FAir Play: Running, it's more fun in the CCM

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu, Jan 9 issue)

ARMED with two relatively long runs, I had no problem in the first half of my first 21K but it was the final half that killed my confidence and legs.

Thankfully, I am here in one piece, writing�albeit with my creative juices sapped out�about my first 21K.

I had such a lackadaisical preparation minutes before the race that I didn�t even warm-up. While most followed the warm-up routines and others did their own routine, I did what I usually do when I�m excited (or nervous). I lit up.

When I met John Pages near the organizers� tent, he had to tell me to get to the starting area as it was 10 minutes away from the gun start.

There was nothing note-worthy in the first half of the race and since I have yet to establish my pace, I ran for 10, 12, sometimes 15 minutes with brief rests.

Rico Navarro told me at the start was on a 2 and 1 pace, while, I overheard others, talking of 5-1.
Me? Nada. I simply ran. Sometimes, I�d just take a walk after reaching the water station, confident that my no-training-program preparation, coupled with an over-confidence of having attained 80 percent of my high school fitness would be enough.
Which was, of course, a big mistake as I would later learn that an old high school foe would come back to haunt me.

I was still pretty confident when I got out of the SRP tunnel, just barely after the 60-minute mark, since Bro. Carlo Bacalla told me the half-way point was just 800 meters.
Half-way at a shade over an hour? Not bad, eh! I was planning to rest just as I got out of the tunnel but hearing Bro. Carlo�s words, I thought, heck, why not rest at the half-way point?

But half-way to the half-way point, I told myself, �I�m going to have words with Bro. Carlo regarding accurate measurement� but thankfully, his promised �dancers and singers� that would wake up your spirits were really there.

At about 1:30 into the race, I was in unknown territory. This was the longest time I have spent on the road, and I got hungry. I bought crackers and for the first time ever, ate a banana that wasn�t fried or boiled.

Though I may have paid attention to fellow runners in the first half�there was this one dude trying to hit a girl and one who looked at another girl�s behind that would have landed him in jail�from the BSP office to the finish line? I just focused on the road ahead.

I got a second wind of sorts from Fuente Osme�a to Cebu Doctors University but just as I was about to turn from Escarrio to Gorordo, my old high school foe�cramps--said hello.  I was planning to take a piss at that time and I remember once I had to leave a game in high school because a teammate jumped on me to celebrate a goal and I kept telling myself, please don�t let the cramps attack me in such compromising spot.

Folks say no pain, no gain, right? I tried to follow that and I ignore my cramps and planned to run all the way to the finish line but I had to stop at JY as it attacked again. I was wincing and grabbing my right thigh and I thought that was it.

Thankfully, Frederico Garganera was there and he talked me through in the final stretch.  So I ran, again, but had to stop, again, when my right leg sort of gave up and I wasn�t able to complete a stride.

And, as if on cue, a runner just a few paces ahead of me fell, a reminder of what happens if you try to run through cramps.
 

�Reserve some for the finish line,� Federico said and I dutifully followed his advice, walking for a few minutes before running to the finish line in 2:43:17.

P.S.  At the start of the run, I didn�t have a goal so a crazy thought got into my head, I was going to aim to be in the top 10 percent. Thankfully I wasn�t that crazy and instead aimed not to throw a single trash (I even brought one cup from one station to another since I saw no trash bin) and to thank anybody who hands me water.

Now that target, I was able to reach.

To the CCM organizers, volunteers and marshals, especially to the cop who put an obnoxious motorist in his place, and to Federico, my escort. A big thanks. You guys make running the CCM, more fun.

And, as the finisher�s shirt says, �I survived the CCM and I�m thirsty for more.�  Of course this time, it will be after proper training.