The Milo Manila Marathon
All I see is green. Among the mass of 10,000 runners clad in green, I find my way towards the clear roads of Roxas Boulevard. I am running, no flying. Other runners stare in disbelief as they fall like bowling pins knocked out by a speeding ball. I run the streets as if it is mine. I see nothing and feel nothing. I am running faster than I have ever had in my life. In the blink of an eye, the race is over. Crowds cheer. I look around to realize I am the first one to cross the finish line. I am the winner!
I wake up at exactly 5:58 this morning with that wonderful dream. (Yes, boys and girls it was a dream. What did you think?) My only thought upon waking was: two more minutes to the start of the race—and I missed it. I lay in bed watching the clock. One minute more. 30 seconds. 10. 3…2…1…and they are off. Me too—but I am headed towards the bathroom. This sucks.
Why did I miss the race? Because of my “little” incident last night:
After dinner in Teriyaki Boy, we—my hubby, son, daughter, and I—hop over to our favorite weekend haunt: Timezone in Alabang Town Center. In about 10 minutes, my stomach starts acting up. I ask my hubby to watch the kids while I walk in haste towards the nearest restroom. It’s a short walk, but not to me. As I wobble through the corridor towards the comfort room, my tummy starts churning, my vision becomes hazy, and I suddenly feel like I’ve been possessed by a drunk Britney Spears. When I reach the door to the comfort room, a woman holds me up and asks “Are you okay?” to which I can barely find the strength to reply a simple yes. I clumsily find my way to a cubicle and enter.
There are women chatting and I am watching them from afar. I walk towards one of them. I am about to tap her in the shoulder when…
I open my eyes to hear voices “Miss, wake up. Wake up.” in tagalog. I was just dreaming. I look around to discover that I am lying on the floor of the comfort room in the arms of two janitresses who apparently caught my fall. God, I fainted. For the first time in my entire life, I fainted?!
Three security guards help locate my husband and kids and—even if I feel alright after a couple of visits to the toilet—they insist on taking me to nearby Asian Hospital. I hesitate, but relent. Before we know it, I am whisked away in a wheelchair towards the gates of the mall. God, this is so embarassing, I think. When we reach the exit, there is a large crowd curious to see who shall enter the ambulance that awaits. OMG, this is even more humiliating. I wish I had a brown bag to cover my head. I will die if I see anyone I know. I stand up, smile at everyone, and ride the ambulance towards Asian Hospital.
By the time we get home it is around 9 pm. I ask my hubby about the Milo race and he curtly replies “Don’t even think about it.” I pretend not to hear it and send SMS messages to my sister Janice and two other runner friends Mayi and Annie about the incident. All of them advise the same thing: “Don’t run.” Being the bull-headed runner (er, I mean The Bull Runner) that I am, I refuse to even think of skipping the race, but I don’t have a choice. It would be crazy to risk my health for a race. Besides, I think that fainting in a marathon is a hundred times worse than doing so in a bathroom with a handful of people as an audience.
So, there goes my Milo Manila Marathon story, which was certainly not the Milo Marathon race report you probably anticipated. To all those who crossed the finish line, congratulations! Annie, Coach, Mayi, Jamike, and Happy Feet: sayang, I didn’t get to see you there! To those who pledged through me for Kythe: I ran 0km but if you still wish to commit to your pledge I can still donate it directly to Kythe—or you may wait for my next race. Banggigay, Marga, Roselle, and Neville: shucks, I missed meeting you for the first time! Not to worry, there will be more races…like next week’s Run for Hope? haha.
Oh, and for those who have lingering questions about the cause of my fainting, here are the answers:
- Nope, I’m not pregnant. At least I don’t think so.
- Yes, I eat. I am not anorexic.
- No, I will not be suing Teriyaki Boy. I’ve ruled out food poisoning because my family ate the same thing I did.
- Yes, I’ll get myself checked.
- Yes, I will still continue running.
- No, I will not give you my Milo singlet!
Thank you to Alabang Town Center for taking very good care of me—specifically the two janitresses, three security guards, ambulance driver and his companion. I regret that I didn’t get their names, but I’ll surely be writing you to let you know of the wonderful people you have in your team.
July 22, 2007 at 7:54 am
hi bullrunner, sorry to hear that. i’m no doctor but could the excitement for today’s race have triggered that? hope though it’s nothing serious. yah, go for a check up and don’t just go to any doctor. go to a sports doctor. at least you still got your sense of humor intact enough to write about the incident. you’ll be fine.
July 22, 2007 at 8:14 am
hope it’s nothing serious, jaymie. smart thing not to run. there will always be other races, and yes go get yourself checked out.
in spite of what you posted on your blog, my sources here tell me though that you completed the 10K so i guess i gotta live up to that commitment.
July 22, 2007 at 10:07 am
oh my! im sorry to hear what happened to you jaymie.. maybe you fainted upon entering the CR coz someone “let it rip”?! hehe.. well hope you’re all right! Good decision for you not to race this morning. And yup, your dream was right.. thousands and thousands of green jerseys filled up roxas blvd. Most people were walking. Definition of “People”: Students required to join =P hehe… tc
July 22, 2007 at 2:40 pm
ARGH! I was looking for you pa naman! Haha as promised, I wore my Ateneo jersey.
Halfway through this entry I was thinking “OMG is she pregnant?!” hahaha
I won’t be able to join the Run to Bring Hope run! I have an event. But I’m going to run on August 19 (the one for the Peemayer guy since I live near lang) and the UP run on August 26.
I’ll run 10k on 08/26!
July 22, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Roadrat, thanks! Gosh, if you’re right, does this mean I’ll be fainting before every race? Haha
E-rod, aaaw how nice of you to continue the pledge! thanks a lot!
