Did you really run the whole 80K kilometers?
Last Sunday’s Bohol 50 Miler Ultramarathon was by far my longest ultramarathon. And boy it did not came easy. Not until I have ran the 1st 55 kilometers though.
A week before the run was not an ideal week for someone preparing for an ultramarathon. After my last LSD (25K from Mandaue to Danao), I envisioned having the coming 6 days with more than enough rest (at least 8 hours of sleep everyday). Turned out to be just the opposite. LLL
Our relatives from Bantayan came over to our house and asked if we could get them an eye specialist because one of her son had an accident. Dressed for work, we accompanied them to a clinic here in Basak, Lapu-lapu. What thought to be a minor injury at first was a complete tragedy. The boy needs to have an eye operation so that he’ll get a slim chance of seeing again (through his injured left eyeball). Instead of going to the office, we went straight to the hospital. I reported to the office that evening and heard a memo from my supervisor that I need to be early for the next morning’s shift for our Windows 7 migration. Four hours of sleep on my 1st day of my supposedly “more-than-enough-rest” week, I thought it could not get any worse than that. But unexpected events just bullied me that week in an untimely manner. We went back to the hospital to process some paper works to get discounts and bought some medicines like a treasure hunting expedition. Whew!!! As much as I would want to rest, we just couldn’t refuse anyone who was depending heavily on us in this difficult time of their lives.
I was planning of leaving for Bohol on Friday,but realized we were the assigned sponsor of our first quarterly Team-Building activities for our department. I had no choice but to postpone my trip to Saturday. Friday’s “Laro ng Lahi” activities (we played Patintero, Dodge ball, sack race, kadang race, longest line, etc…) lasted for 4 hours followed by 7 sets of volleyball game plus we went to Mabolo at 10PM to get my wife’s dress for her close friend’s wedding the nest day. Having a nice, sound, lengthy rest was just a dream. I woke up @ 11am that Saturday morning and have to prepare my things for my 1:50 trip, went back to the office to get the batteries for my headlamp and when I arrived at the Ferry Boat terminal it was already 1:15 PM. I wished I could have warthog’s thick skin on my face so I could have overtake everyone without feeling guilty but nahhh, I just prayed that my trip to Bohol would be delayed and accepted my fate of spending another 400 pesos for the next trip. I arrived at pier 1 at around 2:20PM. I never thought that my prayers were answered and my 400 pesos was saved. I was the 2nd to the last passenger on that trip including the chance passengers being called up already. The receptionist could not help but smile and told me how lucky am I.
Along with me on the trip were 18 of my co-CUC members, some I personally knew, some I just met. Instead of waiting for regular jeepney ride for Panglao, one member already contacted a van for hire. The van’s capacity was good for 15 people only including the driver, but most Filipinos doesn’t really respect those “passenger capacity” sign. Good thing it was a huge van, it still allowed us to breath. We arrived at the starting area (Alona Tropical Beach Resort) almost 6PM, had our dinner, claimed our race bibs and then followed by the race briefing. There was still 4 hours left before gun start so we headed to a fellow runner’s rented room to rest and prepare the necessary things needed for our run. I took a bath before taking a nap trying to alleviate my headache. It was already 11PM when I woke up but still feeling heavy-headed.
It was 11:56 PM (from my handheld watch: Timex wasn’t able to replace the housing-style-strap of my watch) when the race officially started. Just realized some runners especially the elites, got lost on the first turn and everyone were laughing saying that the marshals must be from Columbia’s Eco Trail Leg 6 run. (You know what I mean). I just focused on doing 20 minute easy run followed by 2 minute walk for the first two hours but I was still having headache. I admit I was really thinking of quitting the race if the pain worsen. But I was also praying that hopefully I could recover and find the race enjoyable as per my previous LSD’s.
My left foot and knee were now in slight pain when I reached Tagbilaran City. I adjusted my footstrike, changed my foot landing just to experiment which works better or less painful. My left thigh was also cramping as if reminding me of my previous problems so I had to stop to walk and placed electrolytes in my water bottle. By the time I reached the 26.6 KMs (where the 1st runner of the relay category ends), it was already a flat course. I was feeling lighter. Hoping to maintain the good momentum going, I counted road cuts (running the 50 road cuts then walking the next 20). I found myself enjoying the moment. When I reached Baclayon church, I touched the wall of it, made a sign of the cross and said “Oldest church in the Philippines”. I continued with my 50/20 pace until I was feeling the pains again. I found comfort on the grasses beside the concrete road and the small stones acts as if I was having foot massage.
The sun had shown when I arrived at Luay where we took a left turn to Loboc. It was there that long stretches of up-hills started. In as much as I would want to run away from the sun’s ray, my foot was just too painful to make a running step. Unfortunately, of all the things needed to prepare it was the sun-block lotion that I forgot bring. I could not see road cuts anymore. Either its an asphalted road or it’s still under construction so my hint on when to run was now between areas with shade(walk) and those with nothing (run). I was able to pee five times for the whole duration of the run, which means that I was properly hydrated. I did not feel the cramping anymore so most likely I was also having the correct ration of sodium to water.
Now, just as we approached the 50KM mark, that long killer uphill was just plain disheartening.
Little did I know that those long uphill walk enabled me to recover before the heavy rain came. Boy it was really heavy. Even with the shade created by the famous “man-made” forest cannot protect us from literally being soaked wet. But thanks for the rain, it eased my headache (it must have some paracetamol with it). Along came with that rain was my real first wind. I was now able to run long stretches but maybe partially because of the downhill parts going to Bilar but I was really energized by it. From time to time I have to stop though to squeeze out the water from my socks and avoid having blisters. I also found comfort in having complete stops to rest and refuel than walking continuously. Thru the last part of the run, I paced with a friend TJ from our 69K LSD. I tried to win that “Daguhoy Award” by walking extremely slow hoping to be the last runner to arrive within cut-off time but I still have 40 minutes left and 14 hrs plus of running/walking was no joke so I decided to continue and get that medal, have my lunch, get my things and go home.
Together with other CUC runners, we rode a bus going to Tagbilaran (where I just slept, while others told me later that they were very uneasy on how careless the driver of bus during the trip was). Took the 10PM boat trip to Cebu (I was asleep long before the boat took of). Arrived at our house around 3 in the morning, kissed my wife and kids before closing my eyes. Got to be ready for work by 9AM. When I woke up, I became a zombie doing the famous “Zombie Walk”. Until the next ultra every one.
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