Run with M.E.

After imbibing way to much alcohol the night before, I was not able to make the start of the Globe run which Marga so kindly registered me for.

No worries, I thought, there's always another race these days. True enough, there was a run in Ateneo the following Sunday.

Now, from the relative comfort of my 20th floor office, I look back on the race and start to smile. It was really a comedy and errors. No, not comedy of errors, comedy and errors!

Let me explain.

1st, the errors. Well, I almost didn't make the race start again. A full week of training with the Second Wind guys left me exhausted. Especially the 4 hour Bike-Run-Swim, we did the day before! Suffice to say,my body needed the rest and I almost didn't make the start.

Have you ever woken up at 6am for a 6:30 gun start? Hehe!

Luckily, being a habitual late riser and 4 years of taking my university degree at the ole Blue and White, I knew the route from my house to the Ateneo intimately and made it with more than 5 minutes to spare.

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to register for the run. Oh well, I'll just run along side the guys I thought.

Still wore my race belt though. Sayang yun branding eh.

The Second Wind Crew at Run for M.E.

It was only when I got to Ateneo that I realized my biggest error of the day! Due to the knee injury I sustained earlier in the year, I had been running with a patella strap.

Well, as you probably guessed, in my rush to get to the race, I had left it behind!

I remember thinking a few moments before the start, this was gonna hurt.

Self-fulling prophecy!

As the picture below proved, by the second loop, I was in a bit of hurt. (That's me in the far right with my head askew and my mouth open.) The short downhills and uphill beside the gym really didn't help things. I even walked a bit during the tight uphill section, it was hard to overtake there anyway.

Thankfully, the Hector, Neville, and company were nice enough to keep pace with my struggling self and despite the pain, I was having a good time, I think so anyway. May subconscious maybe blocking out the sad and painful memories.

Then the comedy part. Bouyed by watching the Ironman Triathlon Championships in Second Wind, we were all inspired to practice our ummmm, "finish line antics" (see below for what I mean), just in case we make the start in Kona, hehe.

Here's Pao and Nevs, showing the crowd that they're still strong despite the difficult race. I think they're channeling the Greek God look.

And here's Hector thanking God and me thanking the crowd for their support. I know, running makes people slightly cuckoo.

My favorite part of the race though was a few meters from the finish, when lacking a Philippine flag to play around with, Enzo and Migs came up with the brilliant idea of using a Second Wind jersey. Hehe, Sayang walang picture yun.

All in all, despite the fact that I wasn't an official finisher and I finished at way over 1 hr, I was glad to be "racing" again. Can't wait for the next one and I'll register for it, I promise.

DNF

I was reading an article online titled: DNF: Black Mark or Better than a Bad Time?

Before this year, I would have just read this and moved on. But this time, it struck a cord with me because I had just recently broken a string of DNFs. Well, 2 of them to be exact.

This was the reason why I rather petulantly and abruptly stopped blogging and reduced my training. Normally, I pride myself on being able to suffer through anything and finish, so those DNFs really took the wind out of my sails.

My 1st DNF was in the Nuvali Off Road Duathlon, which was definitely a case of "Better than a bad time."

Coming of the 1st run, I was strongly placed in my age group and going into a MTB portion with some PNP or Army guy who I realized where novices on the saddle, I felt I could have placed well. Sure enough, I had quickly overtaken them in the first few meters on the bike and it was just me and a very strong biker from Xterra (who went on to win our age group).

But disaster struck my race when I we reached a particularly muddy portion. Being that the clearance on my bike between the tires and frame was minimal, I was quickly bogged down and ended up on the side of the trail frantically clearing mud from my bike. Only to stop and do it again a few meters down the road. Long story short, I was quickly passed by alot of my age group and seeing my previously very good race go awry, mentally I just snaped. Frustrated amd thinking" what's the point?", I took my 1st DNF of the year.

Check out the mud!

The second DNF was more of a case of "over confidence and undertraining lead to serious knee injury."

About 20 kms into this years TNF 100, after attempting to run up and down the mountainous route, I started feeling a stabbing pain in my knee. It got so bad to the point that I couldn't run anymore and took over 12 hours to finish my 1st 50k.

When I got back to the start finish area, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and I should perserve my knee for future races. Still, it bummed me to have to make that decision and for being in a position where I had to make that decision.

Down! (That's Sir Willy)

Up!

Wet

I have to admit, those two DNFs following my disappointment late last year following Carrera Habagat lead to my near disappearance from the running, racing, and bloging world.

But...

I'm ok now. Hehe, I took my lumps and realized I missed the thrill of running, biking, and racing too much. As the song goes, I'm wiser now... Mentally and physically, I hope I am tougher.

And even with my bum knee, I was glad to finally finish last weekend's Ateneo run, though I ran as a bandit (for the 1st time ever) because I woke up too late to register, but that's a story for another day...

BTW. I'd like to belatedly congratulated my good friend and training buddy for finishing his 1st duathlon in trying conditions last Nuvali duathlon.