I woke up at around 6:30am on the 16th of December still feeling the “runner’s high”, and having that smile in my face knowing that I actually conquered the Negros Oriental 102-km UltraMarathon.
After a while, I felt stiffness and aches all over my legs, feet, and some parts of my body, then I smiled again like crazy thinking that the pain is only temporary but the memory of my 102-km journey is forever; and that I can share it with my two daughters when they are old enough to understand about running, and hopefully, to my future grandchildren.
I run for myself, and not for anyone else. I run for experience, and not for any accolades. I run to be part of something special.
For me, the 102-km ultramarathon is very special since it was the first organized event in Negros Oriental that included more than 65 kms of running.
When I knew about the event, I was thinking then I had to join the race because this is our opportunity to run 100 kms right in our own backyard. I was also thinking I had to train much much more because of the distance of the event.
At first, whenever a fellow runner approached me to ask if I were joining the 100k event, I would hesitantly answer that it would depend on my training. But deep inside, I really wanted to join the run, even if I lacked training at that time.
Then, Maripol “Puying Tecson posted in the DARS Facebook page the ultramarathon training program. I just smiled. Can I do it?!
But since I really wanted to do it, I tried to religiously follow the training program; there were times when I was behind my weekly mileage requirement.
So almost everyday, I would call my running idols Paul Bael or his son John Paul so I can join them in their early morning runs. I needed to be motivated, and I noticed that I can push myself to run longer when I run with others than when I run alone.
I also practiced holding a small bottled mineral water so that I will be accustomed to it during the race.
The training plan was very hard that even if I ate my regular meals and snacks a day, I would easily lose weight; I had to start eating more because my wife warned me my eyes seemed to be getting bigger than my face. I would eat anything and everything, but if I could help it, I stayed away from fatty foods because it would upset my stomach on my morning runs, especially in the longer runs.
Finally, the day of the 102-km event came. Since the event was going to start at 5pm, I tried to get some power sleep at around 1pm but I could not. So I just checked all my gears for the event, my power bars, power gels, and water. Then I just waited for the time to pass until it was 3:30pm before I went to the Capitol Area for the gunstart.
At first, I felt a bit nervous, and then I saw familiar faces, and talked to some fellow runners. I had not planned on who I was going to run with during the long long run, but I was really thinking it would be nice as it is important to have a running partner. So initially, I was running with fellow DARS runners Joyce Solomon, Arsuel Jocson, Edman Manaban, and Harold Pinero. We ran at a pace of about 7:30 mins per km. I just maintained the pace until there was just me and Joyce running together all the way to Siaton where the highway is very dark.
Whenever I needed to stop, I would ask Joyce if she could also stop. Since we had our support vehicle with us most of the time, we would refill our drinks, and eat anytime we wanted to, or apply some mixed menthol solutions on our aching legs.
During the ran, four of my six gels apparently fell off — which worried me a bit since I had practiced using the gels during the training. Fortunately, Joyce had extra power gels which she willingly shared with me.
During the run, Joyce and I would just share jokes and laugh out load, just to pass the time and the fatigue. But of course, you cannot be telling jokes for the next 17 hours, so we also had some serious talk about our family and kids, how to deal with tantrums of my six-year-old, and what our kids love to do.
Once in a while, tired legs and pains would creep in. To “block” the pain, I would envision the finish line, and how I would be feeling crossing it — until I can no longer mentally block the pain. That’s when I just suck it up, and feel it like a man.
After running about 86 kilometers somewhere in Siaton, the cool air was starting to disappear, and the heat was starting to threaten us. The breeze was still a bit cold so it was still nice to run. Then I started to feel the pain from the blisters on my left foot. I noticed that a small black cloth was coming out at the side of my left shoe. At first I thought it was my socks, then I realized, it was the lining of my insole that was already protruding and causing the blisters!
But again, I just sucked up the pain and blocked it again. I noticed that if I continuously ran, I do not feel the pain of the blisters. So I decided to just run even if it was very slow. And when I could no longer run, I really did have to walk, and walk with pain I did.
There were times we would just stop to sit down and raise our legs, thinking it would ease some of our pain but apparently, it did not help any.
By the time we reached Sta. Catalina, we were really feeling the heat. It was 10am afterall. I even felt that one of my toenails just fell off; I just continued until Km 99 when I felt something very painful. I thought that the toenail that fell off got stuck on my other toe! So I decided to remove my shoe and socks to check it out but fortunately, all of my toenails were happily hanging on tough.
I still had to check what was causing my pain: my blisters had just burst. But it was only three kms. left, I was telling myself: I should be able to do this!
I jogged-walk until one of the marshals directed me to the finish line. I could hardly believe I had actually arrived that all the tiredness and pain I had felt just 15 minutes before that were all gone and replaced by a big smile.
I continue to think about it to this day, and it never fails to give me a big smile.
Thank you to certified ultramarathon addict Joyce Solomon for accompanying in this run. (Atty. Oscar “Jhong” Bokingkito II)
