The First 10K

Finally, the wait is over... TODAY is the RACE DAY!

I woke up at 4am after a mere 3 hours of sleep, showered and got ready for the race: my heart fluttering with excitement and dare I admit, a bit of fear of not being able to complete the 10K. There was reason to be fearful. Hell, I haven't run more than 5.4K in one go in my life!

After getting to the race venue: Ocean Drive, SM Mall of Asia (largest mall in Asia), my first visit to this famed mall, it wasn't difficult to find the crowd of racers. After checking in (check-in = a line with a blue pentel pen on the race number.)

My race number

I realized it would be better to totally relieve myself before beginning the race and so joined the unending, wriggly line infront of the portalets (portable toilets). I must tell you, it's NOT a pretty sight in there and not much of an olfactory delight either :P

While I was still lined up, I saw this huge swarm of people gushed forward. I didn't even hear the gun being fired! I just stood there supinely ignorant and I started 7 minutes after the "official" start of the race. Sure it's good to be timely but to start a race five minutes before 6am?!?

I had asked several veteran runners about how to survive at least an hour of non-stop running. "Just focus on finishing it, they said and pace yourself", and so that's what I did. There were some pleasant surprises: just when I thought we finished 3 and a half K, I realized we had jaz passed the 5K mark in 31 minutes, my personal best. The last 5K were naturally harder than the first 5K but I just continued without really ever going slower than a brisk walk pace.

And before I realized, we were near the finish line though it was completely out of sight. I plucked up the final gush of energy, sprinted and dashed forward and lo and behold, I had made it. My FIRST 10K.

My time: 1hr, 11minutes

I realized it hadn't really been as hard as I imagined. So I already came up with some lofty future goals:

The Yakult 10-miler (16K)

Then, a half-marathon (21.2K) and then finally a MARATHON (42K)...hehe

Kudos to the race organizers, it was arranged very well. The route was unambigous and the directions were very clear and well laid out. There were drinking stations every 3K or so, plenty of patrol men and patrol cars. It seemed a family outing of sorts for some: many people lined the pavements probably there to cheer on some family member or friends.

Oh, there was a goodies bag for finishers...

The goodies bag

Inside the goodies bag...

I was shocked to see a Men's Health back issue in the bag... I remember there were two lanes near the finish line. Since I was the only girl nearing the finish line at the time I finished (there were many more male participants by the way) and in my mad dash to the finish line, I had entered the male finishers lane before realizing the mistake and subsequently swerving to the adjacent female lane. I wondered if I had been handed a MALE goodies bag. What other reason could there be to have different lanes for the 2 sexes?

But NO, I found out, EVERYONE got the same goodies bag. Men's Health happens to be one of the major sponsors of the race hence the issue being included.

After the race, we had a scrumptious English breakfast at Pancake House. The Cinnamon Toasts were great... Then I hit the bed to make up for my heavy heavy sleep debt.

The Race Packets

Last night, I got my race packet. Remember, I had initially ordered a medium-sized singlet for my brother (who doesn't want anything to do with running btw)...well, I changed my mind :) **evil grin**

The singlet was too much of a beauty to let go off. It was the fabric that's extremely comfortable to run in. And after seeing David try it on, I realized, it didn't really reveal much above the shoulder. And besides, I wasn't even sure if Tamjeed (my brother) was amenable to wearing anything of this sort.

Here's the shirt. It's supposedly 695 pesos in the market as shown on the tag. All for free with the race registration fee. Oh, not to mention a 25% discount coupon as well on Adidas items. Woah.

Can't wait to hear the fire shot signalling the start of the race :P

I just want to return home triumphant. The goodies bag is beckoning to me...hehe... All finishers get a goodies bag, the contents of which I don't know.

Currently feeling: ecstatic

On Running...

I'm infinitely excited about the Adidas King of the Road race which takes place in less than a week. Sunday September 17, 2006. My biggest fear is not finishing the race. After several days of back-to-back & back-breaking practice, I don't want to come home defeated. It's my first 10K.

Wow. I got a chance to read a few blogs from people who had participated in the same race. It's held in Malaysia as well...so there were some interesting accounts from them. I have to tell you, it's gonna be pretty challenging. Those folks mentioned the rolling hills which was a bolt from the blue. My practising ground has been my fav. oval Ultra Stadium in Valle Verde. So TOMORROW, I better be practising on the treadmill to achieve the incline to be expected out in the open.

I also got a feeling of the need for those indispensable power bars and energy drinks that I need to get hold of and the need to warm up properly for optimal performance. Here are the lessons I learnt:

1. Bring power pars, isotonic drinks etc

2. I HAVE to be there 530am for a nice smooth warm-up, that means I have to LEAVE 5am. and I guess my friend will have to pick me up even earlier i.e. leave home 440am or so!!! So I need to sleep nice and early so I won't be groggy during the race.

3. The first 50 finishers get medals. hehe

Tomorrow, I'll be in North Greenhills getting my race packet. They're giving away adidas singlets but since I DON'T wear sleeveless stuff, much less SINGLETS, I ordered mine several sizes bigger.... for my brother! hehe...Now, I can't forfeit my singlet jaz coz I don't wear one!

First Day of School

The first day of school... ahh..

I didn't know it was this hard requesting for a special class. I'm graduating this term (hopefully) and I was simply shocked when I was told that CELLBIO (Cell Biology) would only be offered as a regular class which means if 14 other students were willing to take it as well.

First thing in the morning, I met Dr. Al Licuanan. Sorry, SECOND thing in the morning. I attended the Genetics class before that. Gawd, it was SOOOOOO boring. I actually hid a Reader's Digest issue beneath my notebook and I have absolutely NO CLUE as to what the teacher discussed in the last 20 minutes. My concentration span was jaz stretched beyond its limit hahaha... Ironically enough, Genetics is my FAV. course.

Ok, so I meet Dr. Al who tells me I have to get one more student to petition for CELLBIO for it to be offered: a coup de theatre. Well, later I saw Kelvin Tsang and Cherry coming up to me for the "signature campaign" I was desperately hoping for. All in all, I think we're 17+ already. I've heard Dr. Cabrera will be the prof. Yay, I'm super excited. She's my all-time favorite prof.

Then, I rushed to the vice dean for some much-needed section changes. I was glad I was able to do them before everyone else who was really vying for that particular section. Whew...

The Book Fair

The Book Fair

Posted by eefa at 11:37 pm on September 3rd, 2006.

Today was a fun day... I got to attend the Manila International Book Fair at the World Trade Center...lots of good books to feast on. That's the pic I took of the tarpaulin outside

I was particularly looking for a good guide on yoga, an all-encompassing book dealing with all the schools and positions of yoga. I didn't end up finding one. But I found a nice one on ebay :P

Other than that, today was quite a bummer. Woke up at 2:30pm! ya, life couldn't be any better.

I found this very cool embroidery art on the cover of a calendar book or something. It said it was made by the women of the Kutch tribe in Gujarat, India. The piece was delicate and extremely beautiful. When I saw the price, unfortunately I had to forget about owning it. 985 pesos.

But you appreciate the marvelous piece of art. I can only hope I can buy it loads cheaper in Pakistan. I remember seeing one of my mother's shalwar kameez with just such a thing. This stuff is always adorned on clothes as far as I know.

I WANT this! Grr...