A day before the Runnex @ 25 10 K Race will be conducted, I am trying to recall my first race at UP Campus.

I’ve posted my story on “Time Stealer” where there was a big discrepancy (again) on the time registered on my wristwatch and the official results of the race. At that time, I was still using my old reliable Casio Pathfinder watch. The 27th RUNNEX Executive 10K Run was held last 02 December 2007, which was six weeks after I seriously revived my running, and I registered a time of 52:07 minutes. However, the official results showed that I had a time of 52:39 minutes and I had somebody next to me with a time of 52:42 minutes. One of my staff was able to take a picture of me, at least 100 meters from the finish line, and there was nobody at my back which has a distance of 3 seconds from me! Well, this was my first experience on my observations of faulty timing system in our road races in the country.

Surprisingly, in this RUNNEX 10K run, I was able to improve my time by almost 3 minutes from my time with the Animo Run which was held a week before the run. I became to doubt whether the Animo Run was more than 10K or the RUNNEX Run had a shorter distance or I really improved on my performance. We’ll see the answers tomorrow after the run from my GF 305.

Looking at the route in tomorrow’s RUNNEX 10K run, the organizers slightly changed the course (start/finish and direction of the race) but the roads to be covered are the same with the first race I joined. I just hope that they measured the route accurately. The course is relatively flat with very low ascent as compared with the hills in Bayani Road. McKinley Hill, and the portion of the road infront of the Heritage Park. The roads are relatively covered with trees except at the wide road infront of the Oblation. This was where I saw a runner crossing the center island at least 20 yards before the turn-around point.

The 10K course will be a 2-loop run and I am anticipating again to have a faster pace in the 1st loop and decreasing my pace for the last loop. For those who are planning to have negative split time on this course, this will be a nice road race to test your endurance & stamina to push harder on the 2nd loop. Well, for me, I am trying to be consistent with my even-pace strategy for this race. I must admit and as seen in my running workouts for the past two weeks, I did not have any “speed or tempo” runs.

I am sure this race is well-supported with prestigious corporate sponsors as in the past. I could remember that I brought home a lot of sports drinks and many give-aways after the race. The suppor system in the RUNNEX races are really superb and outstanding.

To my fellow runners, good luck and see you tomorrow!

To those who are willing and planning to donate their old running shoes or any rubber shoes, please bring them with you and our booth will be there to receive your donations. Thanks!