My Year End Run

I thought I would not be able to have My Year End Run, the PhilStar Christmas Celebrity Run 2009 at The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. A day before, I suffered again from The Pain That's Killing Me. But waking up early in the morning (2:45AM) yesterday and seeing my cousin (my new recruit) all dressed up for her first ever fun run inspired me to get going. I made myself at ease with a tablet of Dolfenal and a cup of hot chocolate.

My cousin all dressed up as I wake up

Unlike my other race events, EDSA had no moderate nor heavy traffic at all. We arrived at the meeting place as early as 4:45AM. I bought a couple of Snickers for me to eat once I feel hungry. However, we've got no companions now that has a vehicle where we could place our belongings. And so, we left our things at the baggage area upon arriving.

We are that early that we were able to have a peek of the 21K and 10K gun starts. And here's a photo of my co-runner, RunningAtom, at the starting line for his 10K race.

RunningAtom, Bib No. 3306

I was over excited with my 5K race for I wanted to beat my best time from the NBPR Raising Hope 2009. And so I mind not leaving my cousin behind. I know she'll be able to cope up with my running. She's young and she's playing basketball. I even prefer not to stop to hydrate myself in the first kilometer of the race for I don't feel like drinking. It's almost raining anyway, I haven't lost a water from my body. However, upon running three-quarters of a kilometer, one of the 5K racers shouted at the others to go back for we are traversing the wrong route. And so, with a little bit of hesitation, we go back to see the left or right turn that we have missed. Only to find ourselves going back to the finish line that early and easy. I just can't believe how chaotic the race for 5K runners had been.

See that disgust on my face?

Surely, the outcome would be that disappointing. I won't consider this as my personal best even if I had finished with the stunning 30minutes. I had barely run 4K. Also, I'll bet I'll be somewhat below 50% of the 5K runners with respect to ranking. Most of the runners that we had crossed along the way after we turned back returned as well. So, they roughly ran 2K then. Nonetheless, I tried to run at my utmost speed going to the finish line. And I am happy that I can ran faster than I expected. Only, I cannot maintain such pace.

I just can't move on with the turn outs of the event. I'd rather run the 10K than running more than 1K short. And so, with such feeling, I posed at the stage smiling but with a thumbs down to show dissatisfaction.

Thumbs Down!!!

I tried suppressing my dismay by taking advantage of the sponsored freebies around. We had the energy bar; nuts; stress pad, loot bag, and free photo from Coppertone; Omega pain killer from RunnerSpeak; and wheat bread. And most of all, to complete my running day, we had spotted Coach Rio and have a photo op with him. We are collecting pictures with him, LOL!

"Kumpleto na ang araw ko kahit kulang ang takbo ko"

To date, this had been the worst race I ever had in my ten runs. *sigh*