my first KOTR experience

welcome to the 2012 Adidas KOTR

i registered for the 10k event in the Adidas King Of The Road and set my sights to finishing it in less than an hour. however, a week before the race, i did a race simulation run to see how realistic my goal is. the result is not pleasant. i cannot maintain the pace i need in order to hit my target time.

before the race yesterday, i am having the usual pre-race jitters i feel every single race i join. funny how i haven't gotten over this jitters. nonetheless, i am feeling light and strong for the race.

my running buddies are telling me to forget my target time and just run with them to practice the 3minute run 1minute walk interval. i said, ok let's do it! we missed the gun start for the 10k event because we were busy chatting and we decided to start with the 5k runners. however, when we started running, their pace is much slower than what i would like so i decided to run my own pace. i bade them goodbye and started weaving my way through the 5k crowd.

after run bonding with ANR ortigas

i told myself, i will catch up with the 10k runners if i could just keep up my pace. when i reached the first kilometer marker, i looked at my watch and saw that i am running at 6min/km pace. just enough for me to hit my target. so i changed plan again and decided to go for the sub-60 target i originally have.

everytime there is a kilometer marker, i would check my watch to see whether or not i am getting slower or faster. i want to just keep that 6min/km pace for 2 reasons. (1) if i go slower, i will miss my target and (2) if i go faster, i might run out of gas in the latter part of the race. well, my pace was really around 5:50 or so with the spare seconds i use when stopping over hydration stations.

my unofficial time

i finally caught up with many 10k runners when i got around 5k mark and i was feeling great. i was overtaking everyone in the group and it's motivating me to race on. if they're fast enough, i won't catch up with them, anyway. ^_^ i even saw jollibee the mascot along the way and he gave me a high five. i continue to feel great with all the cheers and because of the fact that i am running just at the right speed.

when i got to the 8k mark, however, i started to feel fatigue in my legs. it sends jolt of pain every once in a while. i urge myself not to give in to it. not when i only got 2k to go. when i saw a runner cut a corner, i wanted to give him a kick in the shin but i told myself, it's not me who is fooling myself by cutting my distance. besides, i have a painful leg to deal with.

homestretch. last 200m, i think

i skipped the last hydration station because it is placed in about last 500m of the course. i told myself i will just drink after i crossed the finish line. i am running on pure willpower at this point in the race. i am also feeling a bit dizzy and i am seeing some stars while running. my legs are so tired i was forced to take a 10 second walk break. when i ran again, i wanted to dash but my legs are not up to it anymore. so i just ran as fast as my tired legs would allow and when i crossed the finish line, i looked at my watch to see what my unofficial time is. 59:52. buzzerbeater. barely made it. i only got 7 seconds to spare. hahaha!

my finisher medal

this, so far, gave me the best feeling in my running career. to be able to hit the goal i set for myself. to be able to push myself outside my comfort zone. the best part of it is that, i am only just beginning. ^_^

UPDATE:

the official results for the 2012 adidas king of the road are out. my official time is 59:47. see my race analysis:


- You burned approximately 578.09 calories during your 10K-Men run.
- You finished the race in 00:59:47
- Your rank is 138 out of 981 runners
- Your rank percentile is 85.93%
- You ranked 134 out of 3,417 runners who are the same gender as you. Your rank percentile is 96.08%
- You ranked 38 out of 1,136 runners who are the same age division as you. Your rank percentile is 96.65%
- Your average speed is 10.04 kph
- Your average time per km is 5m 58s


http://race.proactive.ph/runners/adidas-kotr-2012/11494/