Last Sunday, a couple of friends of mine along with myself accomplished what only 1% of earths population has done..
Running and finishing a 42k marathon!
A couple of years back, I never thought I could ever finish a 10k marathon. What more a 42k! I still remember my very first 10k vividly. For someone who didnt have any running background, and whos lifestyle consist of only drinking and eating all day, I thought that damn marathon would never end. It looked like we were running from earth to pluto and back! I could still also remember looking at the rest of the 42k finishers as they cross the line and saying to myself.. "this guys are insane!"
Nowadays its a different story of course :)
The marathon was held at the beautiful and ever friendly triathlon place, Subic Bay. We got there early saturday morning and bunkered at my favorite resort La Playa Papagayo. That place is just awesome! Aside from the very cozy atmosphere, you also get "A1" treatment from its staff and owners. That's because the owner of the resort is a triathlete himself, so that makes things a little easier. Even if the check in/out time is the usual 12pm-12pm time, they allowed us to check in very early in the morning so we can bike and take our precious time to check out the following day.
Once we got there, we (Bong, Chock, and I) decided to bike the entire 42k route which later on proved to be one of the best decisions we did that day. By biking the route, we were able to gauge the course. Honestly, I dont know what would've happened to me in the marathon if we didnt do the quick ocular.
This has got to be one of the races that I really prepared for.. nutrition wise that is. =) Days before the marathon I was already loading up on good carbs, eating right, and getting enough good nights sleep. After our bike ride, my carbo loading didnt stop there. Haha. Bong, Chock, and I stuffed ourselves with QUALITY food all day long. Eating delicious steaks at Meat Plus (twice!)and eating also at Playa Papagayos restaurant. Come raceday morning, it was carbo loading once again. Hehehe.. A huge serving of spaghetti welcomed us at the breakfast table. Hahaha I know, i know you shouldnt eat that much anymore on raceday but what can we do? We're hungry! Hehe.. Too bad we werent able to finish the spaghetti. As we were still full from our steak binge the previous day.
Physically wise, I still wasnt 100%. Both my left knee and right ankle still hurt. It also didnt help that I was still in the process of breaking my new shoes in. I bought a new pair because I just recently found out that I was FLAT FOOTED! And to make things worse, I've been wearing shoes designed for HIGH ARCHES! As per my research and my physical therapist, that alone is a major contributor as to why I was always getting knee and ankle injuries.About my shoe.. if you're flat footed like me and is on the lookout for new kicks, try the Adidas Supernovas! Get the motion control version. Among all the shoes for over- pronators that I tried from New Balance, Mizuno, Asics, and Nike, this is the one that I loved the most. I just hope these shoes are durable though.
I did someting during the break in stage of my Supernovas which up to now, I still regret. Instead of breaking the shoes in gradually, I went on and did a 20k training run! That caused my left knee to flare up and left me unable to run or train for 2 weeks! After my costly 20k training run my next run was the 42k marathon itself. During those grueling weeks I couldnt even run 5k without feeling any pain.
I did a 10k marathon the week after I injured my knee but I dont really consider that as training or run because I was just keeping pace with my hockey friends who were running the 10k for the very first time. Courtesy of the Gentledog of course :)
If not for my recruits, I would've just opted to rest my knee. It hurt like hell during the 10k run but I was just gutting it out because I didnt wanna demoralize any of them. Its a good thing that a couple of friends of mine from the tri-dogs decided to help me pace my recruits. That enabled me to focus on the weaker ones.
A big THANK YOU also goes out to my therapist. That guy is heaven sent. He acupuntured, electrocuted, iced, and rehabilitated my knee and ankles just in time for the 42k. I've never been a believer of alternative medicines but I now am.
Back to the marathon... the race itself was very organized. It started right on time! By 5am the 42k runners were off! Since I know the route already I was able to pace myself really well. I was really being cautious at first for fear of aggrevating my knee injury which often starts to hurt on uphill climbs. Braced with a pair of pro-wraps and LP patella supports, I was quite surprised that my knee was actually holding up. I got to the 10k mark around 57mins. Still right on target.
Before the race, we were having a discussion as to how long it would take us to finish the race. Chock was eager on beating his p.r. 4 years ago which is somewhere in the low 5's (forgot already). Julian's target is a sub 5. While for me, I just wanted to finish the damn race. I dont care how long it will take me. Bong ran as well but joined the 21k division. That was his longest run yet! 42k is next!
I was able to talk and pace with a couple of runners along the way. I was egging some of them to slow down and take it easy on the 1st few kms of the race because there's still a lot of uphill climbs waiting for us until the turnaround. Some listened and some didnt but thats ok, at least I already did my good deed for the day :). Its fun seeing and passing all the people who sprinted at the very start of the race. =)
I reached the turnaround point at 2hours 10 mins. I took my time there, making sure I was properly hydrated and ready for the final push. I walked for a couple of meters and then decided to resume running at the downhill portion. On the way back I was still feeling really well to the point that I was deciding if I should leave one of my powergels to the marshalls and ask them to give it to Chock who I met just approaching the turnaround while I was on my way back up.
I was able to pace with a fellow runner for another 10k. We ran at a steady pace hitting the 30k mark in 3h10mins. My knee was already acting up but I did a quick math and found out that if I continue this pace, I just might end up with a sub 5 marathon! That inspired me even more to ignore all the pain and just keep on running! I still have almost 2 hours to go to get a sub 5 result with only 12k left. But by then, exhaustion was slowly creeping in. I was already getting hints from my body that if I dont take it easy and finish the remaining k's wisely, I would end up getting cramps! NOT AGAIN! I dont wanna feel the torture that I felt during the run split of the 2007 Whiterock Half-Ironman triathlon ever again.
All throught the run I was praying. Thanking God for letting me do this race and asking him to give my knees and ankles the strength to finish the marathon.
During the last few k's of the run I knew that if I want to get a sub 5 result, I would have to run the rest of the race. Fortunately for me, my buddy tintin spotted me along the highway and jogged with me till the 39k mark. That helped me a lot because I was already contemplating on taking it easy and just forget about hitting what now seemed to be a very ambitous target for me.. a sub 5!
On the final push to the finish line, I saw some of my friends and they cheered me on. That gave me the final jolt of adrenaline that I needed to get the sub 5. I finished 4h:57mins. Barely a sub 5 but its still is :)
Now with regards to the 1% of the population line at the beginning... I just got that from one of the runners =). So mythbusters feel free to prove that wrong. =) It just caught my attention because it makes you realize how lucky you are.. how strong you are.. and how priviledged you are that you are able to participate on this one of a kind event.. and finishing it!
Oh before I forget.. based on the footpods and and pedometers of the other runners, as well as the organizers themselves.. the actual distance of the race was 45k. =) So all in all, not bad for an injured first timer :)
