RockenRun: Hooked on Asphalt

As I look back, I remember the first time I asked my sister to register me for a race. I eventually didn’t participate in the said 10k event because I was too lazy to wake up at 4am so that I could simply run. I quipped ”Why should I change my routine?”. I usually wake up at around 6:00am and do my 2.1km jog around The Fort area and more recently, around MOA. I even remember a female colleague telling me this: “Ano ba yan, papahirapan mo nalang sarili mo, magbabayad ka pa!”

I eventually joined my first race (which covered a distance of 10km) wearing my very old Nike cross trainers (the shoe’s sole had been replaced with locally available soles since the original air sole has already leaked).

… and here I am, 11 months and 3 running shoes after –> running my first ever full 42KM marathon.

What can I say? I didn’t even plan joining this event until 5 weeks ago. I was undertrained .

Thanks to the effort of ultra runner friend Isko who patiently trained me in such a short time, I was able to complete this run together with another running friend, Ian.

The concept of running SCTEX at night was very appealing to most of the people who participated in this event, after all, you can’t run along this route on a regular night (pun intended).

This could’ve been a next to perfect race except for the following:

• No water for four consecutive water stations – I think that the water stations were more than 2.5kms apart, so you could imagine how thirsty the other runners were when they came to our support vehicle (the white van with the team hardcore tarpaulin) asking if we had excess water /Gatorade/bananas/ hard-boiled eggs. We were able to help some of the runners since we have packed a little more than what we needed but our supplies were spread so thin that even we ran out of supplies and had to go thirsty and hungry ourselves. There were even times when some runners would approach me and ask me if they can have some of the contents of the Gatorade bottle I was carrying, I sympathized with them and gave them half of what I had – I really can’t stop expressing my disappointment on this aspect of the race. Where do they expect the runners to buy water in the middle of the SCTEX ?

• Lights – Although I came prepared because I have brought a headlamp with me – I experienced running through the darker parts of SCTEX since we returned the head lamp to the support vehicle after the Dinalupihan exit, not knowing that it was pitch black after that. We had to rely on the headlights used by the other support vehicles in order to find our way through the darkness.

In summary, I will never forget this race as this was my baptism of fire with a time of 5 hours, 34 minutes and 10 seconds. Too bad though that I and a lot of runners suffered from dehydration.

After the race, resident birthday boy and eponymous honorary member of NandN runners, Ian – treated us to a sumptuous feast at Aristocrat’s Restaurant.

We left Subic a little after midnight and arrived at BHS at around 2:30 am and slept in the parking area so that we can participate in the Adidas King Of The Road run which would start at 5:30 am. I participated in the 10k event (21k sounds tempting but I might injure myself in the process) – less than 9 hours after I finished my first marathon.

After what I have done, I hope I still have the stamina to join the Philippine International Marathon 42km 2 weeks from now

Adidas KOTR Finish Line

Jonel Mendoza and Jeff Abenina

Before The Run

GU .. Check! Shoe Laces .. Check

I'm getting ready getting ready .. oh boy what a day ...

Subic International Marathon 2009 - Finish Line

bolt 10 km, 42 km, The Fort 10 km, 42 km, The Fort