I don’t know how to make this short so let’s see nalang how long this goes.

I started training for this in June and because the training was highly structured it really put my body thru immense challenge. There were times I thought my body would break but surprise, surprise, she also always recovers. In training I learned it is hard to break a body especially when she knows how to rest. (And eat!)

Coming to race day itself, I felt prepared and nervous. Nervous because I know that so many other things can happen especially when you are going the distance. The longer you go, the more we increase the chances of encountering things we cannot control or don’t know how to yet. This is my first ever half marathon so I was open to not getting it all right even with all the hard work and practice I put in.

Challenges Before and During the Race

  1. I was too excited I couldn’t sleep. I lay down my bed early hoping I’d doze off at some point but never did. I am still baffled about this and thinking of how to control this next time.
  2. I made the mistake of wearing some things for the first time. I didn’t practice my shorts AND socks. My pee was leaking into my shorts and it was not the best color as it is light and the high contrast made it 100x obvious. So I had to problem solve only few kms in the race. You never would have guessed what I did. Let me know if you actually do 😂
  3. Aside from the shorts I didn’t practice my socks. I changed my mind from short to long day before and this is the wrongest of all wrongs. IT COST ME HALF MY RUN. My socks were too thick and it gave me blisters, super bad blisters that I ran 12kms onwards IN PAIN. I never felt this kind of running pa before where you push despite the pain. But I did. I first succumbed to the reality I could not escape and strategized that I could make it with an LSD pace till 18th km and push again for the last three. At least I thought then if I bled I would be fine being so near the finish line! (I was also managing mental state; thought if I saw blood way ahead of time that might mess me up. I was also afraid that because of the pain my gait is affected and that might lead to a host of other problems like injury if I pushed faster. You think so much on the fly when you race and I don’t know, but that on its own is a challenge I enjoy HAHAHA! I apparently enjoy problem solving WHILE running.)

Summary: So yeah my biggest challenges with this half mary were: running sleepless and breaking the rule of “nothing new on race day.” The second one cost me so much. But anyway, like I said, I didn’t expect this run to be perfect. And though it wasn’t, it still was a really great one for a number of reasons as well.

My Wins in this Race

  1. The plan was to do under 2:25 and I really thought that was not possible for me so I wondered how CK (my coach) is gettIng this computation 😂 Yet when I was on the course, his pace breakdowns were ON POINT. I couldn’t believe that I was running the paces he gave me without even gasping for air or my legs breaking down. If not for the blister, I think I would have gone under 2:25 indeed! (Cause I ended up with 2:27 — with super super painful blister even. My heart rate was just 159 average so proof there that I really wasn’t pushing hard. Half the race really just felt like an LSD.)
  2. Even with the pain, I didn’t feel like dying not only cause of the training (I cannot underestimate how my zone 2 runs just turned my engine a notch higher!!!) but also the effort I put into understanding nutrition and performance fueling. My gels and salt sticks worked! I trusted they would and they delivered! Not once did I feel exhausted, thirsty, or hungry!
  3. Old Manila is so beautiful. Still my most favorite part of the metro. I was stopping myself from crying as I was going through Jones Bridge, Binondo arch and of course, Intramuros. I’m that kind of runner, beauty is a kind of fuel.