Yakult 10-miler

As often the case now, this run was just to be part of a longer run that I was going to have yesterday.

Pre-race

Jogged from my place to MOA where I was going to meet Jay (Prometheus Cometh) who was also going to sandwich the 10-miler in a 30km long run. While waiting for him to arrive, continued my jog around the area to avoid myself getting cooled down (it was also a nice cool morning) (Total: 6.29 km).

When Jay arrived, we immediately started our run together and ran around the MOA area. Since we knew that the Yakult 10-miler was a Rudy B. event, the race would be starting on time… the problem was, we didn’t know what time the race was going to start! So nearing 6 am, we decided to run towards the starting line at CCP but when we arrived, we were already 6 minutes late. It was ok though since Jay and I weren’t planning to race but to just do our long run.

Race

The race route was one long stretch that started at CCP, turned right at Roxas Boulevard until just before the Uniwide Mall in Baclaran (1st turn around point). The route then traversed the whole of Roxas all the way to Rizal Park where the 2nd turnaround point was. The finishing stretch was about 3 km of Roxas back to CCP. It was relatively flat all the way except for the “hills” provided by the Buendia and EDSA flyovers, which we had to traverse twice.

The race was well organized as whole stretches of Roxas Boulevard were closed to traffic. Race marshalls were quite abundant and well placed. There were adequate water stations and though the water was provided via the “tabo” system, the water tasted normally… an improvement from last week’s Milo Finals where the water tasted a little bit funky.

After getting checked in, Jay and I proceeded to run at our pace of 5:30-6min/km. Though we started out back, we eventually caught up with the main group just after the EDSA flyover. On our way to the 1st turnaround, we were already meeting the other runners who were already on their way back. It was fun seeing a lot of familiar faces and having the chance to cheer each other on as we passed each other.

Jay and I were able to maintain our pace all throughout the run, but about 2 kilometers from the finish, we decided to pick it up a bit increasing our pace to 5-5:15min/km. Nearing the finish line, we further increased our pace to a sprint, Jay however out sprinted me in the end  😀 (Total: 26.74 km)

At the finish, we were given 1 bottle of Yakult which I drank immediately… big mistake! The sudden influx of sugar, coupled with my suddenly stopping running jolted my system. I felt a little dizzy, and I felt my tummy cramp up a little… it was a good thing it resolved immediately after I lowered my head to heart level. The moral of the story… don’t drink anything too sweet after a run, and don’t suddenly stop running… allow the body to ease into stopping to avoid some complications.

After the run, I was set to do a cooldown jog however when I was beginning to increase my pace, I felt some of the muscle fibers in my hamstrings twitch a little… they were beginning to cramp up! So I had to forego jogging and just decided to walk all the way back to my place. Thus ended my long run for the day (Total for the day: 33.03 km).