Century Superbod Run 2010

Century Superbods run 2010 was my very first race event. ;)

Just to give you a brief background. Weeks before the event, I started my on-again-off-again affair with running. I ran Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays with the aim to get fit this 2010 and beyond.
Based on my previous running experiences it was a proven way to put down excess pounds. And I'd like to say I'm up to it for the long haul this time. ;)

Now, I decided to join a race. And there was a lot of hype going on regarding Century Superbod. It was being endorsed by one of the country's known actor/athlete plus other celebrities plus the renowned running coach. It was highly promoted via trimedia. And looking at it to be such a big event, I came to choose this event as my baptism of fire. So to speak. :D

Then on the day, I was at Bonifacio High Street around 4:30am. Coming early to the venue, one can do warm-ups/check out route maps/see friends before gun time. But then to everyone's surprise, the gun time started 20-30minutes ahead of the scheduled/published time of 5:50am. It really does pays to come early as other runners were caught unaware.

As the start horn sounds into the air, the 5k runners marched/jogged off the starting line, I tried to squeezed past other runners to position myself near the front. But i came to realize, it was a sea of 5k runners (3700++). I was overwhelmed by such a huge turnout. As I weaved left and right, changing running lines to avoid many slow runners, by the time I reached the 2km mark my energy was already gone. I thought a 5k run would be just a walk in the park recalling on my training sessions. But with the variable conditions of an actual race came into play, I realized it was a far different scenario.

And as I ran along, passed several intersections were motor vehicles traffic was out of control. Some intersections where a bit confusing as to which way for the 10k/5k goes. Water stations were a bit scarce, I was frustrated to find one looking to quenched my thirst. As we all know, hydration is vital for a runner to regain strength to go on.

As I reached the 4km mark and catching a second wind, I saw 5k runners were a bit far apart and I can run a wee bit faster. Nearing 500 meters, I pushed really hard to reach the finish line to beat my target of under 40minutes. Later I found out, that I clocked 39:39 based on gun and 37:01 based on chip. My more experienced runner friends told me that I got a very respectable time being a newbie.

Now, what are my learning's for my very first race event?

Feeling myself after the race, quite felt good that I can take up 10k on my next race (I quietly said to myself). Finishing under my target time brought great satisfaction. And since I felt good performance wise, another reason to take 10k on the next race. I was terribly disappointed to so many slow/walking (even with a pet dog) "5k fun runners". Admittedly, I was a damned fool to put high expectation on a 5k run. Hehehehe! I thought everyone else was gunning for their personal records, thinking that way was such a boo boo. Decided I will not join a very popular race event for the meantime. I'll just stick with a more meaningful race event first to build on my race performance. FYI, I'm quite a bit of a competitive person when it comes to sports in general. ;)

So, What about you? How was your Century Superbods race experience? Thanks for readin'.

See you at the races and keep on T runnin'. ;)