Run for Your Life: Ultra Marathon Part 1

Race Day, arriving at the UPM Tambayan was such a relief. The whole week before the run I was nervous, getting sick, busy with work and for the most part busy training and organizing the run. So being in the starting line was really awesome for me a 100km from now it will all be over. However the 100km is really long but hey sometimes "the journey is the destination". I was overwhelmed with the support that I saw. "Ang Daming UP mountaineers na nagpakita" either as support crew, marshals or was just there to cheer. I was glad my Batch 98 UPM was there(Salamat Carlo at Karla). The whole tambayan was covered with a sea of yellow jerseys which was the uniform of the marshals. Roel Chan even went further by filling the whole tambayan with banners, and a huge The North Face balloon about two floors tall hehehehe. The reason for doing that is to force us to finish the run hehehehe. Nards slamata sa mga pictures ang galing talaga!!! Buti walang picture yung gumagapang kami hehehehe.

There were several people from the media sector but most of the people were our friends and relatives. It was really an intimate and personal affair. No fanfare only close people cheering us and wishing us well in our journey.It was truly an awesome sight for me. Salamat sa inyong lahat!!! I was also shocked to see that my siblings and parents were there to see me off. Interesting since I never really told them about the run. I just told them babalik ako sunday ng hapon hehehehe. I was happy my brother was there since I wanted to show him how proud I am that his poster designs were printed in posters and t-shirts and other materials. Basta ang daming tao!!!! Ang pogi na unifroms namin!!!!!

Around 7 pm we were already preparing for the run picture taking, talking to people, and organizing the run. After the prayer we proceeded to the starting line. I was so nervous!!! Then after 4 weeks of training, three weeks or organizing, two weeks of meetings, 1 week of being a hypochondriac and being nervous, the run started!!! Yehey!!! Two loops around the academic oval with a relatively slow pace. At this point the manual about ultra marathon I have prepared in my head was thrown out of the window. The pace of the team was difficult to maintain. Mabagal at mabilis, well we can't do anything about this now. So I made an executive decision to set free the runners and run your own pace but we will have compression stops every 10km during or refuel stops.

It was a difficult run for me, the week long stress and the week long worrying and planning caught up to me. The night before the run I was having a mild throat infection, which worsened during the run itself. However I know I am always like this during a race so I really didn't pay much attention. Dani, olive and Beth were running like horses ang bilis talaga nila!!! They were accompanied by other upm runners who were our guest. Also TJ and Robert was present, salamat sa inyo. The UPM yellow marshals made all the difference, they shielded us from the traffic, feed us and entertained us as well. They are really heroes of this event.

We eventually reached the Fort, curious onlookers were wondering "sino ito" and why the heck it was so traffic, and why do we have thirty bikers hahahaha. I was actually happy to hear one person saying"Yan yung 100km Run for Your Life" hehehehehe. From the fort we made our way to EDSA, when I struggled with my pace, I was falling behind, I'm not really sure why. Luckily I have my good friend hector from Nike who paced me like a domestique in the Tour De France. Halfway in EDSA I was shocked to see that Roel Chan was also running, hehehehehe, na -bore daw sa car. Yan ang brand manager!!!! The best talaga.

Reaching the People Power Monument we started to regroup and i told them the gameplan. The marshals were so helpful they iced us gave us water and food. The event was really well organized, we have ample drinks courtesy of Rush!!! Luckily it was Rush because it was the same energy drink we were using during our training runs. After making a short pits stop we started to run again to reach Quezon Avenue. The team was still upbeat, the pace was high and we were still organized. Hmmmm, at this point I was wondering what will happen to the milo marathon. Karla at Carlo Corpuz the best talaga yung melon at ice hehehehe. The other marshals also enourgaed us and keep our morale high, Wee at Alpha salamat na kinakamusta niyo ako lagi hehehehe, Bernie, Casper and George salamat sa pag-asikaso, Romi at Henri tumakbo nga kayo!!! Winston salamat sa tubig at Rush, Clyte and the rest of the TNF people salamat sa pictures hehehehe. (Mamaya ko na pasalamatan yung iba)

While running i was eating hamburgers from mcdo and siopao hehehehe. For some strange reason I don't want to eat energy bars, and fruits, nagsawa na!!! hehehe. That quarter pounder was really something gave me the energy to push. The team already finished an ultra-marathon meaning we already went beyond the 42km mark. Runing in Manila I was glad to see more UPM(Kats, Roldan ata, Mike 3k, sorry di ko matandaan yung iba) they really gave me additional boost. Touch!!! ako hehehehe.

In Quirino grandstand we were minutes away from the milo marathon. We changed uniforms, I took a semi-bath to remove all of the salts. We attached out numbers and walked towards the starting line. There I meet some friends and asking kung what kilometer are we? 2 minutes to the start of marathon and I was so worried. I truly believe this was the most difficult part since the heat was there and this was a marathon race. I told the team, okay lang di niyo tapusin marathon basta maging top place kayo ten kilometer race hahahahahahaha.