Milo Marathon 2019

First and foremost, I would like to announce that I did not make the cut.

I have Milo Marathon as one of my major running KPI's (key performance indicators - just like how we are gauged at work) as a runner. This is one of the hardest to get since this has a 6hr cut off. My past two races - TBR and Tokyo Marathon had a 5:40-ish finish. So, I thought I was going to finish this with a medal.

Or so, I thought.

I trained the same way I trained for Tokyo. I even logged in more mileage for this. I trained with my cousin whom I pushed to run her first marathon in Milo. Well, I trained for more miles while she did less (but she was faster so I think she only needed the long runs) than I did. I really envy those people who can do less and yet still perform ugh.

Anyway, come race day, I tried pacing with her at the first half. Which I think was totally wrong, she was faster and my legs will not have enough power towards the end if I continue on. So, I let her go on after km 23 (I think). The route had a gruelling downhill and uphill starting Kalayaan flyover to Mckinley which was something I was not prepared of (I thought I was prepared for it but seems my legs could not push through it). This is where I totally slowed down but I still ran through.

I started walking at Bayani Road, the steepest uphill in the race. Then, i run-walked all the way to BGC then again at Buendia avenue. When, I saw that there are already buses to gather the last runners, I really really wanted to hail and ride and just quit this whole thing , I was already feeling that I will not finish this on time. I just got a glimmer of hope when I checked the time and I am still around the time in the distance I wanted/planned to be. When I reached 36th km at 5hr, knew I still had the time to make it even if I walked. I still tried running it. But when I came back to MOA, I thought I only had more than a km to push on, I can still make it. But when I saw that it was longer than I thought. I no longer went through, I knew that I already failed.

I finished the whole Marathon at 6:05. Just 5 mins short of their cut off. I thought I was going to cry at the finish line for not getting the medal, but I am far too tired to feel anything and I was just happy that I finished. Now, writing this I thought also I was going to cry but I remembered the feeling at the finish line and I remembered how I was going to quit it but I didn't. I thought I was going to DNF (did not finish) it again. But I finished. So when I did not get any medal, i told my cousin (who was able to reach the finish line before cut off) that it's okay and I am just happy that it was over (we can already eat, sleep and rest, it's finally over).

Now, I am thinking of making the revenge run for next year. I want to finally cross the barriers of meeting the sub-5 marathon. This is hard for me since I am freaking slow but I am the 100m dash champion in Grade 6 elementary run. I know I have the speed in me, it's just hidden somewhere and I have to tap and let it out.

I have read that I really have to start small in order for me to achieve something big. I have to finish 5km in 30mins and 10k in 60mins. So, I really need to address that first before tackling the big things. I have downloaded some things in the internet and hopefully I can create a training plan for this.

I hope I will not give up on this. I will start after my recovery week. And let's see if this will work. Will post updates here for me to be able to document everything.

Good luck to me. Aja!