Kilometer 601: Subic International Marathon(Part 1 of 2)

Posted October 25th, 2009 by wilson

Prep

I deliberately had a zero-run week leading to this one. All I did five days before this race for recovery and maintenance was crosstrain.

We got to Subic around Saturday late morning, just in time for some final carboload at Wimpys’, where I met Sam, Rico, and Luis, along with some other takbo.ph peeps.

My plan for this race was pretty simple: to just do my best and see how much I could squeeze out from these legs. As pain-free as I was, I knew better than to think that I had fully recovered from last week’s full marathoning effort. Although it wasn’t in my mind to take it easy, I opened my mind to the possibility of walking. I certainly planned on getting through the race in one piece: after all, it would not be the last marathon of the year.

The wait

Since this race had a one-way non-looping course, the organizers had to shuttle the participants all the way out to the not-yet operational Floridablanca exit for the gunstart. I took one of the last buses to leave Remy field and we got there before 3 pm, although the race was not slated to start till 4:30. It was a long and terrible wait, but I guess it could not had been helped. The excitement was palpable in the air as a lot of runners were already raring to go, with some already doing warmups even a full hour before the start. I spent the time waiting for 4:15, which would signal the time for me to “hook up” the 405 with a satellite and take the first of the energy gels. While waiting I got to notice just how much of the field was from the police academy, since they were noticeable with their semikal haircuts and the slight difference in their singlets. I’m guessing more than half of the participants came from their ranks.

After some authentication measures, the short pre-race program finally started. After an invocation led by the Bald Runner/Sir Jovie, the countdown started. The count reached to zero, and off we went.

Here we go again

The first few kilometers were easy enough. I had the pleasure of running with Sir Jonel for a first few kilometers. By kilometer 16 I started feeling the effects of the QCIM the previous week before. I felt the beginning of cramps in my hamstrings, although nothing bothersome enough for me to have considered stopping or walking.

As expected, the route was very scenic. It was really nice seeing the sun set over the nearby mountains on our right. Nevertheless, the setting of the sun signalled the beginning of a burden we’d carry for the majority of the race’s duration. A large part of the SCTEx is void of street lights apparently. We practically had zero visibility. If you’re not paying attention, you could very well run right into the runner in front of you(happened to me once). Worse, it seemed as if the water stations went with the lights. It’s almost as if the organizers’ people got afraid of setting up water stations in the dark places. Thus for long stretches, many runners found themselves sightless and thirsty.

I’m not sure, but it seemed to me as if a lot of people started walking early in this marathon, compared to the others I joined. Seeing people walking beyond kilometer 30 was to be expected, but then in this race I saw a lot of people walking as early past 21K.

I did not look at the 405 for the majority of the race. I just ran at the fastest pace I could comfortably achieve. The kilometers passed dark segment after dark segment. I really wish there is more to say about it, but it was really as simple as “It was dark, and I ran and ran and ran”.

Pretty soon, I found myself entering the old highway leading to Subic, the one that existed even before the SCTEx. That was at around kilometer 30 already, 10 kilometers more and the highway would end, and the remaining 2 would be consumed within the freeport itself. One would encounter three tollgates along this highway. At just past the second one I saw three very familiar figures in the distance, with one already clad in running attire, and all ready to go. Reinforcements had arrived(actually, it’s more like I arrived at the point of reinforcement).

Tags: 42.195K, full marathon, Quezon City International Marathon, Subic International Marathon