Reggie The Marathon Runner! :D

me and delcee [my officemate]

Mizuno Infinity Run 2008
[The 10 Kilometer Marathon run!]

Can you even imagine me being a part of this event? Well.. you're not crazy if you think I am.. I finished 312th!!! haha (Out of 330 or something).. hehe.. I can't believe I signed up for this event at first.. it's like.. "Are you even capable of finishing a 1 km race?!" hahaha! well.. it turned out.. I AM!!!

How does this even entered my mind?!

It started out when my friend Seldon asked me if I was interested to join a marathon event.. June 29, the day before our final weigh-in on our "Watson Wyatt Biggest Loser Contest".. As a last desperate move to lose some weight.. I thought.. what the hell!? That's just 10km.. it's nothing.. considering that I am one of the better runners in our basketball team when I was in highschool.. but then I realized.. omg! That was some 40lbs and 10 years ago! so believe me.. I hesitated bigtime whether to join or not.

Registration

Seldon did the registration for me.. for the effort he made of going to Fort Bonifacio just to had me registered kinda forced me to say yes.. haha. so 10k it is! when are we supposed to the act? haha.. June 29th around 5:30am. Believe me.. just waking up at 5am is one helluva job for me. I'm not the morning person I used to be.. it's hard to wake up all the fat sleeping [SEBO to make it short..] covering up my whole body. haha.

10km Day!!!

Judgement day comes.. we were on time [Thank God!] for the checkin... the first set of runners were the 15km runners.. they started around 545am.. then we came next [10km runners].. we started at 6am.. then were off.. at first.. the pace were kinda slow.. so I was still able to be part of the whole pack...

After a kilometer or so my legs started to give hints of giving up.. it's like im going to have cramps.. well I dunno how it should feel, believe it or not I haven't had cramps before.. so as the run progresses and as the other runners continue to jog their way to the 10km run.. I started slowing down.. haha.

Then my legs started to give up.. I had no other choice but to slow my pace and walk. Half of the of the time during the run I was alternately walking and running.. I can't keep up with the others.. Delcee started to leave us behind as she was able to keep up with lead group.. and then Seldon and Charisse started to distance themselves from me.. as I was really walking at some point.

I started to think of ways on how to get back from where we were before.. I saw jeepneys.. but darn.. I had no money with me... then i saw a cab.. hey!! I can take a cab.. then pay the driver as I get back to my car.. this should work! haha.. but hell.. a little more effort.. i need to exert a little more effort.. I can't just give up! I'm an Athlete.. I always tell myself.. haha [ talk about fighting spirit ].. so I kept my walking then running then walk again pace as we reached the 5km mark.

In the 5km mark there was a drinking station.. it's not water this time.. unlike the first two drinking stations we passed by.. It was an energy drink.. Thank God!!! haha.. I drank 2 cups... hoping that it would help me battle the muscle tightness I'm feeling in my legs.. luckily.. it worked!!! From there on I was able to speed up a little.. and I was able to catch atleast the other runners, including Seldon and Charisse.. Little by little I sped up my pace.. until we reached the 7.5km mark.. I'm almost there I said to myself.. It's time to give it all I've got.

Honestly, I was a little frustrated with myself... I can't believe I was having problems running.. I mean.. I don't really feel tired at all.. but my legs wont let me run as I wish I could have.. I know I can do better than my subpar performance during the first 7.5km.. I was really starting to run again.. after 10minutes I can see the last corner towards the finish line.. "Into the home stretch!!!" hahaha.. and then.. Finish! Aaaaahhhhh!! what a relief!! I did finished!!! checked my watch.. as I used its stopwatch feature to time myself.. 1 hour and 22 minutes! wow.. not bad.. as we were targeting 1 hour and 40 minutes. I felt really great and accomplished.. It really felt good to know that I was able to finish the 10km run.. I will do this again next time I thought..

Overall? I finished 312 of 333 finishers for the 10km run. Not bad eh?! Well for a first timer it's not! :D

I joined the "La Salle Cares" event this july 13... I registered for the 16km [10 miles] event.. This time.. It would really be a challenge. So let's see if I would be good enough for the extra miles. D: