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I read the morning papers, er, just this afternoon and I was glad to see photos of the 1st Mayon Trail Run on the frontpage of Phil. Daily Inquirer.  The run helped to promote awareness for climate change.

Oh boy, it looked like an awfully challenging and tiring race but I’m sure the over 150 runners who participated crossed the finish line with smiles on their faces despite the mud on their shoes.

According to Inquirer, the winners of the 18k trail run were:

MALE:

1st: Elmer Sabal (1:09:30)

2nd: Allan Ballester (1:10:08)

3rd: Cresenciano Sabal (1:10:35)

FEMALE:

1st: Leszl Gitarueles (1:32:26)

2nd: Merlita Arias (1:45:07)

3rd: Ellen Tolentino (1:49:08)

Congratulations to the winners and all the finishers!

Click here for the Inquirer article.

Having slept close to midnight the previous night, I desperately needed my morning brew to get me up and about yesterday morning. So, despite the coffee ban I declared for myself in the previous post, I had half a cup of instant coffee with graham crackers for breakfast. (So much for all the planning!)

I arrived at the race venue, Cuenca Park at Ayala Alabang, a little after 6 a.m. frantic over my tardiness as I still had to register onsite. As I lined up at the registration booth, I was met by Coach Patrick Joson, the race organizer, who welcomed me with a smile, personally handing out my race packet even if I wasn’t sure he remembered me at all when I met him at Mizuno Run Club ages ago.  Turns out, I had enough time to claim my free Yabang Pinoy mug and band, put this back in the car, run to bathroom (twice!) before heading out for the assembly area.

This was a relatively small race in a relaxed, light, and fun atmosphere.  It was great to chat with running friends at the starting line almost forgetting at times that we were at a race, not a cocktail party.  No worries from me as this was going to be a training run; my goal was to run an easy 6:00 min/km pace for the race and run additional miles at 6:30-7 to reach my total of 18.5 km for the day.  The race started without fanfare, someone just yelled and we were off.

As we headed out towards Cuenca, I knew that my pacing plan—just like my coffee ban plan—had flown out the window. I was running at around 5:15, even reached a high of 4:27 during the first kilometer. I couldn’t help it. This was much too fun. 

After a few kilometers, I was running 3rd behind two fast women runners. I don’t recall how long we were running in one straight line, but time flew here as I just tried my best to keep up with them.  When the 2nd woman slowed down to drink, I crept up behind her to grab 2nd place.  Before I could yell “Wooohooo!” in my mind, I realized I had made a terrible mistake. Now, I knew she would be breathing down my neck the entire time and I had to push harder. Argh!

Pretty soon, this strong lady runner swept past me and I placed 3rd again. For the rest of the race, I ran close behind her running at around 5:20 to 5:30.  It was pretty much like this all throughout the race. Phoooey.

As we neared the finish, I recalled that Patrick had run the route the previous weekend and informed me early on that it was short of 10km, 8.8km to be exact.  So, around 8km, I slowly increased my pace to chase after the 2nd woman. Unfortunately, she did the same. As we neared St. James Church, we both managed to outpace the 1st woman.

We were soon sprinting towards the finish and, judging by her good form, I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch up with her. I crossed the finish line with an official time of 46:43 mins. for 8.6 km (even shorter than Patrick’s measurement) with an average pace of 5:26 min/km.  

Woah, by far, this was the most competitive race I had ever run.  Quite ironic, since this was probably the smallest race I had ever joined. I never got the name of that fast woman runner, but I did congratulate her after the run. It was so much fun!

She won 1st place, while I grabbed 2nd.  Wooohooo! 

Instead of waiting for the awarding, I met up with JunC (who won 4th place…Congrats!) and Dindo for yet another 2 loops of the race course for our long run. We ran an additional 10km at an easy 7:15 average pace which allowed for great conversation about running and family life.

I ended the morning in high spirits. The 2nd place finish was great, but it was the long run sans injury that made me jump up for joy!  Singapore here I come!

P.S. Sorry no photos. My long run was a priority that day.

