It always seems impossible until it’s done. — Nelson Mandela
Over the weekend of March 11, I did what I thought I could never do. I ran 50 kilometers overnight in the All-Women UltraMarathon along the streets and bridges of Cebu.
Completing the race course showed me that what I thought were my limitations were simply all in the mind, and that my body could actually accomplish more, if I wanted it to.
Finishing the long route also demonstrated to my nieces and nephews that hard work does pay off, and it’s not even about the age.
Before this mania for running, I was into several other sports. Running was not even in the list; I hated the idea of pounding endlessly on the road or the track. I was a badminton enthusiast; then I went into mountain biking mainly because my younger brother Romel is an MTBiker and roadbiker. Everytime his group from EDC Leyte came over to Negros Oriental to join races, I would always watch and wait for him at the finish line. I used to just “back ride” with my brothers on the bike before I eventually learned to bike by the time I was 10. Then I realized I could actually go places by biking.
One early dawn at 3am in May 2010, my brother Romel came home and surprised me with a mountain bike that he personally assembled for me.
Then Oliver Devero, Romel’s very close friend, invited me to join ONe Bikers, pedalling through the rough single-track terrains of the mountains of Valencia.
A badminton team mate one time sponsored the Run for your Heart fun run in 2013. And because I wanted to show support for a fund-raiser by a very good friend, I joined the run. I didn’t have any running shoes that time. I ran with my badminton shoes and I paid dearly for it. So I told everyone I knew it was my first and last run ever.
Then I heard about the Thursday Night Runs of the Dumaguete Adventure Runners & Striders (DARS) that are held starting at Portal West. Just five kilometers. Chika run, they call it because it’s short, easy, and talking pace with a group. The schedule was perfect for me, and it would not be under the heat of the sun.
So I bought my first pair of running shoes in November 2013, and started walking and doing slow-jogs.
I realized I actually liked the rhythm. It was another kind of “freedom” to be sweating it out. And so the start of my running streak.
From 5Ks, I have so far run at least 20 half marathons (21 kilometers). The latest was my qualification in the Milo Nationals, after running 2 hours-28 minutes in the eliminations.
Even before I had actually run my first half marathon in the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon in 2014, I was already intrigued by the idea of ultramarathons, and how women like Maripol Tecson, my high school classmate Joyce Solomon, Au-au Yared, and Mercedes Tatel show much strength even after running that long.
I would wonder no end what they must be feeling during the ultra itself. I would think how heavy it must be to raise one foot after the other.
But I continued to believe during my half marathon training that I would want to progress to completing a full marathon, and I also assumed that from there, I’d eventually progress to doing ultras. It was just a matter of time. Besides, the DARS running mommies believed in me that I could also do it even when I was in doubt.
Even now I still find it hard to believe I was one of the 301 runners who joined AWUM. The experience was difficult but it was beautiful.
I had imagined the 50K AWUM would be really hard but as I was trying to complete it, I realized it was way, way harder than I anticipated. Thoughts of being under-trained were crossing my mind. The positive side of me was also reminding me I had logged in more than a hundred kilometers the month before the race, running the dark streets up to Dauin, to the uphills in Isugan/Combado in Bacong, then up to the mountain town of Valencia. It gave me comfort that I did right, and that I could finish based on that training, although far from ideal.
At the starting line, everyone was excited. A woman in her 50s was on her 6th or 7th ultra. A bunch of other ladies, who didn’t necessarily look like super athletes, were just as determined. It was humbling. My fellow DARS and mountain biker Irma Faith Pal and I were swapping positive vibes, recalling how we would conquer the long distances on those late-night training runs. I knew I was surrounded by people attempting to hurdle the extremely difficult. What a night it was.
The hydration stations set up along the 50-km. route were a huge help. They had cold water, Pocari Sweat, Gatorade, Coke, red wine (even vodka and tequila), meat balls, lechon baka, chocolates, bananas, grapes, watermelons, boiled eggs, even humba! In one station, they were filling up my water bottle while I ate roast beef.
And the volunteers — mostly the ultra running teams in Cebu — were extremely helpful and caring, giving us back massages, liniments on our tired legs and shoulders, and even red lipstick and a rose in the last kilometer to make us look good at the finish line.
At many points especially after 22 kilometers, it was just tempting to simply give in to the urge to quit, go home to a warm bath, go to bed so the hurting will stop. You see, when one is exhausted, the mental discipline is at its lowest. I just continuously felt these negative but powerful urge, and let them go. Repeatedly for the next six hours or so.
Resisting the pain just made it worse. When my shins and knees started to hurt, I noticed that my entire body would tense up. The paradox: when I allowed myself to surrender to the pain, it actually made me feel better and relaxed. Surrender, let go, relax became my mantra.
Each step I took especially in the last eight kilometers, I would remember what my younger brother Romel advised me: Listen to your body.
When the finish line started to show up in the horizon, my life for me just became more precious. God gives us more that we bargain for. There’s a huge reserve of determination in us that we don’t normally maximize. And we may not realize it until we are put to a test, like setting out to complete an ultramarathon.
If I learned anything from this race, it’s that we should all put ourselves to the test to be able to discover our true self.
I’m sure we all have different reasons for running endurance races; for me, it’s to challenge myself and see what I’m capable of. Now I know I am up to the task, and was able to conquer such challenge.
I look back three years ago when I was merely running three kilometers once in seven days. This time God allowed me to run 50 kilometers in about seven hours. You can imagine how excited I am to find out what God will allow me to do next.
