“We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon”- Emil Zatopek, Gold Medalist-Marathon, 1952 Olympics-Helsinki
One item in my “Bucket List or Things Do Before I Die” is to finish the Maratona Della Citta di Roma wearing a Philippine flag designed shirt by March of 2012 (depending on my finances). And to work towards that goal, I decided to do my first race, the Mizuno Infinity Run 2009 which was held last Sunday, June 7, at the Bonifacio High Street in Global City, Taguig. There are 3 race distances: 5k, 10k and 15k run.
Since I’ve been running 3 to 4km as a warm up for my muay thai training and I figured that 5k might be easy, but since it will be my first road race, 15k might be too much and settled for 10k. Beck also joined the Infinity Run and signed up for the 5k race.
Perhaps the organizers of the Infinity Run have offered several dozens of eggs to the nuns of Monasterio De Sta. Clara for the weather cooperated and the rain clouds that hovered around Metro Manila for 3 days before Sunday have disappeared.
The 15k run started at 5:30a.m., the 10k at 6a.m. and the 5k at 6:30a.m. For the 10k race, the route is from Bonifacio High Street-11th Ave (the street between Serendra and Bonifacio High Street)-McKinley Parkway then right turn to Lawton Ave, then left turn to 32nd Street up to the Kalayaan Flyover, down to Gil Puyat Ave all the way to Nicanor Garcia St. The u-turn for the 10k race is at Nicanor Garcia and runners would take the same route back to Bonifacio High Street.
My target time is to run 10k under 1 hour. I paced myself during the first 5km, as I have not yet done any run longer than this I still don’t know how fast I can go without my lungs giving up. I reached the 5km u-turn in in about 25 minutes and felt a big boost since I am on track in meeting my target time. However, on the way up to the Kalayaan flyover, I experienced stinging sensations on both my feet. Dreaded blisters have formed and every step I make is painful. This really slowed down my pace and felt really frustrated to see some runners pass me by. At the last 2km mark, I want to increase my speed but I am concerned that it might exacerbate the blisters.
I remove my stops and concerns for my feet when I reached the last 1km, to hell with the blisters, anyway, the finish line is just a few minutes away. My official time is 1 hr and 5 minutes, a full 5 minute short of my target. Not bad for first time runner going for the 10k, but still, I failed to reached my goal.
After the race, Beck and I still on runner’s high and signed up for the GIG (Green is Good) Run this June 28 at UP-Diliman. This time, I’ll ensure that I’ll be wearing Darlington Socks (yeah, yeah, I’m a Manny Pacquiao fan, but is there any Pinoy who’s not a fan of his?).
The last 300 meters of the run
My official time is 1hr and 5 min. I missed my target by a full 5 minutes. Better luck next race.
After the run, friends and runners shared laughter and run as they experience the euphoric feeling of “runners’ high”.
It was also a good day to bond with your family. While Beck and I are in the race, RP also ran around Bonifacio High Street with our German Shepherd “Anubis”. It was RP’s choice to name our youngest family member after the Egyptian God of the Underworld, reflecting her interest with Egyptian mythology and archeology.
