Posts Tagged with: "Marathon"

Reminder to all TBR Dream Marathoners!

We have a Bull Circle tomorrow at 7 PM in ROX with Coach Jim Saret as speaker. Coach Jim was kind enough to take the time out from his busy schedule coaching the RP Smart Gilas Basketball Team to talk about how to prepare our body for a marathon. This talk must not be missed. It will do wonders for you during the marathon—if you apply his teachings.

On Feb. 26, we will have our much awaited Bull Session in NUVALI where we run our longest run before the marathon all together. This is a great time to practice exactly what you’ll do on race day in the race venue and along with other TBR Dream Marathoners. Fantastic experience that again, you must not miss! More details within the week.

Hope to see you there!

Talk about cramming.  It’s 8:50 PM the day before the race and it’s only now that I’m downloading the Condura Skyway Marathon Runner’s E-Handbook for details. (Click HERE to download the comprehensive —and impressive—Condura Runner’s E-Handbook)

Suffice it to say that this week left me with little time to prepare for the race and just enough time to recover from my fever last Monday.  It’s definitely going to be more of a training run for me tomorrow (as it is for a lot of our TBR Dream Marathoners!) rather than a serious race—unless a full week with Jeff Galloway has some magical effect on my speed!

See you on the Skyway!

To all TBR Dream Marathoners, you may claim your FREE Galloway tickets at the following venues:

• Friday, 28 January (starting 1PM) to Tuesday, February 1, 2011 – Runnr, Bonifacio High Street. Look for Nikko or Erika. Inform them that you are a TBR Dream Marathoner.  You may send a representative with a letter  of authority to claim your ticket
• Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 5:30 pm to 6 pm – Colegio de San Agustin, Dasmarinas Village, Makati City.  This is the date and venue for The Galloway Method.  You may claim onsite before the event.
• Saturday, February 5, 2011, 2:00 to 2:30 pm – Colegio de San Agustin, Dasmarinas Village, Makati City.  This is the date and venue for The Galloway Method.  You may claim onsite before the event.

For non-TBR Dream Marathoners: tickets will be sold onsite as well.  See you there!

Do you want to know who a person really is?  What makes him tick?  Have him sign up for a marathon and his true self will be revealed.

After observing hundreds of runners toil away for months on end while training for their first marathon, I have enjoyed what marathon training offers: a glimpse into a person’s psychology and psyche.

If running is a metaphor for life, then marathon training is a window into the runner’s soul.

How a runner trains for a marathon uncovers vital information about her life beyond running.  It speaks volumes of who the person truly is: her character, beliefs, values, and even taste—in running and in the real world.

Note: The personalities detailed below are fictitious.  If you feel you are being described below, you are completely paranoid.

A leader will always find himself in front of the training group, perhaps set the pace or plan the course for each run.  He knows his stuff about running and shares this with the newbies. After a run, he rushes home to lead his business enterprise which he set up at the tender age of 20.

A follower will intentionally lag behind and ask questions: What distance do we run today? Where do we run? Are we joining the race next week?  Do you think I should wear the white or black underwear on race day?  A follower always has a coach, a leader, or anyone who can give him decent answers during a run.

The cheater signed up for TBR Dream Marathon knowing full well that it is only for first or second timers.  No worries, no one will ever know that she finished QC Int’l Marathon last year and is registered for Condura 42k on Feb.  She doesn’t care if she took the slot of a first-time marathoner who deserves the experience more than she does.  She HAS to run TBR Dream because her boyfriend will be there to cheer her on!  Just don’t tell her husband about it.

A planner will have her marathon training program printed out and displayed on every nook and cranny of the house. It is followed to a tee.  Marathon day is two months away but she knows her food, hydration, supplements, and outfit already.  She even has a post marathon training program ready.  All this has been neatly encoded into her ipad, a reward she bought for herself after her 3rd promotion this year.

The faker signed up for the marathon and posted about it on his blog.  He says he’s training seriously, but barely finds time to train since he’s too busy tending to his farm on facebook. He’s deeply worried about marathon day, but finds comfort in knowing that he can quit at 21k and simply tell his clueless friends that he finished the full.

This happy-go-lucky runner got lucky!  He heard about the race, impulsively registered, and found out he got the last slot.  Everyone is training heavily for the race, but he has no worries.  After all, he finished a 21k last year—note: half drunk and without any sleep—without collapsing.

A complainer always finds something wrong with herself and everything else: her yaya didn’t boil the eggs properly, her running shoe lacks cushioning, the pacer at the clinic ran too fast while her running buddies were too slow, the road had potholes, and the weather!  Oh boy, she asked God to make it cloudy that morning, but the sun appeared!  Arrgh!

The optimist is injured but knows that with some massage and cross training, the doctor will allow him to continue training next week.  He joins the running talks and observes at clinics eager to learn more about his newfound love for running.  He can’t believe he can run for 2 hours already, to think he only started running last year after he was declared cancer-free!

I could go on and on, but you get the point.  Each runner who signs up for a marathon will have his own tale to tell—not just after the marathon, but while training for it, not just through his words, but by his actions, and not just about his run, but his life and how he lives it. Make sure YOUR story is a GOOD one.

Did we miss the race? That was the sole question on my mind as hubby and I stepped out of our taxi onto the empty street of the assembly area, Dataran Merdaka, on the drizzly morning of June 27, 2010. Race start was 6:15 a.m. and we arrived 5:30 a.m. In Manila, the starting area would have been bustling with runners, but, here, the entire street was empty.

