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| KM 00. |
KM 00 -- KM 17: Quiet, Steady Start
Memes requested a pitstop once every two kilometers initially, and we gladly obliged. Jill and I took the first shift; we're night owls and were both wide awake. Memes took on a steady pace that was slower than his usual full marathon pace. He took one gel and alternated water, Gatorade, and Pocari, and took an occasional slice of banana or a handful of chips (for sodium).The first part of the race was quiet and uneventful; little did we know what was in store for us next.
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| Support crew member, ANR Ortigas Coach Drew. It was this dark! |
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| Memes' "throne": a director's chair that Jill had brought along for the ride :) |
I admit I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to car maintenance and repair; apparently, for the first eighteen kilometers, I was carrying out a mortal sin: leaving my car headlights on with the engine off. After our pitstop at KM 18, the car suddenly seized to start, no matter how many times I attempted to ignite the engine, and we realized the car's battery was drained. My hands went cold and my heart sank; we were in the middle of nowhere, it was late (past midnight), the gas stations and other establishments were closed, and my car was an automatic Innova, meaning pushing the car wouldn't help it to start. In Jill's words, we were doomed.
I knew I couldn't forgive myself if Memes DNF'd (a running term which stands for "did not finish") because of my clumsiness. I immediately called Ron in Manila and asked him to search on the Internet for any battery supply or charging stations in the vicinity of Bataan. Drew called Allan, a friend of ours supporting runner Ronnel Go along with another friend Hendy. Drew asked Allan to look out for Memes for the meantime if they happened to see him. I tried calling the emergency number the organizers left, but the woman who answered snapped and told me it was not her business if our car wouldn't start.
Jill was the most level-headed of us; she grabbed a bag of supplies including water, Gatorade, and some food, and headed off to search for a way she could catch up with Memes. Eventually, we found out that she hitched on a bus (they didn't charge her, wow) until she found Memes, and hitched with the Team Ok-Ok Runners so she could continue to provide Memes with his hydration and supplies. Wow!
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| Thank you Kamote Runners and Ok-Ok Runners! |
Meanwhile on our end, we finally found the tail of the convoy: a sweeper ambulance carrying a couple of soldiers who had apparently been deployed to check the area and ensure there were no runners or support crew vehicles left behind. They took a look at our battery and told us that the truck they were riding in was too big, if another car would be willing to lend their battery, they could try to jump start our engine so it could run again. Eventually we came across the support crew of Brandy Simbe, another runner. The crew was composed of members of Team CB led by Jimmy, whom I know from ANR Ortigas, and Drew asked if we could borrow their battery in an attempt to jump start my car's engine. Jimmy told us they wanted to help, but they would have to ask for the permission of Brandy, since the car was his, and come back to us. As they sped off to meet Brandy, we could do nothing but pray they would be back at the soonest time.
They held true to their promise; after a few more minutes we caught a glimpse of their headlights which were like a ray of hope (sorry for the pun, but that was really how it felt). The soldiers did a bit of mechanical work (which I really need to learn, I think), and after a few more moments of praying and holding my breath, they told me to try to start my engine again and it finally sprung back to life! I knew the worst was over; I let out an enormous sigh of relief. After offering the soldiers food and thanking Jimmy and his fellow support crew members again and again, we sped off to look for Memes and Jill. We called Jill and met up with her, then finally joined Memes for an ecstatic reunion at around KM 28. Later he told us he was already feeling a bit hopeless when Jill had suddenly appeared to give him water and a short explanation of what had happened on our end.
Can I just say, the camaraderie of the running community is just amazing!
KM 28 -- KM 60: Second Wind
After the dramatic reunion we went on cruising along the road again. I felt incredibly awake and refused Hapi's offer to take over the driving. I told the others to get rest. Since it was really dark we almost got lost a few times; I for one was always glad each time we saw the original Bataan Death March's commemorative markers, because this assured us that we were on the right track. We eventually saw some of the runners we knew, like Irene, Doc Art, and Marvin to name a few.
At around KM 42 I closely monitored Memes' time. His time was nowhere his 42km/full marathon PR, but his pace was consistent and he was still strong, showing absolutely no signs of fatigue.
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| Memes, say "Aahhh..." |
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| Thank you, Six:30! |
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| Daybreak! |
KM 60+: Newfound Friend
At around KM 60, Memes told us that his legs were started to feel a bit tired, but he couldn't stop since stopping might trigger his cramps. By the time the bright sun had eradicated the darkness, it started to get really hot, and Memes decided to change into his red singlet. At around KM 60 or so, we came across Team CB member Randy, who I met a few times also during ANR Ortigas sessions. He had been on relatively the same pace as Memes since after the car had stalled. He explained to us that he had overtaken his support crew, who was supporting more than one runner. We told him he could get hydration and food from us since he and Memes were running at pretty much the same speed anyway. It was helpful having Randy around, too; he was familiar with the BDM 102 route, which despite the kodigos and written directions we'd printed proved to be very confusing.
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| With Ultra Memi and Ultra Randy! |
Memes asked to change into his Asics at this time, which was no problem since he didn't seem to have blisters anyway. Later, I would discover that Memes had actually changed shoes because his feet were already hurting; prior to the race, he was actually suffering from plantar fasciitis (incidentally, this was the same injury that had bogged me down during my own first full marathon), and didn't want us to worry. Aww.
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| Shoe change! |
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| Cheerleader mode! |
Last Stretch (Third Wind?)
Soon after it started to drizzle, and weird weather as it was, everyone was thankful since by then it had started to get sunny and really hot. Memes and Randy started to employ the Galloway method (run-walk) to conserve energy. Their pace had decreased a bit, but they were still fine with pitstops every two kilometers. There was absolutely no question about them beating the cutoff, but it was getting hotter and hotter so we tried to motivate them by telling them to beat the sun and heat. Though truth be told, apart from starting to really sweat because of the blistering sun, they didn't look tired at all!
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| KM 97. Last five kilometers! |
When we finally got to KM 101, I told Memes and Randy there was only one kilometer and asked them if they could sprint to the finish line, and they gladly obliged. We were also happy; our runners were almost at the end of their journey!
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| Last few hundred meters! |
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| Sprint to the finish. You can actually see the finishline! |
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| Memes at the finish line with Sir Jovie, aka Baldrunner :) |
Upon reaching the finish line we discovered that Memes and Randy were 44th and 45th to finish, respectively. They had overtaken many runners in the last stretch of the race!
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| Memes, at the KM 102 marker, with his medal and trophy :) |
The finish line was the most festive I've ever seen. Sure, there were no balloons or promo booths, there was no bubblegum pop music, nor was there confetti or free Gatorade, but the exhausted exhilaration on the faces of the finishers was unlike those I've seen in any running event.
We couldn't stay for long, to wait for everyone we knew though; Memes was exhausted and all of us were famished. We congratulated the runners around, boarded the car, and drove again, until we got to a place called Holiday Land in San Fernando, Pampanga, where we had unlimited food and iced tea for P160! The food wasn't fabulous but the halo-halo, kare-kare, balot ala pobre, and other dishes were enough for us to call it a feast after almost twenty-four hours of travel and running/support.
Out of the blue, we talked about whether Memes would want to run again in 2013. His answer was an almost resolute yes; whether he wanted to do BDM 102 or the 100-miler (160km) event, he didn't know, but he was almost certain he wanted to return.
So Mariveles, does that mean I shall see you again in a year's time? :)
NOTE: Again, thanks to Team CB, Six:30, Team Ok-Ok Runners, Team Kamote Runners, and the soldier-sweepers for all the help. I don't know what we would've done without all of you!
