There’s something about the Adidas King of the Road that makes the race a notch above the rest; it must be the presence of thousands of eager runners, the half marathon offering, great-looking singlets, a well-organized assembly, and a number of other things, but all I know is that the moment I arrived at the assembly area, I went on full race mode eager to get going. Instantly, I forgot about last night’s rantings about the missing route map or lack of race bibs in the days leading up to the Adidas KOTR; I was just wanted to race. And, that’s what I got.
After my warm up and stretching, I waited just a few minutes—with winning triathletes and showbiz celebrities Drew Arellano and Paolo Abrera right behind me and my favorite reader Cougcat right outside the barrier—before the 10k gun went off at exactly 5:55 a.m. My secret goal (sorry, I couldn’t share with you) was simply to run a sub-55 hour 10k, a very conservative goal, which I knew I could achieve in this fast course after two consecutive weekend races at hilly Ayala Alabang.
What can I say? The course was awesome! I enjoyed running so much (or was it because I saw super funny and witty Rovilson Fernandez pass by me?) that I snobbed my Garmin throughout the race. I disregarded time and pace and focused on simply giving my best. I didn’t even feel the need to compete against other runners. I just ran, and ran, and ran.
As we climbed the Buendia flyover, I was still in high spirits and it was a delight to see friends who joined the 21k making their way back towards Bonifacio Global City. When the first few running friends passed, I would yell “Go, Glenn” then “Go Joms” then “Go Ben” then “Go Annnnniiiiie” but then, after a while, I thought I would lose my mind (and breath) just cheering for them. To conserve energy, I waved at others to show my support.
Once we hit the flat roads of Buendia, I stopped watching the 21k runners on the other side of the street and looked straight ahead. It was time to get going. After all, flat means fast (hey, I’m talking about the roads, not chests). So, I ran to my heart’s delight. I only stopped to glance at my watch during the 5k turnaround at Reposo then I went on again.
Before I knew it, it was time to climb back up the steep Buendia flyover, which was a lot tougher than the 1st half. With the intense heat, most of the runners before me had began to walk while I slowed down to a 5:50 pace. Wow, it felt like forever trekking up that road but, with a little patience and perseverance, we survived. As I made my way back to Bonifacio Global City, I wanted to yell “Freedom! Woohooo!” as I rolled down the flyover towards flat roads but decided otherwise as the troop of PNP’s I was running with would have to cuff me and send me to Crame.
I ran towards the finish at a comfortably hard pace, again, enjoying every minute. I found my rhythm somewhere in between passing the Pinoy Ultra Runners who ran 21k and the finish line. It was pure fun!
According to my Garmin, I finished 10.02 km (hey perfect race distance!) at 52:44 minutes with an average pace of 5:16 min/km.
– Did you get to sign here? I didn’t. Maybe next year. Thanks to future elite runner Naombi for pointing it out to us –
– BWK united! –
I reached my sub-55 hour goal. CHECK (with minutes to spare)
Ended the race injury-free. CHECK (Actually, I did have an injury after the race. Silly me. I bumped my head against the bathroom door hanger as I was changing. Forehead was bleeding and now it’s black & blue)
I felt I could’ve pushed harder, gone faster, and broken my PR, but hey I’m happy. It was a great race. Adidas KOTR currently tops my list of favorite races this year.
– Aaaw, highschool classmates Tin U. and Jennie Bau! –
– with running bloggers, The Changeling Child, RunningDATcom, & Loonyrunner –
– Pinoy Ultra Runners Hector, Neville and Jeremy –
– BAGAY…ang shades ni Marga sa kanya. Diba Neville? –
– Congrats to Annie for placing 9th, even after coming in late, for 21k –
– Congrats to Queen of the Road Jo-Ann Banayag –
