The first marathon clinic organized in the Philippines was the Johnson & Johnson Band Aid Family Marathon Clinic held every Sunday morning in 1981 at the Quezon Memorial Circle. Race director was Jose “Jun” V. Castro, who was appointed later as commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission. I was the clinic’s training director, and later joined Castro as PSC chair.
That marathon clinic was patterned after the pioneering running program, the Honolulu Marathon Clinic, started and inspired by Dr. Jack Scaff’s “ground-breaking research in helping cardiac patients get back to productive lives…The Honolulu Marathon Clinic has made it possible for middle aged, sedentary, non running people to learn how to compete in a marathon without being intimidated by the elite.”
The clinic at Quezon Memorial Circle that we started became the model to what is now known as the “golden years of running” in the Philippines. That time saw international running personalities like Dr. Scaff; Katherine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon and who subsequently ran 35 marathons; Bill Rogers, renowned for winning both the esteemed Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon four times each between 1974 to 1980; and Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany, two-time Olympic marathon gold medalist, coming to the Philippines to celebrate with us the “running boom” that gripped the whole world.
An achievement of our clinic which was never duplicated in any other similar program in the Philippines was our success in making Jun Espejo, the first and only Filipino cardiac patient to ever run and complete a full 42.195 kilometer marathon.
When I came to Dumaguete City in December of 2005, and upon the suggestion of Jack Washington, I gave a briefing on marathon clinics to members of the Metro Dumaguete Roadrunners Club, telling them about my experiences in running.
A major race held as an offshoot of our Sunday clinics was the “Rice is Life Leandro Sinco Challenge Races” in July 2006 as part of FU’s founder’s day festivities.
Reading Irma Faith Pal’s account of Negrenses enthusiastic and joyful involvement in road running made me nostalgic about my past in organizing running events, and inspired me to share some thought with those who are now into running.
When you take up running, you must have an idea what you want to be: a recreational and social runner, or a competitive runner. There is a big difference between the two which I think some members of DARS are still not clear about.
For one, incorporating some fartlek and interval workouts is unnecessary in the training regimen of recreational runners–but are valuable to seasoned runners who want to run faster and be able to compete. Please note the word seasoned which refers to runners who have been running extensively for one year or more, as opposed to beginners or non-competitive runners.
Irma also made reference to a member of DARS “who can rattle off the exact finish time of her fellow runners…to help push them.” To me, this is a recipe for trouble, meaning courting injury, and it is wise to take to heart the advice given by running experts that training for road running, or any kind of athletic training for that matter, should be injury-free.
I have three rules for injury-free running: First, forget about your personal best [time]. I advise recreational runners not to be overly-concerned about their personal records of finishing races, and there are several reasons why I think this is worth-practicing.
Road running routes, unlike an official track oval, are not standardized. A 10K route around Dumaguete is different from that in Tanjay or Amlan due to terrain and condition of the roads.
There are also diurnal variations, time of day, temperature, and the kind of weather when the run is made.
But most of all, running a race is like making love. No two acts are the same. And in the course of doing them, if you keep thinking about turning in a PB, you will be so stressed and focused on something else, and completely miss the fun and enjoyment of the event. So I do not encourage recreational and fun runners to be overly mindful of their finishing time.
What I advise road runners to do during a race is to enjoy the scenery, regale each other with stories, savor the camaraderie and conviviality of the moment, be watchful of those who seem to be struggling and having a hard time, and as one DARS runner put it, “(experience) the feeling that each runner is genuinely concerned for the leveling-up of each other.”
That’s beautiful and well put. How can you put this to practice? When you see some runners having a hard time, stay with them, shepherd them to the finish line. And you can only do this if you stop thinking about your PBs.
The second rule for injury-free running is, “Run long, not fast.” This means that running for a longer period of time, a minimum of one-hour per training session is better and safer than running for 30 minutes at a fast pace.
If you sustain a long duration of running, time will come when you will be running faster because of increased stamina. Speed and running faster will come naturally as you develop greater aerobic endurance. Consciously speeding up your pace could cause injury–and is unnecessary.
Corollary to this, the third rule, is the mileage logged per week, or prior to the event that you are training for. For distances of 10 kilometers and below, if you run for one hour three to four times a week, log about 15 to 20 kilometers per week, and sustain an even and easy, relaxed pace on race day, you will comfortably finish the distance. Six to nine months of sustained training and logging about 80 to 100 kms. per week should be an adequate workload to finish a full marathon.
I tell runners that the valuable part of road running is not the race itself but the discipline, patience, personal sacrifice, fortitude, and courage that one has to endure to be able to run your first 10K, the half-marathon, the three-quarter marathon, and finally, the ultimate challenge of the full 42K marathon.
So as not to miss a single training session, one makes personal sacrifices and self-denial, waking up early at dawn in all kinds of weather, enduring the agony of the first part of the training run while waiting for the relief that the “second wind” brings, and consciously avoiding foods which are deemed inappropriate for a person in-training.
If you train safely and prudently, you will approach the starting line full of confidence, and the knowledge that no matter what happens, you will finish the race. And each time that you cross the finish line, experience the exhilaration that only the “joy of effort” can bring.
I have run several races in my life. From distances of 200 to 400 meters in the Tokyo 1958 Asian Games where I won a bronze medal; to 10Ks, half-marathons, and full marathons. I never suffered any serious injury.
I followed the sound advice of a renowned running doctor: “Each one is an experiment of one.”
I am making sure, up to now at age 74, that as I do my morning walks that enabled me to complete recently a 10.5K quarter marathon, the experiment is safe and ensures for me a long and healthy life as I go about performing my vocation as a teacher.
I understand there are now about 148 members of DARS. That’s an interesting 148 experiments — the results of which will be known several years from now.
