Fil-Mus Run For Peace
Murhpy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
I was intent on joining two runs this weekend. The first was the 12-hour Multi Sport Celebration in Memory of Gabriel yesterday followed by the Fil-Mus Run For Peace 10k this morning. (Please pause for a while as I shut my ears to avoid hearing any sermons about tapering.) But, with bad cough accompanied by sore throat, I hesitantly passed on Gabriel’s run to save the little that was left of my barely audible voice for a workshop I was giving yesterday morning. Man, I should have seen this as an ominous sign.
Today, the morning of the Fil-Mus race, I woke up at 4:45 a.m. feeling like I had to peel myself off the bed. I should’ve seen flashing lights and warning signs all over the bedroom, but I was in no way going to pass up another opportunity to race. I took forever to get ready and finally left the house at 5:30 a.m. The race would start at 6 a.m.
Okay, now for the fun part. This is where anything that could go wrong…did go wrong. I can almost hear Murphy laughing!
{ 1 } Running Late…Literally
At 5:57 a.m., I was so near the race area, yet so far! Traffic enforcers had blocked the roads leading to the venue and, after frantically circling the roads twice, I knew I wouldn’t navigate my way through the back roads in time. So, if I wanted to make it to the race, I knew I had to walk…no run! I hastily parked at the Yacht Club, almost a kilometer away from the assembly area, jumped out of the car, and ran towards the starting line. After cursing myself all throughout that..err..warm up, I saw Banggi and Renz among the runners waiting for the race to start. I quickly asked “Is it starting?!” It was music to my ears when they said “not yet” so I made my way to the restroom yelling to them “I have to peeeeeee!”
– The view from my parking area. Sad, this was the only photo I took as my camera was left in the car, almost a kilometer away from the race –
{ 2 } The Cough Race
The 10k course was very simple. It was two laps around Roxas Boulevard starting and ending at Plaza Rajah Sulayman. I had ran that same route before at Run To Bring Hope, the last race where I set my PR. It was going to be flat and long and I was all set.
Two kilometers into the race and I was feeling unusually tired. I was coughing almost every 3 minutes and breathing was not difficult but neither was it easy. My cough was so embarassing. I thought perhaps it worked as an incentive for runners around me to gain speed in an attempt to get away from all the noise I was making!
{ 3 } Tired and Weak
By 4 km, I seriously considered ending the race at 5k. I was tired and I was slow. I was close to giving up but I pulled myself together and coerced myself into just finishing the 10k. Fine, I thought, I should just think of this as a training run and forget about competing. With the pressure off, I enjoyed the run a little bit more.
In the middle of the run, I was surprised to see Robin Padilla, a popular showbiz personality who was once known as the “bad boy” of Philippine cinema until he converted to Islam, running along with us. Hey, no matter how tired I was, that bit of entertainment sure added some color into a lifeless run. I swore he winked at me, but then again, that could have been hallucinations brought about by my sheer exhaustion at that point.
By around 8k, I still felt exhausted, almost like my steps had no power in them. I just wanted to finish the race. Pouring cold water over my head during the last three water stations helped to keep me going. I also had brief walking breaks at these stations to recover. Ack, I hated this. At my recent races, I would not walk nor stop at water stations at all! This was devastating to me.
{ 4 } Another Death
I used my sparkling new Mizuno Wave Creation 8‘s today. And, yes yes yes, they were awesome. I am in love! I barely broke them in (just used them twice on a treadmill) and still I took the chance and used them in a race. Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint.
I made a big boo-boo though. I doubled my socks as I do with my old NB 1222’s. This made the shoe too tight for my toes. So, after the race, when I felt my 4th toe throbbing, I took a deep breath before I pulled my socks off. My toe had died another death! Is that possible at all? Lazarus who came back to life (this dead toe nail had fallen off and started growing already) had suddenly been killed off again! Boy oh boy my foot is unbearably and undeniably u-g-l-y. Yes, I have to spell that out to stress how hideous it is.
{ 5 } My Time
I ended the race at 49:15 minutes, 2 minutes more than my last race. I am competitive against myself so, needless to say, I was shattered. Hey, I hear ya, it was bound to happen. Not every race is a PR race as Ben said. But, you know, I was always hoping those non-PR races would occur sometime in my late 60s.
I came in at 12th place though so that I feel good about.
Until the next race then. To Murphy, please find another runner to haunt.
