Avon Step Out 5k: Her First Race

Yes, I joined another race the day after the Company Sportsfest 15k. This was definitely a no-no for me, but for the purpose of pacing my sister, who'll be running her first race, a 5k, rest/recovery would have to wait.

There was no plan for this race but to be with her all throughout as she tackles on finishing her first race, come hell or high water. MOA being the race venue will be a gentle initiation for her into road-racing since the course is flat. Race-organizer was RACE if I were to assume the black and yellow timer at the starting gate.




We situated ourselves at the back of the pack. This is better for a newbie like her so that she won't get dragged onto zooming at the start (something that I've only learned to refrain from lately). The race started on time (5:30am).

We were pacing at a slow 10mins/km but was actually good for my post-race recovery. Towards km2, this happened:


She felt a small pebble in her shoe hampering her run so we went to the sidewalk for her to take a look. She couldn't find it. The pebble turned out to be...well...

It turns out the blister may have been caused by her wearing footwear that she never uses for running. Yikes!

We clocked 12mins in km3 which was our slowest. We also encountered our first walk-break here, about 1-2mins. I wanted her to quicken up the pace so I looked for a target in the crowd of 5k racers. There was this mildly chubby woman around my sister's height and weight who was slightly in front of us. I then pointed to her and whispered to my sis, "Wag kang magpapauna dyan!" ("Don't let her be in front of you!")

With this challenge, she may have just mustered enough strength to go toe-to-toe with the lady runner. There were several lead changes (with walk breaks too!), much like the recently concluded Kona Ironman wherein Macca and another triathlete were going at it for the last 5k of the marathon-leg. And I was in the middle of this great battle of will! Hehehe...

In the end, good ol' sis had beaten the other runner handily with a finish time of 53mins. Her initial comments about finishing her first race? Here you go...

The cursing may have been a combination of fatigue and accomplishment. I couldn't be too sure if she loved it. Well, any non-runner won't love running 5k at 5:30 in the morning, right?

For this week, she targets to run 2km/day from Monday to Friday. That is a great sign. The prospect of weight loss could've been very enticing to her too! Well, I hope she keeps on running and never loses interest.

Congrats sis!!!