A few weeks ago, I had set my short term goal of having a 10km PR run during the DocFit run this morning… and guess what… I did it! Set a new PR today! My unofficial time is 47:44, 40 seconds faster than my time of 48:24 during the Runnex@25 (same course as DocFit) run 3 weeks ago. My average pace was 4:47min/km.
Since I wanted this to be my PR run, I tried to make sure I was able to apply everything I’ve learned so far to make this a perfect race. I slept early, woke up early. Ate breakfast, arrived early enough at UP Diliman, did a warm-up jog prior to the race, and entered the starting line about a minute just before the start of the race…. So did this turn out to be a perfect race? Well, it was a great race… but perfect? Definitely not! As it turns out, I still learned a lot from this race which I know I can use to further improve myself for future runs.
- my body notices “subtle” weight changes – the past week, I had been over indulging myself. I had been eating pizza and other fastfood almost daily last week. When I weighed myself when I woke up this morning, I was surprised to see I was 2 kg over my usual running weight. No wonder I’ve been feeling heavy, and sleepier the past few days. I know 2kgs may not seem much, but surprisingly, I feel my body complain. This is most notable when I went on my runs last week when I noticed my knees tended to ache more as compared to previous weeks, to think I was only doing easy runs this week! This however is a good thing since I’ve been made aware of the symptoms that would warn me when I overindulge
- Pocari sweat does not taste like sweat – this was the drink given away at the end of the race. It was the first time I got to taste this sports drink, and as it turns out, it doesn’t have any taste. It wasn’t carbonated and I didn’t taste any flavoring. It went down smoothly and it was also quite refreshing. I guess I’ll have to try this drink during my runs so I can compare it to the other available drinks so I can determine which I would prefer to lug around during my runs/marathon.
- I still lack a consistent sprint finish – I was planning to sprint the last 800 meters of the race, but when I got to that point, I just couldn’t. I was able to increase my pace a bit, but not enough for it be considered a sprint. I guess I was a little winded from running at a fast pace at the early part of the race that I didn’t have any left during the end. This just means I have to do more sprint/interval runs so I can condition my brain and legs so they will be able to suddenly go into a sustainable sprint mode when needed. I also have to do more leg work-outs to help strengthen my muscles so they would be more able to support me when I go into sprint mode. If I was able to sprint, just maybe… I would have been able to have a better PR time than what I ended up with.
It was a run made tough by trying to maintain my target pace of 4:48min/km, which I’m glad I was able to do. It was also great meeting other runners. I met BaldRunner while we were doing warm-ups prior to the race, I met MarkFB just before checking in, I met Dr./councilor Doray (who won 1st place in her 10km category) at the end of the race, and I met RunMD during the awarding ceremonies. I also got to see PassionRunner, the BullRunner, transitionzero, and other runners I usually see during weekend runs. In addition, I had some friends (Pats, DB, Lims) who ran their 1st 5km race today, and the best part is, they ended up winning awards for their respective categories! Congratulations to you guys! Hopefully this will entice you to really take up running as a sport.
The course measured to be 9.98 km (according to my garmin), which is kind of weird since Runnex measured at 9.83 km. I don’t remember the DocFit course being any different from Runner… so where’d the extra 100 meters come from? I assume I probably ran the outside course this time as compared to Runnex, hence the extra distance…
Once again, it was a very well organized run, congratulations to Coach Rio, and many thanks to the Philippine Heart Association for sponsoring this run, and especially for having a separate category for MDs. By the way, my time of 47:44 was good enough for 2nd place in the 10 km category for MDs, netting me some cash, and a very nice looking glass trophy! Hope this will become an annual event in the years to come!
(with RunMD — the guy behind me wearing an orange shirt – CONGRATS! — at the awarding ceremonies)
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