Doing my first half-marathon...

I did my first half-marathon today. Nature Valley Run at the Fort.

Despite all odds (not having enough training, sick with cough and colds, the terrible humid weather), I managed to cross the finish line.

That's good enough for me. For now. Haha!

Deciding to do the 21K
How did I end up doing the 21K anyway? Early this year, my goal was to do my first 21K at the Standard Chartered Run in Singapore this December. I thought that the Singapore run would be a great way to do my first 21K. I wasn't really planning on doing a half-marathon before that, until the day I registered for the Nature Valley Run.

The two Sundays before I signed up for the Nature Valley Run, I did the 15K for the Mizuno and the 16K for the Earth Run. Before this, I did the 15K of The Green Miles Run.

For the Nature Valley Run, the distances were 3K, 5K, 10K and 21K. I intended to sign up for the 10K. But when I was already at the Timex store submitting the reg forms for me, running buddy I-van, and friends Engel, Monet, Anthony, and Nino, I found myself deciding to challenge myself by signing up for the 21K.

It's true what they say. Your body can tell you whether you're ready for something or not. I guess that includes running.

And then there's the ego factor. After doing a number of 15Ks, it just feels logical that the next step should be to take the next longer distance - the 21K.

Wait, does this mean that I'll be doing a full marathon anytime soon? No. That's for sure. The plan is to get used to the new distance first, and then let's see in 2011. Hahaha!

Race day
The race day didn't come without any panic moments.

Days before today, I knew my body's not that conditioned to run because of cough and colds. Blame it on the maddening heat that the city has been experiencing these past couple of days (weeks?).

It doesn't help that while it's scorching hot outside the office, it's freezing cold at work. Very bad combination. That sort of led to the cough and the colds.

Then, I didn't get to do much gym time. Two weeks before the run, I was able to do a 12K and some cardio on the following days. A week before the run, I was only able to do a 10K and that's it.

When the race day finally arrived, I was both excited and scared of it.

I was finding comfort in knowing that running buddy I-van would be there, and that I must cross the finish line because he and I would have our traditional post-run photo shoot. Hahaha!

But 20 minutes before the run, there was no sign of I-van. I was starting to worry. A couple of minutes later, I had accepted that I-van wasn't going to show up. First time. (To be fair to my friend, he was really sorry that his alarm didn't go off, and we just agreed to do another run. But I have to say I really missed the post-run tradition. Haha!)

After calling JB and asking him whether I could leave my stuff with him, I quickly walked to where he was parked and left my stuff in his car. (Thanks, JB! Sorry for the hassle.)

I brought out the shirt I bought specifically for this run and changed into it. I figured that if I'm not going to finish the run with a good time, I might as well look nice when I cross the finish line.

So during the run, in a sea of Nature Valley singlets and a couple of race shirts, I was a scandalous neon green shirt. Wahahaha!

The run
Gun start was at 5:15.

I got in the starting line five to ten minutes before the start. That gave me a few minutes to do some stretching and psyching. I think JB made his way to the front of the pack, while I chose to stay in the back.

The race route was shown onscreen, and afterwards it was time for the run.

I had a pretty good start. When I reached the 5K mark, I checked my time and I was happy to see that I was still well within my average time for 5K.

The downhill began after that. Hahaha!

As with previous runs, the Buendia flyover was part of the route. Having ran there before, I was quite familiar with how to handle that part of the race. What made it difficult for me during this run was the Buendia flyover was in the 8K-9K(?) leg of the run. This means that by the time I got there, the sun was already up and with no shade and hardly any breeze, it was really challenging. I just pushed myself to finish it quickly.

After surpassing the Buendia flyover, the next portion was the one leading to Bayani Road. I was having a really difficult time by then. When I checked my time after I crossed the 15K marker, I saw that I had already taken a little over 2 hours. Eeep! Not good at all given that I finish the 15K usually around 1:49.

But I was really tired, and I was coughing every so often. The result was me doing long walks. I'd run half a kilometer and then walk the other half. And if it weren't for some people who "inspired" me to keep on going, I would have probably taken longer walks. Hehe!

I was extremely happy when I crossed the 19K marker. I could do it. I knew I could. A little pushing, some good music, and I was soon nearing the finish line.

Seeing familiar faces really helped. I saw my HS classmate Joel, who finished way ahead of me. And then I saw JB and Sef who both gave encouraging words, "Finish strong. You can do it." I, on the other hand, gave my profuse apologies for making them wait. Hehe.

A little more, and the finish line was in sight. When I saw the time was already approaching the 3 hour mark, I mustered all the strength left in me and ran.

Originally, I planned on finishing the race in 2:45. But in the latter part of the run, I knew it wasn't going to happen so I thought that the next best thing was to finish under 3 hours.

If my computations are correct, I should have finished around 2:59 something. Hahaha! Super slow, but at least, I met my objective of finishing before the 3-hour mark. Hehehe!

The good thing about this is that I can keep on improving myself in this distance. So come the 21K in Singapore this December, I hope to finally meet my goal of 2:45 for the 21K. Or who knows, I may even finish at 2:30.

The good stuff
I really like the Fort as a race venue. Despite being familiar with the possible routes (which aren't that many), I always enjoy running around the Bonifacio Global City.

One of the super good things about the Nature Valley Run were the abundance of water stations. In fact, it wasn't just water. My fave sports drink 100Plus was also a sponsor of the run, and they served the drink at the drinking stations. There was a water station at almost every kilometer, and what's super about this is that they didn't run out of any drinks.

The freebies were quite good, as well. Aside from the Nature Valley loot bag (granola bar, towel, finisher's shirt, banana, running guide), all 21K finishers received a pint of Haagen Daz ice cream. Seriously.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I went straight for the ice cream. Hahaha! But I found it too sweet. I only took a few scoops, and then I gave the rest to Jonjon and Engel.

My favorites were the Photovendo booth and the 21K finisher's medal. The good thing about finishing when almost everyone was done is that the line at the Photovendo booth was already short. Engel, Jonjon and I didn't have to wait that long to get our souvenir photos.

The finisher's medal, on the other hand, is a really great souvenir. I would definitely hang it at my office cubicle. Two years ago, I did my first run at the Fort, too. It was for the UN Paa-bilisan run, which was sponsored by the company I work for. I didn't think that I would one day be doing a half-marathon. And when I realize that, I just feel happy.

Lastly, the best reward for having completed the race was completely non-race related. Hahaha! Engel, Jonjon and I decided to head to Market, Market to have brunch. When we got to Serendra, Jonjon had to go to the restroom. Engel and I say by the bench near Sentro and waited for usual.

As usual, we people watched and checked out the crowd. Every so often, Engel would say, "Market ko yan," referring to a certain guy. From a distance, I saw this cute guy approaching. He was tall, wearing a pair of shades, and carried a long sleeved shirt. I told Engel, "Market ko yan."

The guy was heading our way, and when he was up close, that's when we saw that it was Akihiro Sato. Haha! Kamusta naman?!

I've been wanting to have a photo taken with him, but I haven't had the chance until today. I see him all the time at the gym, but I'm not stupid to forego my gym membership just so I can have a photo with him. Hahaha!

Anyway, when Akihiro approached the girl sitting a few feet away from us (his handler probably?), Jonjon and I approached him and shamelessly asked for his photo. Wahahaha! Deadma na. It was still early, and there weren't that many people in Serendra yet so we didn't have to worry about being judged. Hahaha! Besides, other people followed suit when they saw that these three guys were really kapal to approach Akihiro. Hahaha!

If all 21Ks would finish like this, please sign me up already for the next one. Haha!

That's it. Till the next run.