Safeguard – 2xu Sole Racing Leg 2

In the 3rd week in getting back into running I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of Safeguard – Sole Racing International Half-Marathon in cooperation with Run Rio.

On the race day, I anticipated that the weather will be great though rainy days occurred often few days before the event. We arrived at the venue as early as 03:30 am, I still feel drowsy due to long periods of no running early in the morning my body clock has changed. On the other hand, I’m still lucky because about 10 to 15 minutes walk from home to reach the assembly area which is SM Mall of Asia, hassle-free. Mall of Asia, I’ve been running here for so many times so I am quite familiar with the environment.

In fact, my two weeks of training before the event, it’s one of those places witnessed my return to running. And this event pressures me, 21k distance has a cutoff time of 3 hours –that’s why it pushes me and procure to have time to train in three (3) weeks.

Half-Marathon is a long journey to conquer, it challenge your endurance capability which I want to learn more so I able to beat my previous personal record, surpass and level up to higher distances.

At exactly 04:00 am more than thousand legs of runners unleashed to overpower the challenge of the race. I did a long slow runner, reserve energy enjoying every step I made so I would be able to reach the finish line before the cut-off time. Having a target time pretty depressing, it’s not the usual race that you need to accomplish is just cross the finish line happy, satisfied and free from injuries. Back in the race, while approaching the 5km distance mist begins until suddenly poured heavy rain in the stretch of Roxas Boulevard, after getting off in the first turning point located in Luneta Park, when I was running in along Manila Bay back to CCP the wind trying to carry me off thence instead of staying in the side lane of the road I positioned my self in the middle of the to avoid any circumstances that may fall down and you will also hear the huge waves hitting the seawall coming from the bay.

It’s an epic folks! Good thing, I’m wearing my visor somehow I avoided the large drops of rain on my face. Yes, the rain helps a lot especially in the long distance race like this – refreshing, it keeps me hydrated in and out.

Nevertheless, after the typhoon alike rain wet shoes and socks are with us in the remaining distance, while traversing the remaining distance of the race I assumes that I am running out of time to reach the cut off time. When I came across the starting line going to the second turning point I noticed that I just consumed for about more than 1 hour and 20 minutes, it means I had a chance to cross the finish line earlier than the cutoff.

While taking the stretch bumpy road of Diosdado Macapagal wherein I feel excited especially when I turned into the second turning point, few distance left! In my last kilometer did a fast pacing I reached the finish line with a time of 02:36:07, pretty slow but satisfied and injury free.

This could be one of my memorable events despite the wetness all over my body and stuff, such a great international half- marathon experience.

After sharing my running experience, this time I would like to appreciate the perseverance of Running Photographers, RAR Martinez FotoRun and other volunteer photographers in taking our active moments despite of heavy downpour. Hydration station staffs, thanks for pouring of water on my head every time I dropped in your station and the staff who accidentally poured a pitcher of Gatorade you showed the RunRio’s flowing hydration station. 😀

To Safeguard, 2xu and Run Rio congratulations for bringing another well-organized and challenging event.

Race Result: http://runrio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Sole-Racing-2013-Leg-2-Overall-Results.pdf

Til next time!

Enjoy Reading! 🙂