Race for Life on Saturday & Sprint Race on Sunday

For a not-yet-that-strong lady runner, having consecutive races every weekend is quite a crazy thing to do – uhm, actually not quite so for running addicts, but back-to-back races in one weekend is already lurking on the twice crazy side, at least for my case.

That’s why I messed my 10K run in Race for Life last Saturday just to save my first ever entry into sprint races yesterday.

And it paid off!  My track and field team won champion overall in the Singolympics and we, the women, did the “pulling up”.  It’s not like our men in the team did so poorly, but more because they ran side by side “pro” sprint monsters for their opponents. 

***

First things first.

Race for Life, The Fort.  Nov. 22 (Saturday)

My friends asked if I’d call this my worst race so far.  Erm, I thought for a while and then I said, ‘Yes… so far’.   Not that Race for Life went totally amiss as I’m sure there were many people who had their road racing debut there and found a great time for themselves.  In fact, I too had a great time.  I think the mere fact that it’s running, which is something I will always love to do, and I was with my great, great running buddies -  every race shall always be a good race.

But according to the order of enjoyment of one’s race experience, getting a good time of finish, and race venue setup and convenience of procedures, so far this would qualify to be one of my least favorites.  But this isn’t like ‘it’s the organizers fault!’  –   hmn, NOPE, not that.  This being the race before my ‘first ever sprint race’ - and the latter having me all really excited -  it was doomed to be, at the most, just a ’second best’. 

I had followed my initial plan, which is to make this a relaxed run to save my energy for the following day.  Truth is, I further demoted it to a ‘relaxed run and walk’. 

But I should mention other things which made this race less pleasant for me when I had previously planned to just enjoy this run.

> We arrived more than 10 minutes late to the race venue which forced me to have to pass through the “confused” stage first before eventually easing to the relaxed running mode.  And I thought there was something weird with the positioning of the start/ finish line.  I don’t have the abundance of words and time to describe it now but I just found it weird. 

>  I don’t know if it was just me, but I thought I had some unwanted dose of chaos last Saturday.  There were too many cars parked in the race route, too many groups of ‘walkers’ who would occupy the entire lane (you’re left clueless how to get through them and you end up bumping into them or you take the other lane at the risk of being hit by cars), high traffic and being forced to stop several times at the intersection points, and finally -  and this is so personal I know, I realized my calves had not fully recovered yet from the sprint trials. 

Don’t get me wrong about the ‘walkers’ thing because in fact, I had joined them even before I started my second loop.  I figure there were more recreational runners in this race as this was, in the first place, a run for a cause.   That’s apart from the fact that there were still two major races the following day. 

It is also in this race where I learned how important it is to ‘listen to your body’.  My calves weren’t in good shape still and I kept on feeling a tingling sensation while I ran.  Since I could not afford to be injured that day, I took it easy and alternated running and walking.

Jihan and Ryan had a fair share of incongruent things happening in this race as they had both registered for 10K but got race kits that were for 5K.  Of course they hated it as they had already psyched themselves to be running 10K. 

Finishers still:  Myself, Cha, Ami, Jihan, and Dree

Pre-breakfast kulitan

Ryan as our muse for the day

 

***

My first ever Sprint Race in Singolympics.  Marikina Sports Complex, Nov. 23 (Sunday)

I was in full ecstatic mood yesterday!  I had totally enjoyed my sprint races.

Leaving Marikina Sports Complex almost 5PM already yesterday, I sent this SMS to our trainer:  “Hey Denmark, thank you for the coaching.  Did you know it was first time to do sprint race?  And I really enjoyed my runs.”

While hearing mass at UP chapel, I had to be whispering “sorry, God” several times as I found it difficult to focus as scenes from the sprint races kept rolling in my mind.  I was hilariously “high” with it,  Ha ha! 

So we won 1st place in women’s 4×100m sprint relay and in the more challenging 4×200m relay.  It was funfunfun! 

But my 200m individual sprint performance sucked!  I finished second to the last and I figure it must be the Mcburger, fries and iced tea which I took 10 minutes before I had that run.  Golly it felt weird to be feeling those foodstuffs joggling inside my tummy while trying to sprint.  Good thing the relay races came a little later that afternoon when I was back to my elements.

