As expected, the Happy Run was one happy event. People were in such a festive mood what with all the varying kinds of entertainment available, not to mention the number of eye candies present.
As advised by Coach Rio, I settled in running the 5k in order not to aggravate the pain I was previously feeling on both my shins. I obeyed with an enviousĀ heart because all my running friends (well almost) were running the 15k, a number of them for the first time.Ā But then I convinced myself that it is a great opportunity to see if I can improve on my 5k time. Luckily a few days before the race, my best friend Pol asked me if I wanted to join him on a bike ride at the McKinley trail after the run. Hmmm… Running and mtbiking afterwards seems like a good idea. Of course I said yep!
best friend pol, me and hubby art prior to 5k gun start
Art, Pol and IĀ arrived at the race area comfortable enough for us to get settled, see the 15k runners take off and do our own thing afterwards. As usual, the McKinley Hill was a killer but I was ready for it this time, after all I was running only the 5k. I was psyching myself, “Parang warm-up run lang sa training ito!”. I ran butĀ did not try to run targetting PR because I was thinking of the bike ride after (I have to have enough energy left for it) and also afraid of making my shins hurt (I forgot to tape my shins). I finished with an unofficial time of 00:34:57 but official records showed that I finished at 00:35:35. Hey, hey, hey my last 5k race yielded me a 00:37:18 finish.Ā PR na naman ako?Ā Lol! Ā I am truly happy that I did. š
i liked this shot that art took of me as i was about to finish the last half of the race (tama ang form ko ha!)
I was not able to stay long for the post-race “socials” because Pol and I had to get ready for the ride to the trail. But Art and I was able to sneak in a few photo ops with Marga who like me decided to run the 5k only and Jaymie and JunC who registered for the 15k but decided to do the 5k instead because of their knee injuries.
Chinna, Marga, me and Zinnia
Jaymie (TBR), Coach Rio, JunC, me and Zinnia
The bike ride was ok except that I had a crash while I was on trail no. 2 because I miscalculated my speed and did not engage the brakes in time for the sharp turn. It resulted to me having bruises on my left knee and a slightly broken thumb. It was crazy really. There I was tackling the very same trail for the third time but I still crashed. But I am generally ok, the incident wasn’t enough to dampen my already high spirits. Why? I just runĀ a 5k but my legs seems to be fresh as I took on the ride to and from the trail. And best of all, the pain on my shins slowly disappeared as I began to ride my bike. Pedalling the uphills seems like a walk in the park it even surprised me as much as it surprised Pol.
Pol and I getting ready for our next activity š
resting after riding trails 1 and 2 (McKinley) inside the Phil Army Camp
In summary, I was happy because I was able to do two things that I really like doing – running and biking – all on the same day. IĀ usuallyĀ do only either but being able to do bothĀ is a blast!
Congratulations to Drew Arellano together with the rest of Team Super and of course to Coach Rio and his group for putting up a very successful Happy Run. Congratulations are in order too for my friends who ran and finished the 15k for the first time. Happy Run race results btw are now available for viewing.
Meanwhile,Ā back to training I will be onĀ Wednesday at the ULTRA. Art on the other hand will beĀ resuming his attendance to the Nike Running Clinic by Tuesday. Ā My next target : 15K at the Runew Race on Feb 22 and the Maarat trail sometime soon. Wish me luck! š
Filed under: Event, mtbiking, Race | Tagged: Happy Run, mckinley trail, runrio | 8 Comments »
Kulit on the Run 