– Light rain before the race start was a blessing –

– Almost like a ghost race or so I thought –

– The street was all ours –

Turns out, runners were near the stage area or lined up at the portalets, which were not enough I tell you (or I could’ve been spoiled by our local races.) We checked in our baggage and sat by the sidewalk trying to keep our eyelids from closing. Shouldn’t have slept at 11pm. Shouldn’t have gone touring the entire day before the race. Shouldn’t have binged on too much noodles and sumptuous Malaysian food. Ok, we may not have been THAT regretful about the last one.

By 6 a.m. the assembly area was packed. We managed to squeeze into the crowd of runners packed like sardines. I noticed that runners in KL aren’t as gear-crazy as we are in Manila. I didn’t spot too many Malaysians donning Garmins nor Polars, compression tights, or even caps or visors.

Amidst the mass of runners, it was a pleasant surprise when Lim (RunwitMe), a running blogger from Malaysia who I had been following for a couple of years, called out to me. (He said he spotted my bright pink Newtons, which not many Malaysians weear either. Not yet, at least.) After a few photos together, we got to chat about running in his country. He said that running is slowly picking up in Malaysia with races scheduled every weekend.

– It was a pleasure meeting you, Lim (runwitme)! –

– with the hubby –

Soon, we heard the gun start and we were off. The weather was cool and damp from the slight drizzle. Roads were still wet. Hubby and I had no idea what to expect from this race. Our mindset: training race mode.

EASY 7K

The first thing that greeted us was a steep climb up. Wonderful. If this was a sign of things to come, then I planned on taking it easy all the way. Our initial pace for the first 2k was a slow 7:00 min/km both due to the ascent and the heavy traffic among runners. The road was not that wide, so traffic was a problem.

Hubby and I ran side by side with our pace relaxed at around 6:00 to 6:30. I even stopped to wait for him when he went on bathroom break. At around 7k, he advised me to go ahead as he wanted to maintain 6:30 pace all the way.

PR COURSE

It was then that I went a wee bit faster running at 5:30 to 6. As the course was unveiled to me, I thought with a pang of regret: Man oh man, this is a PR course! I should’ve gone fast from the start. (And I should’ve trained for it harder, too!)

The route was composed of gentle rolling hills, a slightly easier version of Ayala Alabang, my training ground. There were twists and turns through the streets of KL with nature and architecture (we passed mosques and Petronas Twin Towers) in our surroundings. Except for the first climb at the start, all ascents were easy on the legs while the downhills were a treat.

This was my third Standard Chartered Marathon. I’ve run Singapore Half in 2008 and full in 2009 and I completed Hong Kong full last February. Among all three, KL Marathon is my favored course.

IN OBSERVANCE

There was considerably less fanfare in this race compared with other international races I’ve joined. Just a few cheerers, one of which was a group of shirtless, teenage Malaysian boys and girls in bra tops with drums enthusiastically singing and dancing their hearts out. Honestly, I’d rather have one of that then a bunch of entertainers acting like drones who chant memorized cheer lines.

I noticed that Malaysian runners aren’t as talkative as Filipinos. Locally, we’ll have groups running together and chatting throughout the entire race. In KL, there was a peaceful kind of silence for most part of the race. Occasionally, you’ll have a partner chatting, but not a rowdy or noisy group in the crowd.

I spent much of my time targeting male runners ahead of me. Most of them caucasian, for reasons unbeknownst to me! I would overtake one then search for another one to target. This was a good strategy for me as I felt like racing (and winning) smaller events within the 21k.

SHOULDA WOULDA COULDA

I felt strong and invincible in the latter half of the race. It was at this time that regret started to seep into my mind: A PR course! Why didn’t I run it like a race from the start?! What a waste!

But, as with all things in life, you can’t dwell on regret for too long as it’ll eat you up. So, I focused on enjoying what was left of the course and running as fast as I could to make up for such a slow race start.

FINISH LINE

I enjoyed this race so much that it went by so quickly. Before I knew it, I was crossing the finish line. I finished 21.4km at 2:09 with a pace of 6:02 min/km. According to official results, I rank 90th (most likely among women but it’s not written anywhere on the website). I didn’t see anyone I knew at the finish, so inside I was screaming: I loved the route! What an amazing course! Woohooo!

I claimed my fantastic medal. Got a free banana. I was on Cloud 9.

– Showing off my medal. Nice! –

WHATTA MESS

From Cloud 9, I was immediately dragged back down to earth when I spent the next 30 minutes (yes, I timed it), waiting in line for my bag. I watched the festivities from that baggage redemption line, devoured the banana without a drop of liquid (I don’t take 100Plus so Gatorade, my sports drink of choice, was imprisoned in the bag I was claiming!), and then I got my bag right before my sweat dried up in my running clothes. Awful.

– Lines. Lines. Lines. –

Hubby and I found each other and we waited for Mary Grace to congratulate her for her 2nd Place win in the Half Marathon Women’s category.

– with Mary Grace de los Santos –

– with the better half after our half –

Hubby and I then boarded a taxi back to our hotel and feasted on a wonderful buffet lunch.

KL, perhaps we’ll see each other again next year if I attempt to PR on such wonderful roads!

– with Renze and Grace for our celebration dinner –

Thank you again to Toby Claudio, Renze Banawa, and the entire staff of Newton and CW-X for the trip!