Wednesday, March 21, 2012

My Run United 1 2012 Experience


This wasn't my first time running 21K and running at Run United 1, but I felt a bit nervous a week before the event. Maybe because of lack of training and the thought of joining the event from work without sleep again, which happens in all my 21K races so far because of conflict in schedule.

A week before the race, me and my dedicated pacer Che-Anne did a training LSD for it. She also is guilty of having no training for quite some time now. We did a 2-hour run and it was my first time to see her catching her breath. I was also feeling so tired after. I was so surprised when I plot the scheduled workout on Dailymile, we only did 10 Kilometers!

Even so, I am still sticking to the idea that at least I got some training before the actual race, unlike the previous 21K's I had. I also am looking forward to finish the race earlier so I can watch my son's first race. He was registered to run on a kids 500m dash.


Mommy and Baby Bibs! ^_^

Knowing that the starting line is at Bonifacio Global City and the finish line will be at Mall of Asia brought a somewhat excitement. It was on my runner's wishlist.

Big day came. We arrived at the starting line and it was expected that there are plenty of runners in this event. After loading our bags at the counter, we had some small talk with our runner friends before we actually turned race mode on. 

The race started with the National Anthem and a short prayer. A few important reminders and then the gunshot was heard for the the wave 1. After 5 minutes it was our turn. I pumped up the volume of my music to set me on the mood. When the second gunshot was heard, were off!

Though we are almost 4,000 in this category alone, I did not feel that it was overcrowded. The weather was great and the hydration stations were all ready for us. My first kilometers were a breeze until I reach my first 12 kilometers. At this point, I felt that my body has depleted, that even replenishing with Jellybeans is not working anymore. Che-Anne was very persistent and persuasive in maintaining the race pace we have set so as always, I push myself to the limit.


Me and Che-Anne at Quirino Avenue (Photo courtesy of Rowena Ison)

At around kilometer 15 I felt that my body already had enough beating for today. It was a struggle from this point and running was almost hard to do. I tried power walking instead. I'm glad I still have the energy to do it. This lowered my heart rate and somewhat did a short charge of energy in me, the one I used in the last 2 kilometers of the race.


Sleep Running! (Photo courtesy of ChiChem Runners)
I was surprised to even beat my recorded Personal Record of 3 minutes, 14 seconds. I now have an official time of 3 minutes and 12 seconds! 

What's nice about this race is they provided a great race analysis that I've never had in any of the races I've joined in. 
Just click HERE so you can access your own! Here's what mine looks like:






I was trying my very best to finish so I can see Ethan on his first race, maybe that is the reason why I had a motivation to push harder. Though I didn't see him race, I am glad to hear what my sister told me about him. He clocked his 500m dash in 3 minutes, 4 seconds without exerting much effort. He was running continuously and was not even tired after the race. He was so happy after the race that he keeps on saying "Mom, lets run again okay?" for almost 4 days! He cannot just get over it!


Though after the race I failed to get my finishers shirt and loot bag, I don't feel any negativity at all. Knowing Coach Rio, this issue will be settled in no time. I am just waiting for an update to when I can get mine. I wanna wear it in the office! ^_^


The winning moment for me! ^_^ (Photo courtesy of Peng Magbiro)

I would like to thank Unilab Active Health for always supporting and believing in my cause. To Ms. Claire Papa, Ms. Janice Ianne Miguel, Ms. Rochelle Del Callar and their staff. To RunRio Inc. for always giving a quality race for us. To Che-Anne Lumanog for her endless patience in my whining and her persuasion so we can finish with a best time. To my Team Kamote Runners and Team Philippine Diabetic Athletes for always supporting and believing that I can. To all my runner friends who cheered me during the race. To my family who is always there to help me out when I come home dead tired and most especially to God for always letting me stay alive although I felt I almost lost it during the last kilometers of my races.



Showing off our medals!
This race has given me a humongous triangular medal, a reminder that I need to collect 2 more to make it a circular one.

So, I'll see you all again at Run United 2!

Good Vibes everyone and Sweet Running! ^_^

2 comments:

Rah said...

congratulations on your run. good job. Wanted to join this race sana kaya lang hindi na ako nakahabol sa deadline.

Unknown said...

Thanks Rah! I hope you can make it to RU2! See you there! ^_^