain, pain on my knee. and it was getting worst evrytime the wind hit my wound, it ache some more.With that I had no other choice but go to plan B. mind over body. I thought of possitive things instead of the pain. I even thought of the person I loved who i knew was gonna their when I finished, not exactly when I finished but she would be there and that was enough to get my feet moving.
Here was where I realized how mental fortitude plays in the home stretch. Your body is yelling to stop, and all you have left is your mind egging you along. I was telling myself that I can do this, that I’ve done this route before and I can do it again. I tried to distract myself, to detach myself from the pain. I zoned out on the music playing from my iPhone. My right hip began to stiffen but I chose to ignore it. At kilometer 19, I knew I would still end up with a PR—my time was 2 hours 59 minutes at that point, I knew I had to do better and I knew I could muster enough energy to run at a 7:00 pace. Just. Don’t. Hit. Wall.
What’s funny is that somehow you still find some juice in the end. I read somewhere that nobody is truly fully exhausted, that even when you feel that you are scraping the bottom of the barrel, there is still some kick left in you. Despite the pain and fatigue I was feeling, I still ran my final kilometer at 6:59, a fast pace considering I was walking during this time last december at the milo marathon, to even keep up a 7:00 pace in the home stretch! It is indeed a mental game. My unofficial time is 2 hours 25 minutes 37sec, a new Personal best for me, a great accomplishment that even I was suprised at myself, I was thrilled, relieved that it was all worth while, the hard work at the gym, the mind over body technique and not stopping to hydrate and keeping a pack tiger energy cookies in pocket was all a sucess.
The feeling of hearing congratulations and having a medal hung around my neck is the one greatest moments in my fast growing running career. So cheeers to RUNRIO and hope to complete all 3 legs of the RUN UNITED SERIES and hopefully be Ready for the first ever RUN UNITED PHILIPPINE MARATHON 42K.
- Here are some Pros and Cons about the run and what I feel RUNRIO can work on, on future races.-
So how was the organization of this run? Unfortunately, I can’t help but compare it to the race organization of other Running Events such as the PSE BULL RUN and I think Runrio is getting sloppy. Here is why:
Then there are the trash bins, which were situated so close to the hydration station that you would have passed them when you finished your drink. It’s common to see the road littered with plastic cups. If these types of runs want to be proponents of environmentalism, then they have to put in more trash bins! Why they don’t use paper cups is beyond me.
Now let’s talk about safety. In two occassions, I, together with a couple of fellow runners, almost got run over by vehicles—the first was at Buendia corner Ayala, where the cops failed to stop some errant cars from crossing the intersections; the second occurred while we were turning left from Buendia onto Roxas Boulevard, where some jeeps blatantly disregarded the traffic enforcer.
Then there’s the pollution. Jeeps and buses snarled to a standstill along Buendia close to Taft Avenue. We runners blocked their U-turn slot, so these smoke-belching, oil-consuming monsters had no choice but to wait us out, and for our transgression we ended up inhaling their noxious fumes. This was the same situation as that MILO MARATHON also organized by RUNRIO.
Then there were portions of the route which were poorly lit, most especially the Kalayaan overpass from Fort Bonifacio connecting to Buendia. The lamp posts were not fired up and the organizers chose instead to rely on high-powered lights with generators feeding it. First, the lights were placed so far apart that they only lit pockets of the overpass. I could barely see beyond a few meters. The Kalayaan flyover was early in the run, so it was horrendously crowded and because of poor visibility I couldn’t weave past the runners. I was also worried that I may step into some pothole or trip over something. As an aside, there were these two guys walking along Kalayaan who were dressed in clubbing attire and who obviously came from some bar at Fort; I wonder if they survived without getting stampeded by the thousands of runners!
Another thing that is why urinals where there for people to use. While running the route I saw people urinating along Buendia on trees come on people use the urinal for crying out-loud.
Baggage was once again a nite-mare! claiming your bags was like running 21k all over again.They raffled off bag as if they were prizes!! I think RIO should think about this issue because this is where he would lose runners.
I’m still nursing my wounded knee as I write this. But I feel good about myself. It was a satisfying run. It is always exhilarating to transcend physical limits, even if my goal of breaking the two-1/2 hour barrier seemed impossible before. I guess I will have to scale back my training next week lest my wounded right knee . If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that mental stamina is just as important as physical stamina. Now I need to build up on that. That may just be the key in establishing new PRs! My next run is the Run for Raze and Yakult 10-miler. Hope I can run a good run on both of these races and hopefully inspire others to start running and realize the benifits it can give.
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