Conquering the Afroman Distance: Post-race thoughts on Run United 3 2011

Last year, it was John, among the Barneys who made the impossible of conquering the Afroman distance (coined by Rio dela Cruz with his 32km distance). It was funny just remembering that incident: he decided to run the distance a day before!  Last year, most of the Barneys were in the 15km distance and we were anxious back then. Now, most of the Barneys are in the Afroman distance; how time flies and look how we’ve grown!

Already ran a marathon yet still nervous?!

The day before the race, I was talking with Atom about meeting him at Secondwind Running Store. I still have Kyx’s (one of our newest member) race kit and asked them also to meet me at Secondwind as well as I will be buying my gels and other last minute things for the race.

When we met there, the store became an instant hangout place! We were looking around what we could bring and what we might miss for tomorrow; obvious that we were all anxious to think that Atom and I already ran a marathon (excuse me Atom already ran an ultra50k).

So as Running Atom was registering his friends for the upcoming QCIM (a separate entry for that soon) and Kyx and Daisy bought their things for tomorrow, we finally said goodbye to the store after much hype for tomorrow! (Shout outs to Arfil and Zhyke, thank you for the violet visor!)

I bought 3 GU energy gels: Chocolate Outrage, Espresso Love and Strawberry Banana. Hopefully these 3 will work their stuff tomorrow! And they have this new one: Sneakers Marathon Protein Bar Crunch (that I super love!).

Last minute CLP!

As we were trying to shake our nerves for tomorrow, we headed to Bacolod Chicken Inasal and availed of their Rice all you can! I ended up just having 2 cups of rice, while Atom and Kyx had 3 (sorry buko! haha!) with our pecho part. Daisy got affected with our nervousness that she ended up eating as well.

Since tomorrow will be Kyx’s longest distance for a race (last weekend was his first 25k in the Chevrolet New Balance Race), he was paranoid if he could survive it; told him I’ll pace him.

We bought Gatorade at Ministop and decided to call it a day and headed home.

Early wake-up call

With only 4 hours of sleep, I woke up at 1:15am. My Dad knocked on my door and him and Mom are already preparing (thank you Lord for such supportive parents!).

We left at 2:20am and we are at the Mall of Asia as early as 3am (assembly time). The place is full of RunRio support staff and have already prepared the area. We waited at the parking lot until I received a text from Daisy that they are there too.

Race proper

After going to the portalet and a nervous and upset stomach, we headed to the starting line for the 32km (race to start at 4:30am). Told Kyx that I will pace him throughout the race as we are both nervous.

The gun went off and what I really like about this time of the race, you don’t get too much light that you wouldn’t think how long have you been running. We already turned left to Macapagal Boulevard and surprisingly Kyx can still keep up with running. Before we were planning a 2-minute walk and 2-minute run Galloway method but when I saw Kyx can go further, told him we will walk once we are in Roxas Boulevard.

Soon we are doing a song-based interval: we won’t stop running until the song playing in my playlist ends and then we’ll have a 2-minute walk. Later on, we realized we are about to turn left for Buendia and so we tried pushing further.

Heading back to Roxas Boulevard (Km12 before turning left for Roxas Blvd.) was the start of our drag. As we saw how far it would take to reach the end of Roxas Blvd. became a struggle for us. We tried taking short breaks with short runs this time and as we u-turned to go to Quirino/Luneta (Km22), most of the runners we have met and seen have started to walk and we are officially walking most of the time.

Kyx has done the unimaginable, to keep up without complaining, being positive throughout the race. The last 10km was like a recollection of our running experiences and our personal stories other than running. It was a learning experience for both of us as first timer in the long distance and as a trainer for an upcoming marathon. We are pushing each other to our limits, transitioning to gels, hydration and sheer determination.

As we turned left from CCP (Km27), I felt like giving up and Kyx is literally dragging his feet. I told him to try not looking at the horizon and instead look at the ground and keep on running. By the turn of PICC, I told him to save his energy and literally walk like we are in Luneta because Macapagal Boulevard at this time of the day (around 8:30am) is scorching hot. It seemed like a short distance, assuming you can cover 5k for only 30 minutes but with the given situation: I don’t want to gamble cramping at the middle of the deserted boulevard (no hydration stations on site, well there was one and I pity the volunteers there for waiting for us and encouraging us to move on).

As it’s a short kilometer from the finish line, left and right it seemed like a death march and it was like seeing Ai-Ai de las Alas in her Tanging Ina scene where she ended looking like a ‘busabos’ kicking her slippers at Guadalupe: runners kicking the sponge and plastic cups littered all over the place.

Finally, saw medics and asked for liniment to both calves. I told Kyx to reserve all of his energy so we can sprint or at least run fast in the last 500 meters without cramping at the last leg. I admire Kyx for being driven and determined to finish the race and at last, he met with Daisy and became his Energizer.

And with all our might, we ran the last 500 meters to the finish line. Congratulations we just conquered Afroman distance!

Thoughts on the race

I have to say that RunRio tried their best to accomodate ALL runners given that this particular RunRio event was made into one day and all distances (500m, 5k, 10k, 21k and 32k) were all cramped in MOA. The first 25k, hydration stations were all over the place and there were bananas in some stations. Kudos to the volunteers for being so encouraging telling us that we can do it and actually giving cold water! Though I was trying to look for cold Powerade drinks, I guess they have a shortage there. Regardless, the first part of the leg for 32k was a good one. The last part was quite a drag and perhaps it is a discipline that each runner should practice since not all races are organized by RunRio. Probably it doesn’t hurt to be ready for races and don’t depend only on the hydration stations and complain to high heavens for not having the ‘proper’ treatment because I wonder if this is also done in other countries where runners dictate what they want (another separate entry for this lame behavior pattern of some runners).

Last thoughts

I can’t be prouder to the growth of my Barneys who have grown to be serious runners. From 10-15km last year, most of us have tried 32k and conquered it! Even shout outs to first timers in the pikermi (21k) distance because I saw you running at your own pace and yet determined. I love the sight of our Barney couples supporting each other all the way through the end of the race. I really admire our Lady Barneys for sheer determination and being strong: Imee, Nette, Gen, Jonj and Tina.

It was surely a great event and we ended up having our brunch at KFC!

So am I ready for Standard Chartered Singapore marathon this December 4? Let Lady luck and my guardian angels protect me. haha!

*all photos courtesy of Genesis Señorin, ChiCem Runners and Daisy Castañeda. Thanks!