A week after that devastating Milo Marathon finish, I trained a week after – for 3 weeks (courtesy of Coach Alfred Delos Reyes) with all the requisite strenght trainings (c/o Van Denn Cruz), speeds & LSDs. I had my gels & saltsticks ready and travelled 300 kms to get to the starting line and what do you know? All it took was a mere final 1.5 kms to nip my Milo dream off its bud.
when the going gets tough, the tough gets walking…and dragging.
T’was a controlled pace in the first 3 kilometers (at 5 mins/km) with Rollie DC pacing me along with Payasso boys Ariel Tuto Aquino, Chad Akol, Arnold Banaay along the rolling terrain of Lucena. Then the boys disappeared in the distance as I kept hammering with what I hoped was a sub-5 mins/km pace (KM 10 was reached at 51 minutes).
when cramping strikes…
Then came the second half with its steady but continuous ascent as the sun revealed Lucena’s scenic places. In the final turn-around (about the final 6.5 kms), I was flying with the music and the cool weather pushing me downhill. I was hitting my target times using a 1:50 pacelet.
The moment I saw the SM tower (the final kilometer) was when the cramping went full blown and I had to slow down – drastically. I couldn’t find an alternative style of jogging without aggravating the little devil – even tried moving sideways but to no avail. The clock was ticking but I forced myself to keep moving and finally reached the finish at 1:56:05 (a minute beyond my qualifying time).
And so ends my quest for my Milo Marathon qualifying time. But who knows, exactly next month, it will go up to 2:00. Nah, I’m going back to the trails for the mountains are a-calling…
Call me Mr. Cramper and I won’t take offense.
Epilogue. My final time of 1:56:05, I would learn later was only 6 seconds over the qualifying time of 1:55:59. Sorry I wasn’t aware that 59 seconds or less the official qualifying time of 1:55 was still acceptable. Now had I pushed myself easily during those final meters, I would have easily qualified but it’s those lessons in running which would keep me going. Anyway tomorrow (Oct 1), my new qualifying time will be 2 hours for my new age category. 
the final scene – but a second mat would read at 1:56:10
Cheers!
Photos by Dan Alvarez Sagayap and Runaholic.
