The Unforgiving Hills of McKinley...The Unicef Run

There are obstacles where one might think easy to overcome, but more often than not, one is always proven wrong. Such is my experience on the Unicef Run last November 23. I thought given that most of the runners are at the Mall of Asia running the Animo Run of La Salle, I will be able to break my PB or at the most get a hold of a much anticipated podium finish on my age category. To my surprise, it was not the case. My mistake.

Before the start of the race, the organizers changed the route a little bit. No worries I thought. But, to my surprise, it was one hell of a “little change”. For while in the first kilometer mark, there came before me a steep downhill at McKinley Hill, and after the first u-turn of course a steep uphill. After surviving that ordeal and reaching the entrance going to Lawton, I felt real tired and it seems that my mind wanted to convince my body to give in. After some internal conflicting moments, I managed to reach another u-turn and then I decided to triumph over my mind’s desire.

I finished the race not breaking my PB, but I was more than glad to have finished the race in one piece. Apparently, there will be a respite from running at McKinley Hills for a while. I will now try to run on even surface. Less draining on the body, and probably I will be able to break my PB.

One good thing about this race though is that I was able to convince my officemate, She’ (who was my photographer on the Adidas KOTR) to finally run this race. An added bonus is that she was able to convince her two other brothers to run also. In spite of the results of this race, I was still overwhelmed.

With She' and her brothers Edward and Paul

Another bonus is that of meeting a friend back in UP, Jun Catacutan. He's grown so big since the last time I saw him, probably about 15 years ago. When I saw this photo, I felt so small as I was dwarfed by his built.

Now, I need to prepare for the next two runs before the year ends. The Yakult Run and the ICTUS Run at UP. The Yakult Run at the CCP will be a new exprience for me, for I haven't ran yet on the area, and though I run regularly at UP, this will be a first competion run at the UP.

I just hope that I will be able to achieve my goal before the year ends. That of breaking the 25 minute mark for the 5K. After that, I will try to run the 10K in January's PSE Run (which I promised my cousin, Ate Nora).

On the Yakult Run, aside from She' and her two brothers, I will also be joined by another officemate, Noel, plus my two nephews, Bikoy and Paolo. We'll Ate Nors, the tribe is growing.

By thw way, my official time for the Unicef Run (thanks to www.runrio.com) is 26:51, 27th overall in the male category and 7th in my age category.