The Milo Double Three Experience: Bad To The Bone! Jul11

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The Milo Double Three Experience: Bad To The Bone!

 

2009-07-11 The Milo Double Three Experience 01

 

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!