3rd PAU 50 km Ultra Marathon (T2N)

It has been more than a year since I last posted an entry here in my blog. I hope I get to post more in the next days. Hello to all!

This is a late entry but I have to post this event since this is one of the major race that I did for this year.  Prior to this race, I did the Condura Marathon back in February.

This event was also important because it was the debut ultra run of our friend Cherry Jardiniano who did great and now thinking of joining another PAU event. I guess she enjoyed it and trying to see how she would fair on a 65/70k run. After which, Im sure she'll go for the BDM 102k.  

It was another successful event from the Bald Runner and thanks to him for giving us the opportunity to participate in the race and that we were able to recruit a new addition to the ultra running community.

Nice Trophy!

With Jay and Cherry

Cherry looking strong.

I decided to run a faster pace and left Cherry and Jay. I wanted to see if I can maintain a certain pace until the finish line and see how far my threshold would be.  At the same time I was testing my nutrition and hydration whether I get it right this time, and to see if the mileage I build from the weekend long runs paid off.  I guess, I was just being stubborn and not being smart in pacing myself, because at km 40k I started to slow down until Jay and Cherry catched up with me at the last km.   It was yet another lesson and I had to build more mileage and plan my nutrition/hydration well.  

With Werner Cruz, his first time to do a 50k run. Finally met him in person, we are friends at Dailymile.

Gone Running Club, I hope to bring more GRC runners in the PAU event.

Thanks BR!

With Noemi, Jay, Allen, and Cherry

I love running this  route from Tagaytay to Nasugbu. Hope to see fellow ultra runners back here in December and I hope to run other PAU events as well.  


BDM 160K.. Jay and I are still contemplating on when we will do this.

Going beyond your limits

In the midst of my training for the QC International Marathon, I have received an invite from Mr. Jovie Narcise (aka baldrunner) to join the PAU T2N (Tagaytay to Nasugbu) 50K ultramarathon. I was honored and felt that I was considered to be ready to do this race. I have been doing long runs with my team (Gone Running Club) on weekends and we have done a 40km LSD 2 weeks before the PAU 50k race. That basically builds confidence that I can finish the race. Together with my buddy Jay, we both registered for the event and would log this as another milestone in our running career.

It was a cool sunday morning in Tagaytay City where we all gathered at the start line. Happy to see familiar faces, and knowing that it was an ultramarathon, I knew that all runners have prepared for this race and have pure will and determination within them. Jay and I were among the newbies and we were glad to be part of it. There were about 160 runners who participated the race and I learned that 159 have finished.

We decided to set a target time of 6:30 for this race. The first 35km was a good run as we were able to increase our pace and we were ahead of our target time. However, from then on I felt my heart rate has reached probably 90% or more and it was difficult to recover. I had to run and walk which obviously slowed as down. At 39th km, I told Jay to run his pace as I can't maintain a 6:40 min/km pace, and that we see each other at the finish line. It's 11km to go and in my mind I knew that I can finish the race, no doubt. I slowed down a bit, but I have another focus, my 42k split. Yes, I had a new Personal Record on my 42k, I logged 4:58 (my first marathon was 5:47). I was smiling as for me its another milestone of improving my time for a marathon. As I move on for the next 8km of the race, I managed to recover my breathing and heart rate was at a comfortable level but I was struggling already due to leg fatigue. More walk breaks for me. In the last 5km, I started to pick up some pace and mindful of my target time, but at this point I noticed that my garmin hanged and I was now totally blind of the time and pace. As I saw the Jollibee signage saying last 3km, I began to focus and and avoided walk breaks. The finish line was at the Nasugbu City Hall which was near the Jollibee Outlet. As I saw the Jollibee sign, I was too eager to get there the soonest that I can, but it seems to be the longest 1-1.5km of the race. I saw one of the bald runner marshalls and guided me to the final turn reaching the finish line. It was yet again another memorable moment as I have tested again my limits on this race. If you put your mind to it and prepare for it, you will achieve whatever goals you have envisioned. Keep raising the bar and believe in yourself. There's a long way to go, keep it one stride at a time and try to make a difference.

Thank you to team bald runner and PAU. It was a good race and a good experience. Looking forward for more PAU races in the future.

50km done! My longest run so far..

with Jay and Sir Jovie (baldrunner), I finished in 6:12:48 and 65th out of 159 finishers, Jay finished 5:52:50 at 51st place.