My first half marathon

The night before the race
I was excited, I couldn't wait for it to be race day. Had an early dinner, 3 huge slices of pizza from Extremely Espresso. Oh, I shouldn't have eaten so much...



Prepared my race stuff so I wouldn't have to deal with it the next day.

• FuelBelt in fridge: 2 flasks filled with Gatorade, 2 flasks with PowerBar Gel (strawberry banana) mixed with water
  
• pinned race bib to shirt
  
• laid out race outfit/paraphernalia on the chaise, ready to go
  
• post race bag packed with sunblock, lipbalm, an extra shirt, Protein Water and a cell phone
  
• set alarm to 3:50am

Was asleep by 10pm. Woken up by a good luck text message at around 11:15pm. My room was freezing, reached for the a/c remote but couldn't find it. Too lazy to get up to adjust the temperature, I endured the cold. It took a while for me to sleep again, but when I did, I slept like a log.

Race day
Woke up a few minutes before 4am, a quick breakfast of graham crackers and water, applied sunblock, dressed and out the door by 4:20am. Was at the starting line 10min later to find out that the 5am start time was for the 42K only. The 21K, 10K, 5K and 3K all started at 6am. The organizers should have arranged for graduated start times, i.e. 5:30am for 21K, 6am for 10K...



Per my watch, the gun went off at 5:52am and off we all went like salmon swimming upstream. I went slow and easy the entire way, even through the hills, stopping occasionally for water breaks and to take pictures of the scenery and what not.



Driving around the course the day before, the hills looked long and deadly, but in actuality it wasn't so. Of the course's hilliest area, between miles 6-8, the inclines were gradual and the descents forgiving. Slowly and surely I went, one step at a time, confident that my "hill" training around Ultra and Green Meadows prepared me for this!

I have a lot of respect for the poor marathoners ahead of us who ran much hillier hills on the way to Ocean Adventure. Hopefully, the scenery made it less painful for them.



Near the turnaround point, we were greeted by a flock of flying black birds overhead. I heard one person was even gifted with droppings, maybe to bring him luck.



By mile 10, my legs were heavy and slowing down. But I knew I could keep going for another 30 minutes or so. From miles 12-13, I stepped it up a bit hoping for a good finish. I kept going and going, but there was no sign of the finish line. I couldn't sustain the pace any longer so at mile 13.85, I began to walk. Argh! I wanted to run the entire race, but my legs felt like it was about to buckle at any time. Finally, Remy Field was in sight, but we kept on going and going, we past it, then went around the block. As soon as I entered the field, I started to run to the finish line. When I crossed it, I felt light, like I was soaring. I was still a bit grumpy though about the distance.



Saw a few friends who finished way ahead of me and yet congratulated me. Sure, we're a competitive lot, but the nice thing about runners is that we support and encourage one another.



My Stats
Distance:  14.75mi (Garmin)
                15.85mi (Nike+, needs recalibration)
Official Time:  2:36:05
Placement:  54.9%  (1040 out of 1895 runners)

Visit the Subic Marathon website to view the complete race results.

Avg Pace:  10:43/mi
Avg Speed:  5.6mph
Max Speed:  8.6mph

Calories:  1416

Avg Heart Rate:  174 bpm
Max Heart Rate:  186 bpm

Ascent:  2176 ft
Descent:  2246 ft



I'd like to commend the organizers, the PNP, and all the volunteers for a job well done. It was easy going from the get go. A few nits to pick however:

• Inaccurate distance for the half marathon ~ we ran 23.67km instead of 21km. Had I known it was going to be this long, I would have conserved my energy for a much stronger finish.
  
• The 21K should have started 30min earlier. The sun was hot and blinding by 7:30am.
  
• A couple more water stations along the way would have been perfect. I was so parched way before the finish line, even with the extra 32 ounces of liquid I brought with me.
  
• No one knew exactly where the baggage check-in counter was.

I'm so proud of all the runners out there! And for the marathoners, wow, I am so in awe of you guys.