diligin ng suka ang uhaw na lumpia

for real,this is a title of a filipino movie back in 1987.how imaginative.i will leave it to your judgement as to what kind of movie genre this was.and i swear that i did not watch it.

well, having been in sick bay since after the men’s health run,i could not but help compare myself with an uhaw na lumpia yearning for a suka dip.i don’t like the sound of tigang na lupa.makes me feel old.

even when i felt that i was not sure of today’s outcome or how my body would react without the benefit of an acceptable workout for the past 2 weeks,i made sure i was ready for the worst.

together with me hc friends,mari,lester and jay c u plus our very supportive ivy,we made it to luneta with plenty of time to spare.jay nacino soon arrived and so did doc joe and albert henson,jeff abenina and isko lapira(who,by the way,just did the botak100 last sunday and was treating the 42 as a recovery run).jay n. and i sort of  treated this as a reunion run.i met jay for the first time at the very same spot last year when i did my 1st full.after the usual chit chat and picture-taking, we finally started our quest for a finals slot.

km 1-10. as in all rudy b. races(today was a box-office hit by the way),we were off on time.lester,jay and i paced ourselves ever so conscious of sticking to our plan.mari,well,was storming away in the front.we would slow down when we felt we were going fast and speed up when we were slow.with our roving bike support and our official hc car support ably piloted by ivy, we were making headway with our plans.the 1st 10k covered the whole of roxas blvd from km 0 to the corner af airport road up to the vicinity of buendia/taft.the road was cordoned off for runners.

km 11-20.things were going well still.we were gaining precious minutes and in fact, we were ahead by 6 minutes.the mental checkpoints i had in my mind corresponded to the times i wanted and even better.but as you know some plans don’t work as wished.at the kalayaan flyover entering the fort,lester signalled that he had cramps and slowed down but caught up with me soon after at the vicinity of mckinley hill.the 2-week running respite i had was somewhat rewarding in the sense that my legs felt no pain but they were kinda heavy.surprisingly,all milo aid stations were distanced apart pretty well and fully-equipped so to speak.sponges and water trucks were present.marshals galore especially in the intersections.btw,i was at the mcdonald’s/s&r area entering the fort at 1:43 and this is where i met the leading runner.

km 21-30.after the u-turn near the marine hq,we headed for bayani road.it was in the heritage area that it started to rain.really now,a rudy b race isn’t just complete without rain,it seems.anyway,the rains helped as it was getting hot as the sun was starting to shine.the relief made me run even better after the u-turn near c5.i was able to tackle the uphills along bayani and essensa with little problems.still and all, upon reaching the 30k mark at 3 hours,i thought i had a borderline chance at the 4-hour qualifying time.so i coasted towards the kalayaan flyover where queenie and jinoe plus the takbo peeps were kind enought to offer me gatorade(thank you!).

km31-42. at the flyover just when i thought the worst would soon be over as far as inclines,disaster was knocking.my legs suddenly got heavy.the whisperings of my fellow runner that he won’t make it was of no help.i got slower by the minute.upon reaching the downward part,i tried to speed up to make up for lost time.no go.here,things started to unravel.times and my mental checkpoints were not in sync by this time and the discrepancies were getting bigger.i was losing the fight for four quickly. approaching  chino roces, a familar voice sounded off.it was coach salazar hot on my heels with mesh in tow.no amount of prodding from coach could speed me up.my legs were heavier more than ever.as soon as i lost sight of the two,i knew that the battle for me was over.in front of ccp where my time should have ideally been at most 3:30 to make it,my watch showed 3:58.way off.i slowed down farther knowing that i would have to make a supersonic dash to make it.no sooner,sir jovie overtook me and handed a gu gel and pushed me to keep in step with him.i did.for 200 meters,i did.after that,my right hams down to the calf got a jolt.cramps were creeping.i bade sir jovie to go ahead.the fight was over.close to but not exactly walking,i made it to the finish line.my watch timed me at 4:28:18 but oddly enough,the official timer had 4:27:12.my 1st 21k was 1:58.the rest was done in 2:30.

at the waiting area,i saw and chatted with kim who did 21k.vener and christie,enrico and bookie of gold’s gym.and charlie who is slowly but surely coming back to the racing scene.more picture taking here.

anyway,the ordeal over,i was relieved that i made it.this was a confidence-booster for me.at least,i can still nail long distances.of course,i would have been 42 times more delighted if i did 4 hours.but i can’t complain.i was off the road for 2 weeks except for an accumulated 20-kilometer treadmill run spread over 5 days.the rest were spent in bed.

for whatever it’s worth,the consolation was that i was able to cut some 5 minutes from my previous milo run last november.

and so,the road to the milo finals remains a dream.to bandit again ,that is the question.october is crowded by 3 marathons and the adidas 21k.then there is singapore come december.

before i end,congratulations are in order.to jay nacino,my man,bravo for nailing a finals berth.my hats off to you for sticking diligently to your training program of which i was a witness many times over.vener,as usual, is a qualifier.to the t2 girls,you rock.special mention goes to mesh(fortunes indeed change quickly.if at 4:30am i was uhaw na lumpia,before the race ended,i became a chicked boy all over again.not that i mind)for qualifying.to albert henson of camanava,ayos pare.and of course to my hc buds, mari and martin for giving the team hc something to be proud of by qualifying.mabuhay!

of course,to my bdm classmates who did the botak100 last sunday and were brave enough to do this milo as recovery and qualify for the finals,wow,you are something.raffy,albert,isko,george and ronnie plus gene.iba na ang may pinagsamahan!

and of course, i would not have made it without these people whose unsolicited help and generosity helped me  through.to ivy, our team car support driver and photog for volunteering to support the hcs.(she was supposed to do a beach shoot but at the last  minute chose to shoot us hcs-the sons of beaches).i know you didn’t miss the beach at all sister.to dess for giving me much-needed supplies on the way back.sir jovie for giving me that gu gel for that 1 last push.to atty jeff abenina ,col oscar lopez(pa) and coach salazar for their words of encouragement.to queenie and jinoe and the takbo peeps for your unselfishness.and to that anonymous lady who handed me gatorade near the roxas/buendia flyover.after handing me that,she asked if i was bugobugo.answering in the affirmative,i was informed that she is regular visitor.sa inyong lahat,maraming salamat po!

ayos na rin ito.nadiligan ako ng suka.basang lumpia na ako.

ngayon,may asim na uli ako.