Wednesday, July 4, 2007

mY neXt Half!

late |lāt|
adjective

1 doing something or taking place after the expected, proper, or usual time : his late arrival | she was half an hour late for her lunch appointment.


Yes, i was a victim of the evil cool evening weather last saturday!
I managed to wake up at 5:17am when my race will start at 5:30am! and its an Adidas Sponsored event which would definitely start on time!!!! grrrrrrr!!!!! I still can't forgive myself for being such a sleepyhead! Good thing is that i was able to prepared everything that i needed the night before! :)

I had my own super dooper sugar concuction and some gatorade on my hydration belt and a pack of GU. I managed to chow down a powerbar while driving at 80kph. I was hoping i could document the whole race but for the time being..... i doubt that i could manage to break my PR and document at the same time! so i did set aside the camera. As i was nearing the US embassy i saw the first wave of runners going all in already for the 21k race! i was really at a state of panic already. So i was forced to park about 500m away from the start line which means that i had to run all the way to the check in line and thru start line! SHEEEESH!!!!!

As i exited the start line I was able to grab the time, im late by 15mins!!!!
I managed to do a steady fast pace start. And was only able to reach the last group of 21k runners near the 3km mark near buendia-roxas ave. I was still doing the same race strategy! Run as fast as i can, then do a regular 20 second fast walk thru the water station. It works! I continued my steady pace... since i was in a rush earlier i also forgot to bring my watch! grrrrr!!!!!!!!! By feel and by constant asking to other racers i think i was doing a steady 5:30ish pace. I still needed to shave off some time! GOD!!! When will we have CHAMPION CHIP around!?!?!?!?!

I was really careful not to pound the incline at buendia-edsa flyover since It was still the first half of the race. Then I saw the first h@ppyFeet Joms... still smiling and then Zaldy who didn't see me.... then before i knew it... i saw the half marker! i felt my heart pound and my legs..... hmmmm i couldn't feel my legs by this time so i drank my super dooper secret concuction, and slid down some GU, whew! SUGAR RUSH !!!!! :) I tried to change my stride and hopefully my pace. I continued to press on and the only good sign that i had was that I was still overtaking 21k racers. :)

Longer strides and shorter walks for the second part of the race. That was my race strategy. At about 15km a triathlete friend of RC acting as support staff to some of his team mates racing saw me and offered me some Pocari. Not that the Pocari stuff really helped but the support did. I didn't feel that I was all alone racing. I forgot his name, but will never forget his face. (will post his name on my next entry :) ).

I was still pushing myself up until the 19th km when i was struck with my evil companion..... cramps! I was hit hard on my right calf muscle and was forced to move to the road median. Good thing a doctor was nearby and helped my stretch my leg. The stretch was new to me but it did help alot! i was only down for around 2 minutes and was back on my feet running.... or should i say limping my way down the finish line. I thought my nightmare was already over when both my lower quad muscle was starting to twitch and tighten... As if i was relieving LA 2007 all over again!!!!!! I persisted and hoped nothing would hinder my race anymore. My official time was 2:03:10 minus my 15minute late arrival = a new 21k PR! 1:48:10 8 minutes faster than my last 21k last month. :)


~Thanks to Miss Tisha for the photo! :) oh and those 2 cops are my race escort! bwehehe...


Now, its still bothering me.... Will i ever get thru 13 miles at my race pace! Will i be able to redeem myself for my 2nd 26.2mi !?!?



~h@ppyFeet People

6 comments:

o.O said...

will you ever?! yes, i think you will ben! you will! takbo pinoy! takbo tsinoy?! hehe.

congrats on your new PR! beat it again next time.. sa Milo ba 21k ulit?

bEnMChAn said...

ey o.o!

Thanx for dropping by my blog!

Well for this month its Tara Run 15k and Milo 42k. I hope i can get thru that 13mile cramps barrier. :)

Unknown said...

dude, that was a strong run in spite of all the mishaps. with proper training, you'll definitely come in under 4 hours for a full mary.

keep yourself well-hydrated during a race to avoid cramps. also keep those electrolyte levels in check. you may want to take at least another gu in the course of a 21k race, perhaps before the halfway mark. and of course stretching before the run to prevent will probably help.

my brother is also plagued by cramps during his tri and runs. he's tried a few of the above to help alleviate those evil c's.

well done and good luck on future races.

bEnMChAn said...

how much GU do you take e-rod???? Im not really sure of the required intake on a half of a full mary (new term for me :) )

oh and i did hydrate well. I always do a fast walk thru each of the water stations and drink. plus i have my hydration belt with 1 gatorade and another secret boost formula. :)

Unknown said...

Ey ben! Congrats on your new PR! You're going for the full marathon in Milo? Oooh, galing!

bEnMChAn said...

ey miss jaymie!

yeps im going for the full mary as e-rod would call it. I hope to finish it with all my muscle groups not cramping. :) that's my only goal for now. I'll save the PR stat for Singapore'07

~ben