Half-Marathoner, finally! (aka Adidas King of the Road 2010)

It's been a week but I'm still rather euphoric over my first 21k race at the Adidas King of the Road.  Being someone who used to join races for the after-run breakfasts, and remembering all the times when I'd curse about the mere thought having to get up at the unholy hour of 4 AM, it amuses me how much has changed since my first 5km race back in March 2009; back then I never would have imagined running would become the "in thing" it has become today.

Memories of my running debut: the Men's Health 10,000km Miracle Run (L-R: Mike, Janine, Boyet, Xander, Byron, Me)

Our then-little running group's first post-run breakfast at Something Fishy (Eastwood)!

Back then, it took really pretty singlets to lure me into having to wake up uber early on Sunday mornings  (though I did run Kenny's Urbanite).  It didn't help that my first 10k during the King of the Road in 2009 resulted in my first running injury -- a knee injury that had help me back from reaching maximum workout capacity for months and that caused me to lie low on high-impact exercises.

After Adidas King of the Road in 2009. Okay, so it's not that obvious in this picture, since we're all smiles, but my knee was hurt pretty badly here and my calves had me wincing in pain.

When I started running I never thought I'd eventually be joining a running group (i.e., the AdiNation of Runners -- or aNR -- Ortigas Chapter) running at least once a month, much less did I expect I would be registering for my first half-marathon more than a year later, during the anniversary of first 10k and first knee injury, no less!  At first I was having my doubts, but I had the bliss of having PR'd my Camsur 10k rushing through my veins, peer pressure, as well as the my kabaratan coupled with the outrageous P850-regardless-of-distance registration fee to thank for giving me the courage to take on my first pikermi (21k run).

This is one medal I really trained and worked for.

Pre-race, I have no complaints.  The registration process was smooth; my friend Xander registered me for the race as soon as the Adidas outlet opened on the day they'd replenished their outlets with 21k kits (since we were in Camsur the week before and they'd run out of 21k kits then).  We got the race kits immediately, thus avoiding the lines and the chaos like we'd experienced while claiming race kits for King of the Road 2009.  And yes, the singlet is black and rather plain, but it gives anyone wearing it a distinct athletic look.

Thumbs up on both accounts; Adidas has been holding this race annually for years now, and running has been so in-the-vogue lately, most people considered it only natural to think they would have the experience (and the budget) to cater to runners' needs.  But apparently that wasn't the case in other aspects of the race.

First, Bayani Road was under repair.  While this is of course beyond Adidas' control, it would have helped to segregate the 10k and 21k runners a bit, especially in areas such as this.  The convergence of 10k and 21k runners reduced me and everyone passing certain areas to walking even, which might be good if you're looking forward to a bit of rest but not when you're all hyped up.

Sorry, no pictures of Bayani Road. This is a picture of me on the Buendia Flyover courtesy of the Greentennial Run Facebook page. This was only one of the areas where it was pretty difficult to speed up because there were too way too many runners.

Second, there was just not enough water.  It's a good thing that I'm quite a paranoid person; I let no water station pass during the first half of the race, which is probably why I was properly hydrated when I got past the 15th kilometer.  I got a bit annoyed when I learned the water and Powerade had run out, but not everyone was as paranoid as I'd been.  A friend of mine decided to pick up a used bottle of water from the ground when she reached that point, and another friend practically saw stars because he'd gotten dehydrated.

Third, when Adidas had initially announced the cost of registration, quite a few people were outraged.  P850 for a race that had cost P550 the previous year?  Online posts and marketing materials tried to justify the cost of registration, promising a "buffet breakfast" after the run.  Apparently, for them a "buffet breakfast" means cold hotdog and cold egg served in styrofoam coupled with a banana (that was what we got in exchange for the  "meal stubs" attached to our race bibs).  Classy.

Fourth, although they used the RFID timing device for the race, there were no splits.  Any runner who was feeling a bit lazy that day could have taken a shortcut and his/her time would still have been recorded as a 21k finish as long as he/she started at the starting line and ended at the finish line.  It could have helped to use at least the old-fashioned strings to make sure the runners had gone through the entire route.  Besides, I find it helpful to know my splits.  I finished two minutes short of my target time, and I would have wanted to find out which part of the race slowed me down.

Several booths were set up to provide runners with freebies (like frozen yogurt!) and tests to enjoy and try out after the race, but lines were looong, so my friends and I decided to drop by the aNR Ortigas registration to camwhore a bit instead.

The Adination of Runners - Ortigas Chapter photowall! (L-R: Ron, James, Me, and Drew.)

Many people felt outraged about the lack of hydration and getting cheated out of their "buffet breakfast," but apparently I was semi-oblivious to these thanks to the gush of endorphins.  In fact, thanks to all the excitement, I ended up forgetting my buffet breakfast somewhere.

Our group poses with Coach Rio dela Cruz.  Notice I'm still wearing my knee support -- never running without one again! (L-R: Ron, Me, Tita Mel, Boyet, Noel, Jaymee, Jong, Gigay, Charlz, Mich, and I believe James took this picture.)

Perhaps the steep fee was hardly justified in terms of the technical aspects of the race, but I for one was simply happy to have survived the race scath free.  Well, I will admit "scath free" is not entirely true; I was victim to blisters that slowed me down during the second half of the race, my calves hurt like hell the day after, and had I not been wearing my ever-reliable knee support -- which I'd worn on the wrong knee the first five kilometers by the way -- I would probably have crossed the finish line cursing or crying.  But the price of being able to bask in the feeling of having accomplished my first half-marathon was worth it.