IE8…I came…I conquered

(My first 8mile...)

Imagine that - the rain didn't hamper my recent addiction, but the thought of how far the race I have registered to this time gave me apprehensions. I knew I would be running (or walking) on thin ice when I noticed that almost all 8milers were seasoned runners! "What the hell were you thinking?", “You haven’t even trained for this!” repeatedly banged, whacked, knocked, pounded my head. Unfortunately for me, I was wearing a Kevlar helmet. Besides, I need to break-in my new pair of NBs…hehehe. It’s now or never – anyway it’s just a few kilometers after 10 km and I was able to finish a 10km trail run just last weekend. So, it wouldn’t hurt to go an extra mile, so to speak. Ha! Spoke too soon.


My new pair: New Balance Acteva

At the 6:00 am gun-off, I took off faster than my usual pace and tried to keep up with the runners. Bad move - I was already huffing before I made the turn to the Kalayaan flyover. At this point, I had to thank the rain for keeping me from dehydrating but I had to do a mixture of run/walk until I reached Makati Avenue. My watch read 30:49 when the traffic officer at Makati Avenue stopped us because traffic was getting heavy on both sides and he had to let them pass – great! Jogging in place to keep the momentum, we resumed after two minutes and I tried to keep up with my target (or targets, as I keep on losing each one of them every time...hahaha, that’s how slow I was!)

When I reached the Makati post office, I tried to look for the turnaround and noticed that the runners before me were still running far off in the distance. Uh-oh…looks like I won’t make it to my target time! Past the Pasong Tamo intersection, a runner in pastel green overtook me and I tried to keep up with her pace until I reached the turnaround at the railway station. I wasn’t worried that I might slip from the rain puddles near the rails (not with the new shoes! hehe) and ran until the next aid station - which was just a few meters from the turnaround. Drinking water and walking for the next block, I noticed that I lost my new target (again!) - the runner in pastel green.

On my way back to Makati Avenue, I noticed a lot of spongebobs in pink, blue and white colors blocking my path. Looks like the runners before me had a blast with the water sponges. I made it near the Kalayaan flyover at 1:18 and was surprised to see the AS here offering Coke! I sipped some to give me my much-needed sugar boost and was still working on the run/walk pace and keeping up with new targets along the way until I reached the finish line at 1:46 (unofficial).

After drinking more water at the finish line, I felt a shooting pain on my right foot, just near the thumb area. But of course, this didn’t deter me from waiting for my bib number to be called for the laptop raffle and taking pictures. But when I reached home, I knew I had to do something to remove the pain. I tried all means of relief – ice, stretching, rest, massage, biting, cursing, chanting…to no avail. Looks like it’s the doctor’s appointment next week then, that is, after the Mizuno Infinity Run – haha!

Still trying to figure out how I finished my longest race so far (while promising to myself that I will finish a few 10kms first before another 8 mile race), I learned that I actually ran 13.4 kilometers! (thanks takbo.ph for the info) - imagine that!


My 1 year old niece, Candice, wearing the IE8 finisher shirt - my son thought it looks better on her