My first 5K

“We are such rock stars!” exclaimed Ross teasingly as we got ready for bed at 8:30pm last Saturday. It was the eve of my first race ever, at least one that I’ve actually trained and prepared for. It took me three months to complete my C25K training and I’d just “graduated” the day before, just in time for the 5K at the NatGeo Run 2016 in Manila on Sunday morning. I hadn’t felt any nerves until that evening, probably only because I tried not to think about it so much leading up to the day. All of a sudden the feeling of butterflies in my stomach – the same ones I used to have before a big swimming competition – creeped up on me. Whenever Ross asked if I was excited for my race, I’d just stare at him blankly not knowing whether I was going to cry or laugh. Weird, but the nervousness was somewhat comforting at the same time.

    

We spent most of Saturday at the R.O.X.Outdoor Festival scorching under the El Niño sun. It was a good distraction from what lay ahead the following day, and a good introduction to the ridiculous heat. Since we had to be up early on Sunday, we had a nice and light Japanese dinner in the early evening and lights were off by 9:00pm. We both tossed and turned for a good 1.5 hours until we finally got to sleep… if you could even call it sleep! Ha! The nerves kept me up most of the night and by 2:00am I was pretty much wide awake. I tried to visualise myself on the run anyway, since that used to help me with swimming. Not sure if I fell back asleep but the alarm finally went off at 4:00am and up we got, put on our running gear, had a little snack, and headed out at 4:30am.

As we stepped out of our apartment building, we could see the marathoners and half-marathoners already on their run. It was nice seeing them knowing I’d be on that route very soon, though on a shorter course. The 20-minute walk to the starting line was a nice warm-up, and by “warm” I mean it was already 28C (real feel of 32C) that early in the morning! There was already a good number of people there – some were sitting on the curb half asleep, others doing a light jog or high-knees up and down the road. We had an hour to kill and Ross talked me through it, keeping me surprisingly calm. We walked around and stretched and he made sure I was okay.

The minutes ticked by and finally we were only 10 minutes until gun start. The nerves started coming back and at one point I even asked what I was doing there. Had to be reminded by the boyfriend that I’d set out to do this and had worked hard for it! Everyone around me was stretching, bouncing up and down, just basically revving themselves up for the run. I could barely move and kept my eyes on the clock counting down. I just wanted to start already! Then BOOM, the buzzer went off and the next thing I knew, I was on the road running past a bunch of people. I managed the first kilometre comfortably and I thought I would’ve been able to actually run the entire way but it was just so hot and at some points I felt like all my breath had been sucked out of me. But Ross was there the entire way, pacing me (who has a pacer for a 5K?? I do!!), and I didn’t have to bother about hydrating because he was there handing me the bottle whenever I needed a drink! I did have to slow down and walk at some parts, but if I remember correctly, I was able to run most of the route with Ross promising little short breaks if I just pushed just a little harder to get to the next junction or traffic light.

The last kilometre was a route I know very well since it’s the way we walk towards the public swimming pool in the mornings. I did my best to give it my all, especially since most of it was downhill, and I almost made it all the way. I was tired and overheating and by that point, all I wanted was to get to the finish line. Ross kept telling me to push it, the faster I go the sooner I’d be done. Have to admit, I slowed down a little, but then I took one last swig of Powerade and finally gave it my all and sprinted around the corner towards the finish line. And if you go by the numbers on my Garmin, my average moving speed was 5.1mph and max speed at 25.1mph… so I guess you could say I amped it up on that last leg!

My official chip time is 37:19. My goal was to get under 45 minutes, so I was really happy with the result! Ross tried to get me to do a sub-30 but unfortunately that didn’t happen this time, but there will definitely be a next time! I placed 316th out of 3,124 finishers that day - that's in the top 10%! Not too bad for a first timer, I'd say.

My legs were sore the following day but it sure felt good and I'm very happy with how things went. I used to be someone who could barely RUN down the block and now here I am legit running a 5K and actually enjoying it! I think I’ve found a new hobby… I’m seeing what other 5Ks are out there in the coming months and then I’ll start training for a 10K!

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me since I started this new walk of life, especially to my boyfriend Ross who has done nothing but encourage and support me every step of the way. Thank you as well to my friends and even to those I don’t personally know (yet!) who “liked” and shared their kind words on social media pre- and post-race. You are what keeps me going!