Condura Marathon... Redemption and Vindication

Redemption… This was my chance to redeem myself after DNFing PIM.

Vindication… Subic Marathon was somewhat a shallow conquest for me because the heat of the sun was not part of the equation. Heat has always been a factor that every runner has to deal with in every marathon in Metro Manila...

The Prep.

30km Rizal Day run and logging 102kms for the month of January - this was way better preparation than when I ran my first marathon October last year in Subic.

I clocked a fairly decent time of 3:14 in the Rizal Day with minimal runs. So I figured that I can definitely run at a Rizal Day Run pace, and easily do a sub 5hr finish. With that in mind, I set my target at 4hrs40mins. This was gonna be a 30min leap from my Subic marathon finish.

Again, I needed help from my bud, Isko a.k.a. David Noggins. I asked him to be my pacer yet again. Thankfully, he agreed. He did not promise a 4:40 but assured of a sub5 finish.

As always, the strategy was 1-2min walk breaks every 30mins..

The Run

And so we were off at exactly 4am with fireworks to highight the start.

Isko, Eugene and I started At a comfortable 6-6:30min/km pace. Monster Erick Guieb tagged along with us. Erick was nursing a calf injury and just feeling it out while testing his new pair of NBs. He normally finishes marathons at about 4hrs.

Everyone seemed to be running at the same pace early on. It was practically a huge group run for the first few kilometers… it was that or the turn out was just that enormous making the road so dense with people.

In a Nutshell

At the 10km mark we were at 1:04, at 21k mark at 2:15… we were spot on with our targets… and guess what.. at 30kms were at 3:15... how accurate can anyone get to their targets.

After 30kms

At this point, I was pretty confident that I can do a 4:40 or even less.. I was oozing with confidence naively believing that we can sustain a 6:30-7min/kms the rest of the way… It was all good especially after passing the takbo.ph aid station.. every runner would have the needed boost literally and figuratively after passing by this aid station… Food, hydration, massage, bands, pictures.. what have you… and a lot of encouraging words from everyone.. thanks guys!!!

Isko, while chatting with another runner was unaware that I got my leg massage. So he went on… I wasn’t in pain or anything I just wanted to try the liniment being offered but I did not know it comes with a leg massage.. and boy it sure was a winner! It felt so good that I had both legs done… hahaha!

Thinking that I was still ahead of my 4:40 finish pace, I decided to have another walk break from the foot of Buendia flyover… and I walked… and walked… it felt so good walking I did not want to run anymore. Then it seemed to become so hot all of a sudden… the sun was right smack on my face… so I extended my walk thinking that It would just be a couple of kms after the flyover….and I could easily finish within my target. A few minutes after I resumed running I realized I was so wrong!

People whom I know to be fast runners was just about to make their turn to 5th ave towards the finish.… So, It’s either It was still a long ways to go for me or I have somehow caught up with these fast runners… that was a no brainer.
The pressure was on!

The wall?

It was considerably hot at this point and I started to get a headache. Again, I began to walk… I was asking myself… is this the proverbial “wall”. It was 4:20++ Then from about 200m around the vicinity of IS, I saw Erick waiting up for me egging me on… and told me that we’ll finish the race together…

Last 2 kms

I was relieved when I saw the last 2km mark. However, It became more obvious that I was going to miss my target. Ouch… That hurt!!

Strong finish

Despite the headache, some foot aches and a heartache... haha! , I still mustered somewhat a strong finish… running a bit stronger and getting past a few runners the last 500m.

Finished @ 4:51… A personal best for me. Despite missing my goal, I still was ecstatic! And still is…

My Special thanks to Isko “David Goggins” and Erick Guieb. It was great running beside you guys… ‘Til next adventure…