Prepping for my 1st 15K Marathon

After running 10K in the recently concluded PSE Bull Run, I hit the road again last Wednesday to start prepping up for the Happy Run on January 25 at the Fort, Taguig. This will be my first 15K marathon and I'm more excited than worried on how I'd run this race.

Prior to running last Wednesday morning, I had a dual "sweat" day last Tuesday, lifting irons in the morning and playing 8 straight "hard" games of Badminton in the evening. "Hard" because these were purely Level B games with each team on the different sides of the court not giving any easy point to each other. My partner had cramps after the 8th game, signalling the end of the games, that was how exhausting the games were.

I hit the road at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and immediately felt the slight numbness of my legs. I was in denial at first, and thought that I could shake off my legs' numbness after my first kilometer. I was wrong. My legs were DEAD! I had to struggle completing 4 kms when I initially planned on running  at least 10K.

Frustrated, I went home and did some abdominal crunches to cap off my disappointing run.

Yesterday, I told myself that I will run today, no matter what, at least 10K.

I woke up at 5:00 a.m., had a glass of water and freshened up a bit. At exactly 5:15 a.m. I opened the gate of my house, waited for my Garmin to get a satellite signal, then started pounding the road.

My first kilometer was a breeze, getting completed in 5mins, 43 secs. I was running easily but when I saw my pace, I slowed down further. I wanted to run at around 6:10-6:20 pace because I didn't want to end up not completing my planned run again.

After my 3rd kilometer, my throat dried up, making me pull-out my water bottle from my hydration belt. I was running well!

I took my run 1 kilometer at a time. When I hit 5 kms, I told myself I was gonna do 6 kms, then after 6 kms I said I was doing 8 kms. That went on until I reached 10 kilometers. It was already 6:25 a.m. and I was still running. I took a glimpse of my Garmin and decided to end my run upon reaching 12 kms.

At exactly 6:40 a.m. I stopped. My total time for the 12 kms: 1 hour 15minutes. I still am behind my target finish time for the Happy Run of 1hr, 30 minutes but I guess I'm ready for Sunday.

Recalling my entire run, I got a bit slower with the hydration belt slapped on my waist. I could feel the weight of the  bottles when I put these on. The big question running around my mind right now is whether to run with the hydration belt on or not. Running with this around me would mean a slower first half of the race, however, as the bottles empty up, I will be lighter and faster for the final stretch. Hmmmm....think Deo! Think!