6.72KM Run, 25KM Bike, 3.36KM Run

Duathlon, anyone?  Sounds nice but @ P200? You must be kidding me, this sure would be one of those cheap races waiting to have a disastrous outcome.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abol on FB (folding bike), Ervin, Yaz and Me 

The topic in our Quality Management class was very timely.  We were discussing the meaning of quality and it simply meant “PERFORMANCE OVER EXPECTATION”.  A very concrete example of quality is if you have joined last Sunday’s Estancia Ibabao Duathlon.  I was definitely expecting less but found myself grinning in delight the entire course of the race and in high spirits.

I knew about this event on the last day of the registration period, but luckily I knew some friends living near the registration site and asked them to register for me and a friend.  I could have shared this information to the LEAR Runners Club but it was the last day of registration, so that was it.

RACE DAY!!!

 

I rode on my motorcycle to the office to get my bike and pedaled to the venue an hour and a half earlier.  When I arrived, some bikes were already lined up in the rack, while some participants got there body marked with numbers corresponding to their category and bib numbers.  This way it would be easier for the organizers to record the # of loops the participant have made.  I was in bracket A (40 yrs old below) under mountain bike category under race # A79.  I placed my bike in the bike rack, got my body marked and ate my breakfast (a spanish bread and bottle of Sparkle). It rained, it shined then we were off to go.  Being used to running on sandals, I found myself struggling with the 1^st run on shoes but recovered in the next loop.  I was able to overtake several runners, actually I was counting more than 40 of them.

I arrived fresh and was ready for the bike ride, then dragged my bike to the designated mounting area and started pedaling.  I’ve heard a man shouting, “Nganong gipadakan man daan imong plaka oi.”.  He was correct but I can’t change it anymore and just thought that I’ll make sure of it next time.  I planned not to exert too much effort and just follow my pace.  I was already puffing on the first loop and was thinking of slowing down but I kept my pace until I realized I only need one loop more before the second run.  After 6 loops on bike I felt relieved to be running again which I knew was my forte.  I was never a cyclist before, it was just last May 2012 when an ultra runner friend sold me his MTB at a very low price and that’s how I was able to own one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me and my bro, years and years ago.

Coming off the bike, I found it hard to walk at first and running was even harder.  Should I stop and rest like most people were saying or just move on and hope the feeling moves away?  I chose to do the latter but found that the numbness and pain mixed up.  My hams started to stiff, but I ignored them and changed my foot strike which eases the pain in a way until I got my groove again and started overtaking more runners.  When I looked back, I saw two familiar faces, Ervin and Yaz.  I waited for them and we sprinted our way to the finished line.  Yaz (literally barefoot) got the 12^th place, Ervin (who gave me his bike bib for the pack lunch) got 13^th and I was 14^th for our category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finishing moves touches!!! :-)

I surely had fun with the new experience.  There were some points, though, that needs to be addressed or improved, but over-all I should say that I left the venue VERY SATISFIED.