Race Report: VSO “Bahaginan” 15K Run @ The Fort

Due to technical problem of not being able to access my blogsite for the past days, I really did not know exactly my past finish times for the past 2 renditions of the Mizuno-Rush Infinity 15 Runs for this year before I left my place for this 15K road race. My race strategy was to run an even-pace of 4:45 mins/km up to 4:55 mins/km. Actually, my target was to run an even-pace of below 5:00 mins/km for the whole distance.

Knowing that the race starts at 5:30 AM, I was already at The Fort at 4:50 AM and started to do my stretching and warm-up run. I was already sweating when I entered the starting area at least 15 minutes before the race started. I saw the usual faces and “new” runners who introduced themselves. I was able to have a brief chat with some of The Happy Feet Runners, High Altitude, Aldz, JayR, Roselle, Joms, Foreign Runner, RunUnlimited, and members of the Team Bald Runner.

Finally, the race started after the Emcee announced that the race starts after 10 seconds and the countdown followed. My GF 305 registered 5:49 AM as the start time which was good enough because it was still dark at 5:30 AM. I started my run by pressing the start button of my GF 305 and controlled my emotion of not being carried away with the pace of the elite runners at the front and the “younger runner-bloggers”. From Km 1 up to Km 8, I was able to maintain an average pace of 4:36 mins/km up to 4:51 mins/km. From Km 9 up to the Finish, I registered an average pace of 5:01 up to 5:25 mins/km, except for Km 13 where I finished in 4:58 mins. As usual, the uphill terrain at the Bayani Road and McKinley Hill slowed my pace but I felt I did not push my pace “too hard” along these parts of the route.

After I reached the Finish Line, my GF 305 registered a time of 1:14:43 with a distance of 15.11 kilometers. My average pace for the race was 4:56 mins/km with an average HR of 157 bpm and maximum HR of 163 bpm.

For this race, I was able to set my PR Best time for the 15K run by shaving off 2:10 minutes from my previous time of 1:16:53 during the 1st Mizuno-Rush Infinity 15K Run.

After the race, I immediately changed my drenched running kit and had some photo-ops with the other “runner-bloggers”. As I stayed at the BR’s Project Donate A Shoe booth, I was able to meet Wayne aka SFRunner who just arrived from San Francisco yesterday morning for a 10-day vacation in the country. He donated a brand-new ASICS Gel-Landreth Running Shoes which was in turn given by Wayne to a recipient who was wearing a 2-year old ASICS shoes. Thanks, Wayne for the generosity and for spending your “running” vacation here.

Congratulations to Coach Rio, staff, and volunteers for a wonderful and enjoyable 15K race. Good job!

(Note: Pictures could not be uploaded due to technical problems from WordPress. Pictures will be posted later)