Tiktakbo Recap

This month of June has already been fully booked for races. Last week was the Rush to Mizuno Infinity, today was the Tik-Takbo, next week would be the One La Salle run, and the week after would be the TNF100. The week after that would be the Milo marathon, but I’ve yet to decide if I’ll push myself to joining that. Anyway for this Sunday’s race was Tik-Takbo at UP.

We arrived at the race venue and got to talk with Rio. I finally met Passion Runner (Eric). I tried to examine my legs and they still hurt since the Rush to Mizuno Infinity Run last Sunday. The night before this race, my friend Omar called me and we found out that we are both running at the Tik-Takbo 18K race. I told him I’d be doing an LSD and it would be great if he could join me during the run. I’ve done a long run in preparation for the Pasig Marathon at UP before, and I must say that UP is one of the best places where you can do your runs.

As we gathered at the starting line, I saw Omar and greeted him. Two of my pacing buddies are also at the race: Glenn and Reggie. They were in race mode though for this event. In the back of my mind, I also wanted to race, but my legs are telling me to keep it easy this time. I wanted to repeat the strategy I’d done last week at the Mizuno Infinity Run (overtake as many runners as I can, and try to run as fast as I can) but plainly my body just can’t. Its unfortunate a week is not enough (for me) to recover from last week’s race. I’ve already allotted two rest days for the week, but the pain in my legs remained there. But in any case I’ve decided to run the 18K. I’ve registered and I’m not quitting. I’d like to run and enjoy the run whatever it takes. But for this event I will have to run a little bit slower (if I still want to run the succeeding races, especially the TNF100).

When the race started I ran beside my friend Omar. There was one blooper during the early parts of the race. My left leg got bitten by a wasp. Good thing endorphins are great pain relievers so the pain was bearable and a few minutes after the pain was gone. Omar by the way has started running just a few months ago but I was surprised with the many achievements he has already accomplished. He has challenged himself and completed a 10K and 15K race. Now he has challenged himself to run 18K and I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before his first Marathon (42K).

At kilometer 4, Omar told me to go ahead, but I was hesitant to do so for two reasons. First is I’ve given my word to assist him, and second I’m not sure it was a good idea to be too excited and face the consequence of a major injury. I told him I wasn’t after beating any time. Anyway to cut the story short, as Omar was persistent I decided to break out and speed up my pace not until I saw kuya Melvin. I checked my watch and his pace is around 4:40 min/km. I decided to accompany kuya Melvin until the finish line. I thought that this should be the fastest I should go, and anything more than that might cause me some major injuries. Besides this was suppose to be an LSD run and a 4:40 min/km in someway is a little bit over my intended LSD pace of 5:00-5:10min/km. For the whole run I made it a point to put my heart rate in Aerobic level but a little bit close to Anaerobic so that I could still reap enough fitness in the race. I was happy reaching the finish line with Kuya Melvin and got to talk to Glenn and Reggie’s race experience.

Now comes the surprising part. When the 1st placers for the different age category were called I was in disbelief when my name was called. I knew I overtook many after the 4K mark but I never thought I'd overtake that many. The prize was a privilege to have my own singlet and running shorts built by Botak with my own specifications.

The best part is Glenn (picture on the right) and Kuya Melvin were both 1st placers in their age category as well.

The bad news is the actual race distance registered in my watch is 14.4K. So its way short of 18K.

My next race would be at Animo run. I'll be running with my family this time. wooohooo..