Pros:
1. Great race org that is always expected from Runrio
2. Unique finisher hoodie for 21k and 42k racers
3. Medal cutoff time for 2.30 made it challenging. Gorgeous medal btw.
For Improvement:
1. Less rain (hehe). Although Runrio can't do anything about it obviously.
2. Disorganized at the 21k finishers area as no organizer made the participants to queue, making it look like a marketplace just to claim the loot bag and hoodie.
My race
I was coming into this, one of my A races for the year, terribly undertrained. Having only a lone 16k long run 4 weeks ago with several 10-12k runs on weekends made me worried if I was gonna finish it, but I was able to mentally condition myself that "I will finish this, and I will be holding that coveted medal by race's end."
That was my mantra for this one.
I arrived about 30mins before the gun went off, with just enough time to prepare my gels and walk to the starting corral which had a lot of 21k runners.
Gun went off at 3.30am as scheduled and I was running.
I was doing quite well from the start (as every runner there was), pacing between 6.40 to 6.55 per km for the first half of the race. The route was relatively flat and, with the rainy weather cooling us, it was made for a perfect Sunday morning pikermi.
Took my 1st gel inside km7 btw.
The problem started by the time I reached km12 where the Makati avenue turnaround point was. To put it simply, I started to have difficulty running. I felt a slight pain on my stomach and some tiredness in my legs ---probably a result of being undertrained--- which started my purgatory for thid race.
It was a battle of wills from then on back to Roxas blvd where I found myself taking walk breaks several times. I took another gel at km13 but it took a while before it had a short effect, as I was continuing to walk run heading back.
Good thing I had a spare gel and took it at km18, just to mentally calm myself from issuing a bonk alert. My shoes and socks were soggy and wet, Macapagal avenue road was full of puddles and loose asphalt, and my legs just hurting all over made it a struggle.
I was running but taking 10 second walk breaks whenever I felt I can't run no further. My body was failing but my mind was still mentally strong as I debated myself from walking completely. My confidence was also boosted as I was computing my estimated finish time for almost every km mark or when I chose to walk. I was still gonna make sub 2.30 I thought, so I just embraced the pain and forced myself to run.
By the last turn to the finish, I was just thoroughly out of it physically but my mind kept me going, running my all as I went to the finish line.
2:28:40 in 21.1kms as per my Garmin.
Sub 2:30 accomplished.
It was one of those races that I would rather forget due to my poor performance brought about by poor training, or the lack thereof.
But this was Milo. A race that I have come to put my upmost respect due to its 42 years of tradition. Having finished it within the cutoff time was still something I should celebrate about ---even when my training was lacking.
I fell in line after crossing the finish line. Bowed my head in front of the organizer as he donned that finisher medal on my neck.
I looked at it with a smile as I walked for the loot bag. Looking at this race positively, it just meant that at my age now, I am STILL able to complete 21k races AND at sub2.30 time ---something that other guys in my age may not be able to do.
Yup, still happy overall on this one, but I hope to train better for future 21k races (yes there will be more, but not anytime soon) so as not to encounter a similar bad experience on the race as this one did.
Congrats to all finishers of the Milo Manila leg!!!
