Milo Marathon Manila Eliminations 2013

To qualify for the Milo Marathon Finals has been my goal since I started running marathons. I first ran in the Manila Eliminations in 2011 and finished 9 minutes short of my qualifying time.

I trained again for the 2012 eliminations but got injured a month before the marathon so I decided not to do it. Getting injured made me gain weight so this year, I decided to lose weight and train at the same time. This meant joining a body competition and seeing a nutritionist to help me do that. I looked for a marathon training program online and enrolled in the Milo Apex Running School (MARS) a training program for runners preparing for the Milo marathon. I had to tweak my running program to harmonize with the MARS training.

The training was for around 3 months and I enjoyed it a lot. The week before the marathon I was advised by my coach to take multivitamins for 10 days. I followed coach and I felt the effect of the multivitamins the day I started taking it. I was restless and always hungry! I also did not take caffeine for a week so I guess it made me hungrier and crave for food more.

The race was this morning. I came to the event early and stayed with my fellow MARS graduates during warm up. We went to the starting line and after a few minutes we started running. I ran full speed on my first 21K. My speed I think was not less than 5 minutes per kilometer.

While running, friends would greet me shouting “go Kuya Kit!” or “go Kit!” These are the people who knew I was aiming for a 3:40 finish time. I noticed a runner who has the same pace with me overtake me several times then he would look back at me. I would always catch up with him though. “Ang bilis mo pala Kuya Kim!” He told me at one point. “Hindi po Kim ang pangalan ko, Kit po.” I responded smiling. He thought I was this popular celebrity who does weather on TV.

There were a lot of times when I was tempted to walk but I told myself – “You promised to do your best, walking is not doing your best!” I kept repeating that until I reached kilometer 21. My time was 1:46 at the 21K mark. I was doing fine until we had to go to Bonifacio Global City. That was when my legs started to cramp. I started walking but tried my best to run as much as I could.

I reached Buendia kilometer 37 still running mostly but my brain was telling me – “you can’t make it!” “No, I will only stop when I reach the finish line!” I kept telling myself. “If I don’t reach my goal, then I still have 10 minutes to qualify. If I don’t qualify, then a PR would be a good consolation.” Yeah I was talking to myself in the last 5K.

“20 minutes to qualify coach!” That was what I told Toel when I saw him 2 kilometers from the finish line. He ran with me pushing me to do my best. I walked, and ran as far as I could with the cramps slowing me down. I saw the finish line and I checked the time. I still can qualify! So I ran as fast as I could screaming with happiness I finished after 3 hours and 48 minutes! That was a new PR for me and it is 2 minutes faster than my qualifying time!

I am so happy I am tired but I can’t sleep!