Drew, thanks! Okay it’s just now that I realized it’s THE Drew A. I am starstruck..hehe.
Marga, seriously you wore your jersey? Shucks! I feel so bad we didn’t get to meet up. Was really looking forward to it. Hey, how did you do? Did you get free food even if you didn’t have a food stub? hahaha
July 22, 2007 at 7:01 pm
OMG yes. The number of students required to run must’ve comprised the bulk of the running population that morning.
Damn. I wouldn’t have minded running 10k earlier.
July 22, 2007 at 7:02 pm
And no, no free food. My friends and I just pigged out at Jollibee. Each of us ate food good for three people.
July 23, 2007 at 1:52 am
What did you eat at Teriyaki Boy? I want to know so I won’t order it the next time I go there (hah hah hah) Seriously though, it could really be the food. Our body reacts differently from each other to the same kind of food. So what turned out bad for you, wasn’t exactly bad for the rest of your family. And the other way around.
You missed to answer one important question: If you find out you’re pregnant, will you still be running?
July 23, 2007 at 8:09 am
hope you’re okay now. there will be other races - you can still run the milo national finals on nov 18.
July 23, 2007 at 9:17 am
Marga, yeah in your friendster pic, you looked like the food wasn’t even enough! hahaha
Nora, I initially thought it was food poisoning but the nurse at E.R. said that with food poisoning the vomiting and stomach pain lasts a lot longer than it did with me. In less than 30 minutes after I fainted, the tummy pain was gone and I was back to normal.
As for your 2nd question, if I was preggy, yes I would be running—perhaps not as fast and far and only with my doctor’s go signal. Hey, if paula radcliff did it, so can I!!!
Thanks Odie! I feel great already but I’m scared to run alone on the roads for fear of fainting without anyone to catch me! I’m gonna get myself checked first then I’ll think about all the races I can join
July 23, 2007 at 10:13 am
You bet. After Jollibee, I biked home, then ate again. Took a quick nap, had lunch with a friend since I was home alone haha, then went skating, then ate again. Took another nap, then ate. And had a midnight snack pa. Oh joy!
July 23, 2007 at 11:26 am
Shucks
hope you feel better!
Idol and inspiration pa kita sa pagtakbo.. lingon ako ng lingon sa runners an kaya dito si TBR.. but it is good you rested! than being sorry in the end. Glad to hear you are feeling better.
July 23, 2007 at 11:48 am
hey miss jaymie!
I think i know how you felt last saturday. I too have had some fainting episodes. But the last one was a long time ago narin. Stomach ache was the trigger factor din. With the exact same description. It happened about 4 times to me. And the worst part is that all the doctors say that im perfectly normal…. well to some extent. hehehe I hope everythings a-ok na and that you’re back in training.
~ben
July 23, 2007 at 12:27 pm
okay since what i would tell you is just a repetition of our SMS last sunday, all i can say is…let’s race for the run to bring hope on sunday hehe…
July 23, 2007 at 1:56 pm
I’m sorry to hear that you were not able to run the Milo Marathon. I hope you are feeling well now and it is nothing serious.
There are still many running events coming our way…
July 23, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Please have yourself checked. Something must have caused the fainting spell. Maybe you are not eating enough to compensate for all the running you do–like 13K.
July 23, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Marga, parang triathlon na ang ginawa mo ah!
Chaia, thanks! Nice to have chatted with you this afternoon
Ben! Seriously 4x?! I feel much better just knowing that this doesn’t just happen to me. Hey, how was your run? Oh wait, lemme check your blog…
Hitme, I hope i can run for hope! Eeek, baduy
Biboy, thanks! Yeah, many more races to run. Woohoo
Mayi, yup I will tomorrow
Thanks!
July 23, 2007 at 3:42 pm
hey, ben, are you sure you weren’t preggy back then?
jaymie. even if you got a bun in the oven, you should still be able to race milo in nov, right?
July 23, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Hahahaha, nice one e-rod!
Pregnant or not (the latter is my current scenario) i’m running milo in November! If you’ll be there, I’ll try to get a single friend to run along with me—just for you. Heehee!
July 23, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Hi! Hope you hv recovered from whatever you were having that day! Take care!
July 24, 2007 at 9:41 am
and then maybe e-rod can get preggy by november! hehehehehehehehehehe
July 24, 2007 at 1:44 pm
cheers na! pwede ulit tumakbo!
July 24, 2007 at 1:58 pm
i will need 2 friends please, one on each arm… thank u. i hope my girlfriends don’t read this.
July 26, 2007 at 10:27 am
hi TBR have your sugar level checked too. You might have overtrained and depleted “the sugar” in your body. That is always the case after a race but yours must have have been triggered by something else.
Last Adidas KOTR, i almost fainted when i reached home after driving 1hr pa, but after eating a banana and drinking gatorade i fully recovered in a matter of minutes.
nice to hear your ok!
July 27, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Runwitme, i hope so too! thanks!
Renz, yeah go go go!
E-rod, I’ll be your coach—lamaze coach
Sunnysideup, yes thanks! I think I was somewhat dehydrated and tired too. I worked all day, skipped merienda, and shocked my system with sushi and tempura!
July 30, 2007 at 1:25 am
Hi! TBR Armand here, hope your feeling better now and that your stress test/ treadmill test went well. I also wasn’t able to join the milo run anyway like what E-rod said there will be other races to run.
Keep on running!
August 6, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Hey you reside in alabang ? i live and run in that area. ayala alabng village.
im the guy who always where’s black. hope to see you 1 day. never to get to see you though.
regards
R. Patrick Concepcion