Sunday came and I woke up very early. So early that after finished all my pre-race preparations, it was still just 4:15 am. The was race was scheduled to start at 6 am. I left the house anyway even if it was still to early. I didn’t want to wake up Tricia, who was still sleeping at that ungodly hour, with my jitters. I always get the jitters before every race. I don’t know why but I always have that hurling feeling everytime.
When I got to my car, I headed straight to McDonald’s to get my power sandwich which was a sausage mcmuffin with egg. It was the only thing convinient to eat while driving so I was stuck with it. I guess that power sandwich is already a ritual for me already. It’s been my breakfast for every run I had ever since. It’s never failed me since too.
I got to Fort Bonifacio very early. An hour early. Since I planned to run bandit, I had to make myself a running bandit race bib. So I got an old race bib from one of my past races, turned it over and then wrote ‘I am running bandit’ with a big infinity symbol under it. Went down my car around 30 minutes before the race. I was so early. Since I really wasn’t planning on taking the race too seriously, I ran a little just to warm myself up. I think I ran a kilometer for warm up.
I went back to the race area where all the runner gathered. I looked at the race map. What happened to me next was the last thing I expected.
I was looking at the big race map and when I glanced to my side, I saw my drawing and painting teacher turned friend CD. She was running too. I was so surprised. Last Sunday was her first fun run and she was so excited. She was just walking around a mall when she saw the fun run’s registration booth and she joined just because it was for charity. That somehow made me feel guilty. Onsite registration was already happening so I registered myself.
CD told me I looked so serious and into running, with my race belt and tight fit shirt and all. I told her about my last run which was the 21k and she told me I was crazy.
CD ran the 5k. The last time I saw her was at the starting line. I wonder how long it took her to finish the 5k? I bet she had fun. I think she’s the kind of person that would feel happy for doing anything for a cause.
I ran the 10k. Finished at around 64 minutes. Around 3 minutes slower than my fastest 10k. I didn’t feel too bad. I was walking a lot in that run. I was really out of shape. If I ran 100% of the time, I would have smoked my previous personal record.
I finished soaking wet too as pointed out by Jing. She ran the 5k and I only saw her when I was on my way back to my car. It was a shame I wasn’t able to see her durning the run. I was dripping wet when I got to my car. The water stations were very generous with their water. They didn’t just hand over plastic cups with water but instead gave us mineral water bottles. It was OK I guess but the water wasn’t cold though. It was a good thing I brouht my own water.
I usually drank half the cup and then poured the rest over my head to cool myself down. The water bottles really did the trick. There were times that I just poured too much and that really soaked my in water.
The run was OK but I I ended up stressing my right foot again. After two days on ice, I thought my foot was OK for running already. It was when I was running the race. But as soon as I got home, the slight sting on the top of my right foot was back.
I hope that it goes away. I have another 10k run on May 3. I also have a 21k run on May 10. I hope it goes away with in 3 days or so. I need to train for the 21k. I need to build up my endurance again. Judging from last Sunday’s run where I walked for an accumulated kilometer, my endurance is way way out of 21 kilometer region.