There’s a different kind of high in sprint races.  It’s more competitive, yes, and pressure is exponentially higher.  Yesterday, I would have butterflies in my stomach minutes before each race.  And I thought it was a kind of feeling so similar to what I’d experince when I would join impromptu speech contests back in high school.

I also enjoyed my bonding moment with my team.  One of my male teammate asked how long I finish my 10Ks.  Before answering, I asked him first how long he finishes his.  I nearly choked when he said, “45 minutes”.  And then I was obliged to say mine.  Hesitant, I said, “Oh never mind, I’m sooo slow… really slow!”  But he insisted, “So, ano nga?” 

“Wala, 73 minutes!  Ambagal!”  I replied.

And surprised, he uttered, “Hah?!  73 minutes?  Ah, mabagal ka nga!”  And that came with teasing smile.

Oh, you wait til I finish my running clinic.  Hahaha!  (I wish!)

MSC filled with over 1,000 SFC athletes and spectators.

And MSC has a nice Olympic size pool too!

ULTRA Tonight. Sounds like news, hahaha!

Do you know what are the things that make me go to the office unusually early?

*  One.  When I have to go to Bicol later in the evening and I bring all my travel stuff to office so that I would directly proceed to the terminal after work.

*  Two.  When I have to go out-of-town with friends during the weekend and we start the vacation mode early by leaving Manila Friday night.

*  Three, and the most prevalent among them all THESE DAYS.   When I have a practice run after work. 

TODAY’s unusually early time-in to work by Cathletic falls under Category 3.  Today is my first ever practice run in Ultra.  I cannot be more excited.  I don’t know what’s in there and how things go there.  And NEW is always EXCITING! 

I am so excited I even brought a camera with me today.  And my bestfriend is coming – or running (?) – along with us, for the first time.

Some Firsts. (Sports version)

I usually update my Multiply site with blogs on any what-have-you’s that I thought worth discussing, or expressing, at the given moment.  As I thought of writing this, I recalled one blog I posted there in my site entitled “Some Firsts” that was more of an enumeration of my first-time-to-do-this-or-have-this-blah-blahs.

This shall be the “sports version” of that post.  Some firsts in my life as a newbie runner and some first trials of playing a new sport.

#1  My first race bib:  The 5K Davies Paint Unity Run at the Fort.

 

I am glad that my first ever race bib is one with of a sturdy material, which was just right as the race’s sponsor was Davies paint.  When you put this side by side my MAK7 race bib, the latter looked like a rag that’s been useful for over a year it deserves to take the trashcan-rest.

 

#2  My first race singlet:  The 2008 7th Annual Makiling Challenge in UPLB, Laguna.

 

The Davies Paint race was sorta small time that they didn’t even give out race singlets to the paricipating runners.  The MAK7 was a race of bigger proportion attracting runners and sports enthusiasts from Manila and other neighboring towns.  There were over 800 runners who registered in the race and the pros were there to grab the event medals.  This singlet, I love so much.  Aside from the UP@100 marks in the shirt, the maroon color stirs up the UP fire in me. 

 

#3  My first personally-acquired running shoes:  A New Balance 434

Being the pennysaver type that I am, I bought a running shoes (my first ever personal acquisition of a rubber shoes as all my previous shoes were gifts or hand-me-downs from my sister in the States) only when my currently-replaced pair has proven to be too weary, harassed, and ashamed to be on the street.  That pair fell apart one Sunday morning while Dree and I were running in UP.  The turnout was too bad – the shoes’ sole almost completely separated from its body -  my face almost turned red to purplish in shame.  I immediately called up Dree and told her I had stopped because of the ‘emergency situation’.  She came laughing, and upfront she told me, “Cathy, don’t you repair that again – you need a new pair na!”  I bet Dree and my shoes understood each other better.

The item #4 should have been my first beach volleyball game, or pseudo game if you’d like to be more technical about it, he he he!  The only problem is that I cannot find the pic now.  I’ll update this list sometime soon.