Kilometer 716: 1st Run Green Marathon

Posted January 24th, 2010 by wilson

Went to Ayala Alabang this morning for the 1st Run Green Marathon.

It was my first race in Alabang ever, and my first race after quite a long hiatus. My last race before that was the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon last December- almost a month and a half ago!

I must admit, I was kind of jittery before this race, as I always am when returning the race course after quite a long time off it. Run all you like and do tempo runs even, but race day is race day - it’s still different.

I think I already mentioned that I chose this as a comeback race primarily because of its cheap registration fee. Well, true, as someone from the Northern part of the metro, there are fuel costs to consider, but at least it was a new place and experience. Even if I really did not end up saving anything at least I finally got to run in Alabang.

I wasn’t expecting much from the race. With 200 bucks registration fee, I already found it generous that they even gave  t-shirts(with sizes to choose from even). The on-site registration process was easy enough, although the race started 30 minutes late.

So how was the Alabang running experience? My very first impression as I was racing was that it really was quite a running friendly place - and a vast one at that too. I mean, wow, residents could literally step out of their doors and run. Long runs aren’t impossible inside the village - the race route alone is a single loop “10K”(more on this in a bit). What the heck, even races in UP could not manage to do that, because of roads with jeepneys(even on Sundays) and residential areas where there is the danger of stray dogs.

(Bit of a trivia: Coach Rio once tried having a single loop 10K within UP, but the route was changed at the last minute)

Nevertheless, I must mention that the organizers are not exactly race organization experts, and it showed. There were enough water stations, located at the proper distances probably, but at the wrong positions. I mean, almost all of them were at the wrong side of the road! To get to them you had to cross the road - and those were very wide roads as well.

It was a tough race for me. I hadn’t raced in a while, and even before the hiatus, my focus had mainly been on the half and the full(I intend to keep that) and it showed. That fact of course wasn’t helped by the errant water stations and the really hilly nature of the course. I would definitely classify this as one of my tougher races at this distance.

When I crossed the finishline, the first thing that I did was ask for my time, hoping to at least make it to my personal 50 minute standard. The marshal chalked it up at 40:00, a fact that was confirmed by an independent timer! Thus exposed the greatest shortcoming of this race - the distance. I didn’t bring the 405, but another runner measured the distance at 8.3 kilometers - 1.7 kilometers short.

Well, 8.3 in 40 translates to a consistent sub-5 mpk. With 10 minutes remaining before 50, and 1.7 to cover, even if my pace had dropped to 5mpk, I would’ve made it still. Not bad.

It’s disappointing that my first race post-injury had a “disqualified” result(a real 40 would’ve been a new personal best), but I guess the happiness of being on the race course once again overshadows that.

Wow, I guess I really am back.

Race bib

***RACE SUMMARY***
Event: 1st Run Green Marathon
Date/Time: January 24, 2010, 6:00am
Venue: Ayala Alabang
Length: 10 kilometers
Time: 40:00(official)
Racer/Bib Number: 551

Tags: 10K, 1st Run Green Marathon