6:00 AM 18 May 2008 @ Market! Market!, The Fort
For the past days, I’ve been having a difficult time logging in at WordPress, thus, my posts had been delayed and spent much time waiting for me to register in my Dashboard. For this post, I waited for almost eight hour just to be able to make this post. Anyway, I am going to render a report of what happened in this morning’s Market! Market! 5-mile run.
I arrived at the Parking Area of Market! Market! at 5:20 AM and it was drizzling and the road was wet due to rains on the night before the race. I thought there were few runners who arrived for the race as I saw the assembly area vacant and few runners on the side of the road. However, I was informed that most of the runners are waiting at the Atrium area and shaded portions of the Shoppng Mall because of the slight rains. While I was about to have my stretching exercises, somebody called my attention and a lady recognized me as the Bald Runner even if I was wearing a runner’s cap. We had brief chat and by her intonation, I suspected that she is a foreigner. Later, at the Assembly Area, I was able to talk to her again and I found out that she is from Malaysia. Kim is a a regular visitor of this blog and we had a picture with the Philippine Army runners.
Before the run, I met my brother Samie and his wife, Babette; Captain Ferdie Espejo; Major Rod Turno; Totoy Santos of Happy Feet; Cecil, Runmd, Rey Antoque; Officers and Enlisted Personnel of Headquarters Philippine Army; gym mates at Gold’s; and visitors/friends of Bald Runner. The race started and finished at the Access Road towards the Drop-Off point of the Shopping Mall. In my estimate, the road race was attended by almost 300 runners.
There was a short program before the start of the race but most of the runners were talking with one another and were raring for the start of the road race. Then suddenly, we heard a countdown from 10 to 1and then the command “Go”. I started slowly to allow the other runners infront of me to increase their pace as they reached the wider road between Serendra and Market! Market! Once I reached the wide road, I immediately positioned myself on the left side of the running pack and increased my pace towards the International School area as I know this place is slightly going downhill. Immediately after the turn-around point where he road marshalls gave the first string band and going back the International School area, a strong wind was meeting all the runners. We were running “aganst the wind”, a first tme experience in the area! The slightly uphill road and the wind slowed down my pace but once I was reaching the portion infront of “The New World” area, I started to increase my pace again. In almost all the roads along the route, the runners were met with strong winds but it made me more comfortable and relaxed.
In between Km 4 & 5, along the stretch between Jollibee and McDonald’s, we were again running against the wind and I started to drink my Propel water tucked at my back and I felt that the winds and drinking slowed down my pace again. Before reaching the 7Km mark, I had my last drink and anticipated a faster run/sprint in my last kilometer. Unfortunately, two guys ( a local runner & a tall foreigner) overtook me on the last 700 meters from the finish line and tried to catch up with them by increasing my fast pace but my efforts were not enough. Anyway, I finished the 5-Mile Run with an unofficial tme of 38:57 minutes which made me happy and contented/satisfied with my performance. I was glad I finished the race before the rains started pouring to most of the runners after me. I immediately proceeded to my car and avoided the rain from mixing with my sweat.
The following were the data that registered in my GF 305 & the accessories I used:
Distance—7.94 kilometers Time—38:57 minutes
Average Pace—4:54 mins/km Average Speed—12.2 kms/hr
Maximum Speed—20.7 kms/hr Total Calories—588 cal
Average HR—164 bpm Maximum HR—172 bpm
Total Ascent—512 meters Total Descent—501 meters
Running Kit—New Balance “Boston Run”
Running Shoes—ASICS Gel-Kinsei 2
Music—Bee Gees (Live: One Night Only)
Music Player—Ipod Nano (8GB) & Ipod’s Nike Arm Band—My Birthday Gifts to Myself
My Kilometer-Split times:
1K—4:43 mins 5K—5:10 mins
2K—4:29 mins 6K—4:50 mins
3K—5:07 mins 7K—5:03 mins
4K—4:41 mins 8K—4:32 mins
It was a nice run and road race. I will be posting the pictures on my next post.
Bald Runner 
Um hi there!
I’m kinda new to this site and to fun runs in general. I was also at market market earlier and I’d just like to share my experience. It was a great run, nice weather with just the right amount of drizzle to cool but not soak. I also managed to get into a nice race near the finish with 3 others, I managed to pass two of them but one pulled off a great sprint and passed me (yes I’m awful at sprints). I was kind of disappointed that they never managed to get the timing screen working so I never found out my time, but the guy who passed me muttered something like 36 minutes.
My second lap around the course was nowhere near as pleasant as it started pouring hard as I neared the 1-mile point. My clothes got drenched and my shoes soaked. It did stop after a while though. I’ve got to hand it to the marshals who stayed in place despite the downpour, they were all still in place during my second lap. I also passed a lot of walkers who were still persevering towards the finish. And I also noticed that a lot of people got lost after the 3-mile point. A lot of them made wrong turns and cut the route.
Anyway I’m looking for a run next week, and I’m hesitant to join DocFit. I ran in Runnex@25 and I’m not overly excited about running the same course again, although familiarity might improve my time.
Hope I can meet you someday. It’s always more fun to run with friends.
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Great job BR!
That’s better than an 8 minute mile. Makes me want to try shorter races to see how fast I can run.
I did want to update you on my first ocean swim. My coach wasn’t kidding–he took me to the first buoy and back. A good half mile distance to start with. Crazy guy. But I enjoyed it a lot.
Have a great day!
Quicksilver
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mindlessmotion, thanks for the visit and nice comments. that’s true, the race did not have a digital clock at the start/finish line and nobody collected the race number strip that was stapled on our bib at the finish line. i guess, there will be no official result to be published for this road race. don’t be affected with those guys who outsprint us near the finish line, what was important was to finish the race & be able to improve your finish time even for a fraction of a minute or second. i was planning also to have another 5-mile run but i suspected that the rains would we pouring harder. anyway, it was a nice 5-mile run to evaluate my training. i hope to see you at the DocFit Run next Sunday. thanks & happy running!
quicksilver, i consider these short races as my “gauge” if i am improving on my race pace and keep myself relaxed and concentrate on my running form. sometimes, you have to test the limits of your capabilities on these short races. hey, thanks for that first ocean swim and congratulations! happy running & swimming, too!
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