Condura Skyway Marathon 2013 Experience
Race: Condura Skyway Marathon 2013
Distance: 21K
Date: February 3, 2013
Venue: Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang PH
Congratulations to all finishers! 🙂
The Condura Skyway Marathon 2013 is one of the most anticipated races of the year here in the Philippines. It was held last Sunday, February 3, 2013 at Filinvest City Alabang with an estimate of 14,000 runners. This happened to be my 2nd half-marathon and my 3rd official race. If you love running on straight and elevated courses, then this event should be on your list. So if you missed this event, make sure to mark it out on your race schedule next year, because you only get to run the Skyway once a year. 🙂
I believe this is one of the most organized races in the country starting from registration all the way to the post-race event activities. Me and my brother were lucky to get a slot for the 21K Wave C. I heard from my friend that the Waves reached up to Wave H. Imagine how many runners registered for the 21K distance. The entire 21K course was superbly awesome! Water & sports drink supply was sufficient. There are banana supplies on some water stations as well. Medical team and race marshals can be easily found along the course to make sure that every one is safe. Portalets were also available on most water stations. And last but not the least, the medals are pretty! 🙂
The Pre-Race
Even though I trained and worked hard in preparation for this race, I haven’t been lucky in managing my time very well. I don’t get to achieve my targeted run trainings and work out that’s why I am not very confident that I could finish the race very strong with a new PR. In my experience, I also think that training how to sleep early should be included on my next routine. It is really hard to run a half-marathon with just 30mins of sleep. Maybe some other runners experience that too!
The Race
It was past 3:30am when we finally reached the starting line. It took us a couple of minutes before we reach the underpass entrance to the Skyway because runners were released according to Wave and fortunately, we are on Wave C. All stretched and ready, we went off to run the famous Skyway! My only target was to break my first record which is exactly 3:14:53. I have no idea if I could finish under 3hrs because my training and workout schedule was messed up plus I have no sleep. I said to myself that I have to and I need to break that personal best.
During the first 5km of the route, I feel okay and still catching up with my brothers’ pace. After some few more kilometers, I didn’t expect that the climbs were more tougher than I imagine. My brother keeps telling me to walk if I get too tired but I said to myself that I will push it through. Whenever we reach a water station, I just drink a couple cups of water and then run again (which I didn’t do the very first time I did the half-mary). I have more walks back then which is acceptable for first-timer in my opinion. Reaching past 10K mark turning point was already fulfilling, that means I only have to endure another 11K more.
After around the 17-18K mark, my feet began to sore. I walked and pulled out off my brother’s pace. I thought I won’t be able to finish it but I pushed it even more. I ignored the pain and still able to run a few more kilometers. I still manage to walk from time to time to lessen the pain but I didn’t stop. I run and walk in intervals just so I can finish and cut down my time. When I saw the road turning right down to the race village, I ran harder and endured the pain. I thought it will be an easy ending but the final obstacle was about a 100-200 meters incline. When I saw the finish line, I felt relieved and happy. When I saw the clock, it is already past 3 hours. My official time was 2:46:45. Hell yeah! My New Personal Best! 🙂
It was one hell of a race. I am honored and thankful that I get the chance to experience running on the Skyway! I accomplished another milestone of my running journey by finishing my 2nd Half Marathon. Till the next Skyway Marathon! 🙂
Keep on running! 🙂