Checking out the route, we pitied Arni and Alex. The race route would pass by major landmarks in the former American base such as the Subic International Airport, the Subic Yacht Club, natural parks including the Ilanan Forest all the way to the Ocean Adventure, Botanical Garden and Subic’s several safari and forest farms. After driving through the route, we all agreed on one thing: “The terrain is tough for first timers!” :-/
42k runners are all set at the starting line as early as 4:30 am.
Long distance runners from Kenya and Ethiopia position themselves at the lead of the pack encouraging some bystanders and fellow runners for some photo ops. With the win of Hillary Lagat from Kenya in the recently concluded Clark Marathon, it's not bad to secure an early photo souvenir in case one them (indeed) finished first in the 42K route.
The next day, we got up early and readied for the race. Dubbed as the 2008 Subic “International” Marathon, the emcee announced some foreign runners from UK, USA, Kenya, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia. We also met a group of runners from South Korea but the emcee did not acknowledge them. I had short chat with the only lady in their group and found that they are Korean students from Baguio who are in the Philippines to study English.
The 42K runners started as early as 5am and the rest (21K, 10K, 5K, and 3K) were jampacked at the starting area and started the run at the strike of 6am. After we heard the gunshot, it was like we are all heading for a stampede. There were at least 4,000 runners participating in the event that we could hardly make a move without brushing one’s elbow. After the first intersection, the spread of runners leveled out a bit. The 5K and 3K runners turned to the left while the 10K and 21K headed to the right going to the Yacht Club.
...and off they go! The 21k and 10k races will not be starting until an hour more so I had the chance to take a few more shots before giving up my camera for awhile and concentrate on the race.
Kenyan elite runner, Nelson Kirwa Rotich got to the 42k finish line first with a time record of 2:27:11. Filipino Olympian Eduardo Buenavista finished after splits of seconds with running time of a 2.27.55.
Estrella Diaz is the first female 42k runner to finish checking in at 03:22.0 I always look forward to this category...these women inspire me!
The largest delegation to join in the event comes from Philippine National Police Academy. Hee-hi-hooo!
I had fun watching these guys. They are waiting for their mates to check in, writing down their names and bib numbers on sheets of paper, bearing the heat of the sun.
I got all perked up with the runners in front of me that I immediately started doing a pace run (which is a bad start). Eventually I got a bit exhausted and settled for a steady run after the half turn. Four kilometers away from the finish line, my foot accidentally hit a metal on the road, momentarily lost my balance and got both of my knees skinned. It was a funny sight really. Some of the runners behind me offered to help but I got up fast and ran the last few kilometers. The wounds on my knees started to sting that it incited me to run faster. Eventually I got through the finish line. I finished the race for over an hour (1:12) which is much slower than my Clark record (1:04) but what can I do? I had a few laughs afterwards, I could never get over this kind of stupidity. Oh well, there goes my ugly souvenirs!
And why the heck do I like this quote so much.
"If it hurts, make it hurt more."
~Percy Cerutty~
There goes my ugly souvenir!
We’re scheduled to run again this weekend. This time, it’s the PSE Bull Run 2008 at the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
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12 comments:
Woah! Tindi ng sugat mo, hope there's no other serious injury aside from that bruise.
Natawa ako sa 6th photo. Nalala ko yung yung 1st 10k ko nun, yang mga PMA na yan, mahahawi talaga yung daan pag sila na dumadaan. hehe
Keep on running, iba pa rin ang natural high na nadadala ng isang good run.
Woah! That looks painful!
Enjoy the Fort Boni run but be careful ;-)
This appears to contain 3 things any one of which would generally put me off.
1. Doing anything at Stupid O'Clock in the morning is neither big nor clever it is in fact the first step to insanity!
2. Running, I mean I ask you, if we were meant to run we wouldn't have the capacity to drink beer the way we do. I'll grant you there may have been occasions in our Bronze Age past when the ability to escape from a marauding mammoth may have been useful but the mammoths have all been outrun now.
3. Pain - will you look at yourself there all grazed and bruised and stuff, it's madness I tell you, no good can come of it. We have pain receptors so that we know what it is we are trying to avoid, namely pain.
Here endeth the lesson!
Wow, that does look pretty painful to me. Hope you are OK to run this weekend. Good luch with that!
I'm glad you like the action shot of Ginny on my blog. I'm pretty proud of that shot, of the one of Dennis as well.
That sure is painful!
You're inspiring me to run marathons as well Rayts!
(:
You joined the marathon? Good for you. And the souvenir's gonna remind you the event for a while.
For some reason the big girl on the second photo (fat but looking mascular) seem to take centre stage on the picture.
@Ferdz:
ayos na. medyo natutuyo na yung sugat kaya lang badtrip, may peklat. di na ko makakapag-miniskirt, nyahaha! asa pa. oo tama ka, iba ang natural high na dala ng pagtakbo. yung tipong mamatay ka na pero kailangan mong tapusin yung course.
@Sidney:
thanks! the PSE Bull Run was okay. I have to get hold of my official time. they haven't release the result yet.
@Redbaron:
hahaha! you have clearly made some solid and valid points here. but let's just say, I like to torture myself a lot. not being able to drink as much as beer as I want, getting bruises here and there--these things I can take. i am having a hard time to really pull myself out of bed during the wee hours of the morning and justify everything by enough running miles in prep for at least half a marathon.
@peter:
as they say, no pain no gain. and part of that gain are ugly scars and souvenirs that will continue to remind me of those days of hardships. i am sure you know what the heck i am blabbing about. it's the same discipline you apply in badminton or any other sports for that matter.
@Kyels:
i am happy to know that. i hope to hear you joining one of these events in your place.
@Rey:
and you really noticed her? she actually positioned herself there for some photo ops with the elite runners. but yea, my eyes keep on going her way too.
Tena koe ehoa
Oh Rayts what happened for that graze to end up on your knee?
It looks like grass burn or worse a gravel/road burn and that's something I've had a couple of times and dislike very much.
nyay that's really ugly. but it tells a story. :)
speaking of inspirational women, allow me to share you this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w
welch and ingraham crawling to the finish line...in a battle for fourth place
@ndiginiz
hi there. i am fine. the wounds are fine, what's left are the scars. ugly scars. but i am fine. :-)
@cathy
oh my, thank you so much for sharing that video. i watched it over and over again and was really inspired. i shared it with my running friends and they too were overwhelmed so much so that we continued to discuss and talk about it for the rest of the day. thanks Cathy!
Oh darn! Ayaw bumukas yung picture ng sugat. :( Anyway, I'm glad you're ok. I'm so jealous of you... you're running regularly. I'm sure makakaya mo na yung half-marathon in June. :)
Toe!
gusto mo padala ko sa email mo? hehe. dami ko kayang kuha sa sugat ko. dalawang tuhod ko ba naman ang dinali eh. sana nga makaya ko sa June! wah, gusto ko talagang mag-full marathon balang araw. kaka-adik tumakbo!
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