Category Archives: Race Reports

Osaka Marathon was my 14^th marathon. Each marathon is a special experience, but they all vary because of all the elements that come into play from training to all the little occurrences in each of the 42 kilometres of the race.

For Osaka Marathon, I was just in a happy place almost the entire time.  I think the biggest difference for this race was that my one and only goal was to enjoy it. I only trained 2 months for the marathon because I had previously felt burnt out from previous races. I thought it would do me more harm than good to train hard. On race day, I didn’t put pressure on myself. My pace was relaxed, my mood was calm, and I stayed positive all throughout.

At the race start with Osaka Castle behind me

Luckily for me, everything was smooth sailing. No blisters, no ITB pain, no line at the portalet during the one time I went. Just no problems! Boy was I lucky! My nutrition and hydration plan was perfect. I took 1 GU gel 10 minutes before the race and subsequently at 10k, 20k, and 30k. I carried 8 packs of single serving Gatorade powder with me and took one serving at roughly every 5k of the race. As for my Salt caps, I took it thrice: the first at 7k, 18k, then sometime close to 30k. Hence, no bonking!

My finish time was 4:45, not a PR but not too bad either for someone who sang out loud to her iPod while running! lol. I was smiling from ear to ear as I ran this race and, in the end, it helped me remember exactly why I’m just madly in love with the 42k.

Thank you, Osaka, for the memorable experience!

Here goes my race review for Osaka Marathon: (more…)

– Our 1:10 pace group at the finish line –

Despite the intense summer heat and the crippling humidity, over 12,000 runners participated in Unilab Active Health’s Run United 2 yesterday at SM Mall of Asia featuring 5K, 10K, 21K, 32K and a special category for Persons with Intellectual & Developmental Disability (PWID). It was the 21k and 32 categories with the biggest pool of runners with 5,000 and 4,149 runners, respectively. (more…)

There was no doubt about it. As I stood in the coral of Buffalo Marathon last May 24, 2015, I was certain that I chose the best race I could after a string of World Marathon Majors the past years. While finishing the six World Marathon Majors was a dream come true and exposed me to the world’s biggest and best races, I still believe that small, intimate marathons have their own beauty. I was ecstatic to be standing among the almost 8,000 runners in this race. (more…)

I was at the starting line of Boston Marathon, the most prestigious marathon in the world! And, here I was looking like trash… literally. I was garbed in a cheap plastic poncho with a silver mylar blanket wrapped around my waist as a skirt. I was freezing to death. My entire body was shivering uncontrollably. I held the hood of my poncho down to my forehead to keep the rain from hitting my face. By this time, the rain, as predicted, had begun to pour. Despite the terrible weather conditions, I was still on top of the world trying to soak in (no pun intended) every single minute of this magical experience. (more…)

Selfie before leaving my hotel room for Boston Marathon. Check out that nervous fake smile LOL

The night before the race I sat upright in bed staring at the news on TV in disbelief.  The weather for Boston Marathon day was expected to be rainy and windy with temperatures in the 5 to 8 degree range. A reporter declared it was to be a challenging race for Boston runners due to weather conditions, but, at least, most of them had trained in cooler temperatures during winter.  In my mind I screamed “But what about those who trained through extreme summer heat?!”  Despite this, I kept an optimistic attitude as I prepared for the worst. This was Boston Marathon!  Come hell or high water (no pun intended), I was going to have a grand time! (more…)