"There ain't no shame looking at a good runner's back. Now, if the runner sucks, that's something else entirely…
~ The Rage, Training Tips "Comeback "~
The stage for the awarding ceremony.
START-FINISH line after the event. Organizers are still waiting for 42 km finishers.
Me and five more friends headed to Angeles City, Pampanga for the 2008 Clark Freeport International Marathon. We left Quezon City at around 3:25 am and arrived at the CDC Staff House, the assembly point at 5:00 am. At that time, the 42 km runners were already starting and immediately, we spotted long distance veteran and two-time Olympian Eduardo Buenavista, 29. He currently holds the Philippine record for multiple long distance events. His best marathon record holds at 2:18:44 hours.
At around 5:45 am, we checked in and got ourselves ready for the 10 km run. Four of my colleagues (Arni, May, Eric and Alex) have been participating in this event for awhile. This is my second run, while Dan’s first. Arni is way at the top of our league since she’s already a triathlete and would be joining the Ironman Triathlon in China. In a way, joining this local event serves as a good training for the coming tough challenge.
The mighty Jho-an Banayag getting near at the 42km finish line. She finished it with an official time record of 3:02:51 hours. She is the first finisher in the women's division and 15th in the overall category. A tough lady to beat!
Fellow runners congratulating the first 42K finisher from Kenya, Hillary Lagat. He takes home $7,000 with a running record of 2:26:29 hours. Huwaw!
He seems happy that a lot of Filipinos look up to him. Afterall, running the 42 km is no JOKE.
Meet my running group: (L-R) Dan, Alex, Arni, and Eric. May and I should be in this photo. :-(
At the strike of 6 am, we heard the gunshot and headed for the 10 km run. While most of the runners were aiming for the huge prize ($7,000), we're there to improve our running record. We heard another gunshot, this time for the 5km run.
After 15 minutes, the 5km runners were heading for the finish line. Leading the pack was the 22-year old, Ducusin with a record of 16:29 minutes. Thirty seconds after, the 10kmrunners were heading for the finish line. Leading the pack was the 20-year old Ronoh, a Kenyan with a race record of 31:57 minutes. For the full marathon (42km), another Kenyan won the challenge, Hillary Lagat, 30 with 2:26:29 record. The first 42km female finisher was Southeast Asian Games veteran, Jho-an Banayag with 3:02:51 running time.
Looks like the Kenyan runners kicked the asses of our Filipino best runners!
I was quite disappointed about the turnabout of Buenavista’s run. He was leading during the first 20 km only to quit due to exhaustion. :-(
I got what I came there for, to improve my running record. I was hoping to run the 10K for 1:30 hour (for security reason, hehehe!) but I finished it for 1:04. That is good for now.
We are bound for the Subic Marathon 2008 this Sunday...
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