The Milo Double Three Experience: Bad To The Bone!
For me, that phrase equates to what others may deem an ode. Although I missed the cut-off by one minute, it was still one hell of an experience.
For this race, I left my car at home and instead took a cab from my house to Km 0 due to the anticipated traffic and lack of parking space. I was early enough to see the lead pack of the 42k runners along Roxas Boulevard on my way to KM 0. I arrived at the starting area at around 4:45 am.
The atmosphere in the starting area was festive, the kids who I think are joining the 3km race are all over the place, excited as if they are going to be handed out goodies just by joining the event.
The way I see it, the Milo marathon touches every participant’s life, be it the grade school children or the oldest runner. I myself, have always looked forward to joining this event ever since I was a kid. Thanks to the internet and informative sites such as Takbo.ph, I can now easily get information on road races in the Metro with just a click of the mouse.
When I entered the corral, I saw Ian, my officemates and other familiar faces.
After the warm-up the 21k race started on time (what else do you expect from a Rudy Biscocho race ?). There were a lot of water stations , no .. not just water stations but cold Gatorade aid stations! So my excuse of not finishing this race due to dehydration is just simply .. gone 
The race went well, the organizers were able to cordon a part of Roxas Boulevard for the safety of the runners.
There were water trucks (I think there were 2) which served as “water spray stations” along the route and I tried my best avoiding them since I don’t want to get blisters. It was really a difficult choice at that point between choosing the blisters or the heat of the sun
When I reached the PSBank turn-around along Buendia, I felt a familiar “sting” in my right calf and before I knew it, I was already suffering from cramps. This had me worried since it is not yet time to consume the second of the 3 sachets of hammer gel that I have. I know that it should be taken 15 minutes before and every 45 minutes thereafter but since I am on a budget, I usually take my first one 1 hour after and every hour after that. That formula has worked for me before but I guess, sometimes , things don’t work out the way you want them to.
I ended up consuming all 3 sachets (I normally consume only 2 when running 21k) but that didn’t help because instead of walk/run, it was limp/run from this point. I knew I should’ve taken the bananas they were handing out near the Pasong Tamo intersection!
When I reached the last aid station, I asked one of the guys manning the station to pour cold water on me, to which he obliged. (thank you very much!) That made me feel really good, I wasn’t worried about blisters anymore since there were only 2 kilometers to go until the KM 0 marker.
As I was about to reach Kalaw, I ran as fast as I could but to my dismay, the finish line was at the Quirino Grandstand, some 500m away from the marker; it was at this point that I decided to walk/jog until I reached the finish line.
Although my 21k results are getting slower with each race, I still feel fulfilled to be able to complete a 21k race even if I don’t have regular training save for the occasional slow runs every Sunday.
When I woke up the next day at 2:00 am (I have a 4:45 flight bound for Cebu), I was barely able to walk, this is the first time I felt excruciating pain on my right knee the day after a race, but in spite of the pain, this is definitely an event I will never forget because this is my first Milo race!
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate my friend Isko Lapira who has completed his first marathon despite being a veteran of BDM 102 and has finshed 9th during the previous week’s botak 100km PAA-Tibayan : “Tol, you’re really bad to the bone!” Nyahaha!
Congrats on another half marathon finish.. We’ll conquer another one this coming Sunday! I’m sure you’ll do a lot better like you did in Botak half… see you then!!
Thanks! Same to you.
I hope my time improves although I’m not that optimistic because of the lingering pain in my injured knee. I also hope you finally hit your sub 2 goal this Sunday.
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