Dasmarinas Run 2010

TBR RACE REVIEW: DASMARINAS RUN

DETAILS: 18 July 2010, Dasmarinas Village, Makati City

RATING:

THUMBS UP:

• small community affair
• nice secure and safe route
• kilometer markers
• delightful post race freebies and raffle

BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME:

• some hydration stations only had Pocari Sweat, no water
• lack of directional signs caused some 5k runners to lose their way

The Dasma Run was a small and simple community affair that was well-attended by around 1,000 runners, mostly familiar faces in the running scene. As expected, the route was peaceful and secure as it toured runners along the rolling hills of South Forbes and North Forbes and the flat and fast course of Dasmarinas Village. It was an enjoyable race for many with race flaws being minor and forgiveable.

Another must run race for me next year.

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SICK SENSE

Nothing is more embarrassing than coughing your way through a 10k race. That’s what I did last Sunday when I managed to survive the run through South Forbes, North Forbes, and Dasmarinas Village.

I didn’t realize how bad my cough was until I spoke with a couple of runners friends at the race start. Two of them mentioned “Are you sick?” I waved off the cough thinking all would be well. After all, I ran five times the past week without any hitches.

The race started off without much fanfare. Before we knew it, hubby and I had run through the starting line arc both realizing that we hadn’t switched on our Garmins yet. Aaaack!

RACE MODE

I was in full race mode. These asphalted roads were familiar to me, and I knew that my hill training was much more challenging than the rolling hills in these villages. I ran at a fast clip and hubby stayed by my side all along. (Hubby has gotten a lot faster and I’m nervous that he’s going to be overtaking me soon!)

As my new Sennheiser earphones is my fave gear of the month these days, I took the ipod with me, something I haven’t done in a while. I wore the earphones but didn’t turn on the ipod until I needed a blast of energy from the sounds.

After around 3k, hubby stopped at a hydration station and advised me to go ahead. I switched the ipod on to hear Kings of Leon. Perfect…and I pushed forward.

THE BUNNY HOP

Upon entering North Forbes village, the nightmare began. Suddenly, a small ball of phlegm felt like it had lodged itself in my esophagus (if your squeamish this is where you should stop reading) and refused to be expelled. I was coughing every 30 seconds in a futile attempt to clear my throat, but to no avail.

Instead of running, I felt like I was doing a bunny hop. Each cough was so strong, my body would lunge forward forcing me to skip higher on one leg. Gawd. More than anything, it was embarrassing. Not only did I have the most unique stride among all the runners, but I was the noisiest too. I felt sorry for the runners around me having to run to the rhythm of my cough beat. Ehem, ehem, ehem…pause…ehem ehem ehem.

ALL THE WAY TO THE FINISH

I did the bunny hop all the way until the end of the race running from one village to the next. It was a struggle, especially on the ascents, but despite the suffering, I actually had fun! (I know, I know, I’m crazy.)

I finished 10.4k at 56:28 min with an average pace of 5:26 min/km.

LESSON LEARNED

Little boys and girls, please do not do what I did last Sunday.  Due to my foolishness (and bullheaded-ness), my cough worsened by the following day.  I got fever last night and I’m slowly recovering today.  What a way to start Week One of NYC Marathon Training!  Not to worry, I’ll bounce back in no time.