Greenfield Sunset Run

This was my 3rd race of the year, I have missed a lot of good races and was able to join only at Condura Run and Globe Run for Home. I wouldn't let this race pass as this was located within our neighborhood. Likewise, the greenfield run was my second run last year where I did a 10 km run finishing at 1:13:10. This time I did a 21k and my plan was to meet sub 2 hr.

In the last races, I opted to do a 21k run as part of the long weekend runs. After the holy week, we were not able to do any long runs and obviously, since most of the GRC members are within Laguna we joined this race.

I felt that I can do a PR on this one as I have seen some progress in my runs. I was able to peg my fastest 10k in 56:48 days before the race and that gave me confidence to run strong in this race. Indeed it was a good race, I was feeling strong in the first 10km where I hit 56:39 (9 seconds better than my training run). I was pacing with Jay until the 12th km, but I started to slow down and cant keep up with the pace. Jay was trying to pull me as he remains steady with the target pace for sub 2hr. I just had to let go since my calves started to get stiff. I made a recovery at km 14-16 but after that I started to slow down again. I was trying to lift my legs, but I can feel the stiffness. I was glad that I came strong in the first half, I was hoping for a negative split, as I usually experience getting stronger at the second half of my run (but that was for 10k), however, I just dont have the leg power to do it. I managed to sprint in the last 200m and finished in 2:08:12 (chip time at 2:07:45). Got a new PR, 8 minutes away from sub 2hr and I believe its within reach. I am happy with the result, I ranked 85th out of the 435 runners which was in the top 20% of the total runners in 21k.

Thanks to Photovendo for these photos.

Globe Run for Home 2

This is a late post but I’ll still post anyway and share a bit of our Globe Run For Home experience. I’ve been busy and had no chance to write, there’s more to share and will try to post in the next blogs.

I was not able to join any other race since the Condura Run, I have skipped the Century Bods Run, and Unilab Run, but at least I was able to maintain my running and biking activities to keep me fit and help prepare for the next races.

It has been a year since we started joining official races and Globe Run for Home 2 serves as my Anniversary Run. I remembered when I invited my friends to join me in the Condura Run at that time (March 21, 2009) which was also their first official race. I was with Jay, Noemi, Allan, and Ronald. From then on, we joined more races and as you may know, we have established the Gone Running Club.

We were around 11 runners in GRC who joined the 21k at Globe Run, Jay and I decided to pace with the team since we underwent a hard workout the day before the race. Most of the members planned to achieve a target time of 2:25-2:30, (5) of us was able to finish between 2:19 – 2:33, (4) finished between 2:42-2:48, while the two finished more than 3 hrs. Gilbert (2:48) and Egay (3:02) completed their 1st official 21km. It was good to see more of us are running the 21k distance, we hope that we continue to improve our time as we move along. Likewise I was glad that everybody finished without any injury. It was a good race overall, distance was a bit longer but it doesn’t matter, it’s better than short in distance. I enjoyed this run and had no complaint.

Here’s some photos (with photovendo shots).

Rodney, Raymund, Allan, Jay, Vince, Val, Cherry, Me, Noemi, and Neo.

Thumbs up! Not struggling that much.

Me, Jay, and Val near the finish line.

Sprinting near the finish line.

Egay on his 21km debut. Great Job Man!

and so did Gilbert finishing at 2:48.

Father and Son.

Gene, Allan, Val, Vince, Jojo, Neo, Egay, Noemi, Jay, and Ronald.

Condura 2010 - Half Marathon

What a fantastic day it was! Condura Run 2010 was indeed a success. About 8,500 runners participated in this much awaited running event of the year. For some it was their first run, others did a mileage level up from their last year run, and many have set their new Personal Record (PR). The introduction of the full marathon in this year’s event made it more exciting. Though there were some new highlights in the race, there were still some problems that frustrated some of the runners.

I have been preparing for this event hoping to get a new PR for my half marathon. I was hoping to run the 42km but since I just recovered from an injury, I did not risk it and instead trained for a 21km. It was full determination and excitement that pushed me to take on the challenge and focused on meeting my target time which was 2:15, I finished the race at 2:18:31 (official time). I was practically running at an average pace of 6 min/km in my first 10km which lead me to another PR hitting it in 61 minutes.

I was steady in my first 14km and started to slow down to recover at the 15th km. As I was approaching the Kalayaan flyover, I planned to walk, luckily Val (fellow GRC member) caught up with me and started to run with me. My legs were already fatigued but I was not ready to give up especially when I was close to achieving my goal. As I reached 21km in my garmin, I already hit 2:14, but it was 700m to go at finish line. It took me another 3-4 minutes to reach it. It was a good finish for me obviously as I hit two PR's in this event.

Truly, preparation is key in achieving my goal. I was glad also that my injury had fully recovered. Will continue my training as I am yet to meet my target time that I set for this year. Here are some highlights/lowlights of the event.

Highlights

1. Fireworks at the start line
2. Cheering squad and bands playing at designated area to cheer the runners.
3. Sufficient water stations.

4. Banana supply at Takbo.ph and Reinier aid station.
5. Portalets were situated in designated area as well.
6. Different finish line for 3k/5k and 10/21/42k

Lowlights

1. Street lights were off at the Kalayaan Flyover.
2. Medals were not available to some runners . Refer to Condura’s announcement here.
3. Long waiting time at the 10km finish since runners were queuing at the end of the strip.
4. Distance was excess of 700m (at least from my garmin).
5. Results were not accurate, some were timed later, while others were earlier. Hope a timing chip can be included in Condura 2011.

It was a successful event, hopefully next year's event will address some of the areas for improvements that were raised also by other bloggers/runners. Next year would definitely something to look forward to. Meanwhile, back to training for other events.

Gone Running Club with Junrox (Tigerboy)

With Val who gave me a push in the last 2km. Thanks man!

With Junrox discussing his new full marathon PR (3:40!) and giving some tips on how to improve my running.

Ronald and Noemi, while waiting for the rest of the group.

With Bald Runner, met him at the finish line.

With Natz (I2runner) and his friends. You were fast natz! Great Run!

With Mike, finishing his first 21km. Congratulations!

Welcoming Jay at the finish line. He was late by 23 minutes at starting line but still managed to finish strong.

Jay discussing his skyway experience.

Another group photo.