(I know, any seasoned runner would hit us on the head for this. Bad decisions, man. I might want to blame this to exhaustion and depression. So,.. yeah..)We got stickers from TNF and it felt a little depressing. We were hoping for something more. But, meh. Okay.
So, what led to the decision to put in our dwindling funds into the Brent Run?The medals. 22k finisher's medal looked awesome. Sure, it's petty for most of you or for some people but we've never received a medal. I received one when I was in Kindergarten but my mom let me play with it and I lost it. Now, I don't have anything on the wall. I want a medal. Petty? Whatever. We want a medal.So, we registered.
To toss more bad decisions to the already-piled up bad decisions, we had a girl's night out before the run. It was supposed to be a picnic in the afternoon. I made a pie and put coffee in a thermos. It rained. The picnic turned into a garage party at Chi's place. Wine was brought out and yeah, we were happy. I was semi-drunk and damn it. We finished at midnight! I can't say I regret it though.
I mean, come on. Look at me. I'm roaring with uber-joy. I don't
know how I even got sleep that couple of hours. I woke up at 4 to get ready for the run. Chi picked me up a little bit late because we arrived just in time to leave our bag and pin our numbers before the gun start for the 22k.
While running, we kept laughing at ourselves. Idiots. Chi wasn't even able to pin the number on her shirt. We had to stop. 2 kilometers out and I can't breathe. Dang it! By the time we started the ascend to Ambuklao road, I had to tell Chi to go ahead. I didn't want to slow her down. She's a little energizer bunny. She's that little girl in the middle of our group picture. Where she gets her energy, I don't know.
To cut the story short, we finished the Brent 22k Route. Somewhere during the run, (I'm really bad at describing topography.) after the ups and downs, I enjoyed running the flat road. First because it's flat and doesn't hurt my legs. Second, because it gave a breath taking view of the sunrise. I felt so bad for leaving the camera. I wanted to stop and take a photo of what I'm looking at. The serenity of the highway was also something to be thankful about. There were only a few cars and jeeps that passed by and it made me feel a lot less depressed.I thought I was one of the last few runners.
By the time I reached the turning point, I started seeing more runners behind me. Phew! I thought I was trudging last. Sorry, I need all the motivation and knowing I'm not last gave me a little push.I love how the people in all the aid stations were very supportive, always giving bits of energy. "Go, go! Konti pa! Water! Kaya pa! Sige, push pa ng konti!" These small gestures mean a lot to a tired runner. One of the support team even put a banana in my hand and told me I had to eat it. I didn't want to be chewing while running but he insisted. 2 kilometers later, I'm thankful for that banana. Another guy took my water bottle, threw its contents and replaced it with Gatorade. I didn't ask him to, I wanted to but I was too tired to talk. I was just supposed to grab the Gatorade bottle and run but I really appreciate what he did. In my head, keep hydrating, keep hydrating. Don't faint. Keep running.
That banana and Gatorade helped me finish that run. I know. I know because my body was failing me and I can feel it. By the time I reached the steep downhill just before hitting Pacdal road, everything just hurts. My sides, legs, I don't even know why I was having a headache. Jeez.
Then Brent throws in a surprise 1 kilometer trail run inside the school campus. It was a refreshing path but I can't stop thinking how it fit inside the compound. "Where'd this come from?"
When I got to the finish line, family friends were cheering me and it felt awesome as opposed to finishing the TNF 22k with no one to greet me at the end.We got our medal! Chi dedicated it to her parents and I, well. I took it home and fell asleep.
We treated ourselves to a Korean lunch which I will later regret. The coffee, wine, spicy meal and the tired muscles caught up with me and I had to suffer stomach cramps for a good one week.But, I have a medal! Yeiiy me!
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