Congrats to Patrick Joson for a great race!  Water was overflowing. Next year, hopefully we can make it exactly 10k. 🙂

Congrats to Mark Parco for placing 3rd (?) and bringing home a ricecooker! Me-Anne, glad your back into running. Nice seeing you Tiffin, Joe, and Eric. Patrick, sana you joined!  Idnod, it was nice to meet you even if I had to force your name out of you! To JunC and Dindo, long run again!

To pee or not to PR, yes, that is my question.  

As I mentioned in a previous post, in the much too green November 2008 issue of Runner’s World (page 44 for those of you who have a copy), they said that “one or two cups of coffee or tea an hour before a hard workout or race” can lead to faster times.

With that in mind, I drank a cup of brewed Starbucks coffee one hour before Hope in Motion Race last October 5 hoping it would give me even just 1/8 of the speed of Usain Bolt. Sure I felt stronger and meaner (raaawr!) especially climbing up Country Club Drive.  But, I could have missed the start of that race with the seemingly unending pre-race visits to the little girls’ room. My bladder was uncontrollable.

Thinking that the first race was a fluke, I drank yet another cup of my brewed coffee before Adidas KOTR last week as added assistance to reach my sub-55 hour goal. Yes, I did achieve my goal, but I intentionally left out one little detail when I shared my race report: I went to the comfort room twice before the race, and just as the race was about to begin, I felt the urge AGAIN!  There was no time so I ran through the entire 10k praying to God that I could hold it in without doing a Paula Radcliffe in London Marathon 2005.

{ For late comers, I decided to remove the video clip from this blog in respect of the great Paula Radcliffe.  As others have said below, I think she chose to do whatever she had to do to achieve her goal of winning the marathon—I commend her for that. Some people have been poking fun at the video so I thought it best to remove it from this blog. }

So, the question I place before you is this: Would you drink a cup of coffee to boost your chances of breaking your PR in a race (or even just to improve your time) risking the constant visits to the bathroom, or worse, peeing in your pants?

For tomorrow’s Takbo May Yabang race, I know my answer already. No coffee for me, dear. I’ll stick to a cold bottle of Rush for breakfast and my three graham crackers.

The race belt—although seemingly insignificant compared to one’s training, shoes, bike, attire, and other tri equipment—is an important accessory for a triathlete. You don’t want to be fiddling around with pins at the transition area nor do you want to feel tiny needle pokes on your tummy while you’re racing (there’s enough suffering out there on the road!) I realized the importance of this little belt, a little bit too late, as I prepared for my first tri last month. 

A week or two before the race, I went all over the Metro looking for a race belt; none at ROX, Bike King, or bike shops at Alabang. I heard these were readily available at Cartimar, but I had no intentions of spending money on gas that would have probably cost more than the race belt.  Thankfully, a runner/triathlete friend, Mark P., said he would get his hands on a few race belts from a friend.  As back up (yes, I leave no stone unturned), I also borrowed the belt of another triathlete friend, Jamike, who offered to lend his a day before the race.

To cut a long story short, I ended up with 4 race belts during the Animo Tri. Three from Mark, two of which I handed out to Marga and Philip, and one for me. Then, I used Jamike’s race belt.  Hooray for race belts! Goodbye to pins!

Fast forward to Adidas KOTR—with race belts being the farthest thing on my mind—I meet Rikkiboi and Toto, two guys who approach me proudly showing off their new products: racebelts!  They share their desire to offer belts to runners (not just triathletes) to avoid punching tiny holes in expensive singlets and avoid losing time attaching those 4 pins on your shirts. Soon, they’ll be offering new products such as “the race lace.”

The race belts will be available at future fun runs/ races so keep your eye out for them.  For any inquiries, contact Rikkiboi or Toto at one77evo@yahoo.com.

Official results are out for Adidas KOTR 10k and 21k at RunningDATcom’s blog. Click here.  UPDATE: 5k results available there as well.

My official time for 10k was 52.52 minutes with an average pace of 5:18 min/km.  Pretty much the same as the numbers on my Garmin.  

First placer in the distaff category was Mercedita Fetalbero with a time of 36.35 with a pace of 3:40…phew! I was the 18th woman to cross the finish line.