Conquering the Skyway @ The Condura Run

http://www.condurarun.com/

Everybody looked forward to this event, and I'm one of those who, after having ran several marathons already, still get excited at the thought of running new routes and longer distances. The Condura Run was one of the more exciting running events this year, not because its the first 21K marathon to be held this year, but because it's the  first marathon that would take runners to the Skyway. Now, how cool is that? Imagine yourself on the  Skyway enjoying the view on both your left and right shoulders and not pay the toll fee? I guess I shared that thought with more than a thousand runners....

My run started out well. I was at a good pace with a fellow Takbo.ph runner Erick ( shocks_5 ). We were doing between 5:20 - 5:45 average during the first 10K when tragedy struck. After reaching the Skyway off ramp going south, I felt a stabbing pain on my right abdomen. Great! A side-stitch! I tried running it off but the pain wouldn't go away, and I had to ask Erick to go ahead as I walked it off.

After walking around 200 meters and being left behind by my earlier co-pacers, the side-stitch was gone, and I was in catch-up mode. I was able to be at pace again with those who overtook me as I walked the side-stitch but Erick wasn't in my sight anymore. He must have ran the same pace when parted.

Upon going down the Skyway, I was looking forward a sub-2 hours run. I registered at 57 minutes on the first 10K and was at 1:08 going into the 12th kilometer. Then another problem...my legs were giving up. The 2 weeks off from training due to flu 3 weeks before the race took its toll on me. I needed to slow down to a 6:20 to let my legs recover, and though they did recover, the recovery wasn't as good as having fresh legs for a sub-2 hour performance.

Going into the 16th kilometer along Buendia was when all my problems piled up and I really slowed down. The side-stitch was back with a vengeance and my legs were slowly dying on me. I could push it real hard and finish at a little over 2 hours, but decided against it. I just hoped to finish within my target time of 2:15. From KM17 to 20, my average pace was  7:20. It was frustrating, but I had no choice.

I knew I slowed down really hard when Pastor Ernie Catanghal, a fellow christian MTBiker, came up from behind me. I saw him last at the Skyway and I was more than a kilometer ahead of him. He was surprised to have caught me and I just told him I was having a bad final 5 kilometers. He offered to run with me,  but I asked him to go ahead as I didn't want to negatively affect his time. He went ahead at 18.5K.

Another problem ensued at the 19K. With 2 kilometers to go, I got hungry! My stomach was grumbling so much that I had to reach for my water  bottle and tried to ease my hunger by drinking water...I was out of liquids! Great!

I walked and ran from KM17 to KM 20. With no water, hungry  and dying legs, I decided to give it a final sprint to the finish after the 20th kilometer. I set my mind to doing this when, out of nowhere, the Takbo.ph support van was in sight, giving out Aktivades, banana and Choco Mucho chocolate bars to Takbo.ph runners. My plan to sprint the last kilometer went kaput as my hunger got the better of me. I munched a bar of Choco Mucho and drank two cups of Aktivade to replenish my energy...then started sprinting for the finish line.

I crossed the line at 2:12, 3 minutes better than my target. Though a bit frustrated, I was in a way happy that I finished the race standing and was able to beat my target time. My average pace for the whole race was 6:14, not my best but good enough for a first 21K.

After crossing the finish line and exchanging pleasantries with friends, I tried to cheer the Takbo.ph members who were not yet finished running. In doing such, I was able to show support to the other runners and realized that I had it better than them. They were happy when they crossed the finish line, I should be as well.

The Condura 21K Marathon is one of the best races I've ran this year. I won't be running anymore until after the Camsur 70.3 Half Ironman Triathlon and this race is a good way to leave marathons for a while.