When my friend James "Memes" Escasinas first expressed his desire to run in the well-known BDM 102 (Bataan Death March) Ultramarathon, I was probably the first person to pledge my support along with my trusty Innova. Memes is one of my dearest friends, and I'd previously been the driver/support during his first ultramarathon (T2N, which started in Tagaytay, Cavite and ended in Nasugbu, Batangas). My friends and I had no trouble at all getting him through the 50 km back then, and I looked forward to getting Memes across the finish line the biggest race of his life thus far.
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| Memories of T2N 50k, where Memes placed #13 with a time of 5:05. |
For those who are unfamiliar with it, BDM 102 is one of the most prestigious local running events during which participants run a 102-kilometer course that begins in Mariveles, Bataan and ends in San Fernando, Pampanga to commemorate the original Bataan Death March during World War II. Runners are required to have their vehicles carrying their own support crew who will provide them with their hydration, food, and medical supplies during the quest to attain the much sought-after BDM commemorative trophy and medal. This year it was held on March 3-4, 2012, starting at 10:15 PM with a cutoff time of 18 hours.
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| The coveted trophy and medal. |
More than a month before the race, Memes had been contemplating on whether to push through with the event knowing he was undertrained. Memes and I are both active members of the Happy Ortigas Team (HOT) Runners, but many of us had significantly lessened our mileage after our last running event, the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, due to the busy holiday season. But knowing he'd already signed up and paid, Memes decided to go through with it anyway, with Condura Skyway Marathon as his longest run prior to the event.
Since there were two other events held that weekend, namely the Ateneo Aquathlon and Leg 1 of Run United (the Runrio Trilogy), forming a dependable support crew was not that easy. Finally, two weeks before the event, our support crew of five members dubbed "Team Memi" was completed, consisting of me, Mich (who'd supported Memes during T2N with me), Jill (everybody's favorite "mom"), Drew (team leader of AdiNation of Runners - Ortigas), and Hapi (a very good friend who's such a night owl so he's perfect for overnight events). Our friend Ron couldn't come as he had a family event, but he pledged support and took care of logistics and many of the supplies we need for the trip.
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| Team Memi, fresh and ready to go! (Not in picture: Ron, who took this shot) |
Memes met us on March 2, the day before we had to leave, to discuss our support plan and plans for the weekend, and the following day we met at mid-afternoon to depart for Mariveles, Bataan. It was a long trip; I dropped by for everyone in their respective areas and before 6 PM we were on our way to Mariveles. The trip was noisy and fun; Memes was slightly nervous but could still joke around. He was also partly in jitters because this would be the first event he would run without the aid of MP3's, since these were banned following an accident that happened during BDM 160 in January.
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| Supplies! |
We didn't anticipate that the trip was going to be that long; we arrived at the venue only about an hour before the 10:15 PM gunstart. The air was less heavy than I expected. I came across some of the runners and support crew members I knew and wished them luck, but most of the time we were focused on taking pictures and preparing Memes for the race.
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| In solemn prayer. |
At around 9:30 PM Memes headed for the starting line. After national anthems (since there were international participants), prayers, and more pictures, the gun fired. We got the car ready and we were off!
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