I heard bad things about the Mizuno Infinity run. I heard that last year’s run was plagued with so much complaints that it would make the recently concluded Botak Paa-tibayan’s complaints look like a muffled bang inside a shooting range. I heard that the race was very poorly organized. I came to race day last Sunday with very little expectations other than beating my 61 minute 10 kilometer personal best. I came to race day last Sunday with one thing in mind and that was to run my heart out.

As always with most of the Fort Bonifacio runs, the venue was most likely High Street. As soon as I arrived at the venue, I was welcomed by loud music and bright lights. It was reminiscent of the Condura Run earlier last year. It was a warm welcome to me since most of the past runs I’ve went to were just straight out run and go where the runner wasn’t even entertained or anything. I felt welcome. I felt like the organizer really put some effort into making the runner feel at home. I arrived a little too early again. I was there before 5 am and the race start for the 10 kilometer runners wasn’t until 6 am.

I was happy the race started on time. 15 kilometer runners ran at exactly 530 am. We ran exactly 30 minutes after them.

I expected the worse in this run. I expected little water stations and if ever there was, they would be running out of water for the slow runners. Water wasn’t really a problem for me since I always ran with a water belt though but I would always get some cups so I had some to pour over my head. I ran the 10 kilometer and in that span of distance, I only saw two water stations and a Gatorade station. I didn’t bother to try to get some there. It was being swarmed by the runners.  On my way back, the first water station was already out of water. For a 300 peso run, they really skimped on the water and cups.

The race was pretty easy. The only extreme uphill I encountered was Kalayaan flyover. The course was pretty flat out and easy which gave me a good opportunity to beat my personal best. The first 5k of the race felt good and fast. I arrived at the turn around point at around 32 minutes. I tried to push up my pace after that to try to come below 60 minutes. I tried not to over speed or else I’d be all out come the last 3 kilometers.

I need to train more. On top of Kalayaan flyover, on my way back, I walked for a bit to regain my breath. It hurt my finish time real bad. I was able to regain my stride after the brief walk and I was back to track again. I noticed that I was only 3 kilometer away from the finish line. My watch indicated that 45 minutes have already passed. I pushed. I really pushed. I ran faster. I think for at least 2 kilometers, I ran at a pace of 5:30 pace. It really burned me out. At the last 500 meters, I was really spent. I slowed down. I slowed down real bad. I slowed down to a crawl and a walk. Now that really hurt my finish time.

I felt really disappointed at myself when I crossed the finish line. If I had pushed myself more I would have beaten my personal best.

I looked at my watch as soon as I pressed stop and it told me that I was 2 minutes over my personal best.

This race will haunt me. I would have been able to beat my personal. If only I was more motivated. If only I had more breath in me.

I came into this race expecting the worst and I met the worst. I saw myself losing my breath and not being able to meet my goal.

I saw the worst in myself for walking and quitting.  I was so close.