Pinky swear.. That was the pink ring given to us at the peak of Clark Miyamit 42 race. Tricia and I will never underestimate the value of sleep and rest again. Maybe it was too late but we just declared a no rest, no race policy if we want to perform well. We realized it was a bad idea to go straight to the race from the airport. We thank God for his guidance and mercy that despite being drowsy and weak due to fatigue caused by lack of sleep weeks before CM 42. Our jobs have become extra demanding, we started the race like zombies. It was a struggle fr Km. 0 until Km. 29 where we decided to declare a DNF (did not finish). Two days before the race, we were already considering of not joining because of our schedules especially Tricias but we thought that if she could take a good nap during her 3-hr flight back, she should be ok, based on past experiences which she wasnt able to have because of various reasons. We tried to run and conquer the hills hoping wed recover which has been the case in races where we felt weak at the start but yesterday was different. Tricia was looking for her bed countless times. When she first raised the idea of stopping, I knew she was really tired because thats so unusual of her. We discussed while walking and both agreed that if getting sick after the race would be the trade off, we should just let go. We thought it was the best decision that moment. We said wed just push until the peak so from then on we took our sweet time and enjoyed the route. When we reached the peak, we were told that theres no way we could go back than to walk almost 9km where the vehicles waiting. So we had our mini picnic up there; meet and greet with other runners; photo ops, etc. and started walking back then it rained... it rained really, really hard and we suddenly had our own version of Miyamit falls except that it was mud flowing. The road became slippery in a route where most parts were downhill. We let other runners rushing to beat the cut off time overtake us. There was just us in the long stretch of the dark, muddy trail. That last 9 Kms was challenging, we were blessed we survived. When we finally reached AS 3, we said with a smile that wed stop and would just take the ride back to the starting line. Like all runners, we also wanted to finish the race but given the circumstances, we knew that the wisest thing to do was to stop, let go of that aspiration and move on with lessons learned. We were happy to DNF because we were able to swallow our pride as athletes and listen to our bodies and loved ones who wanted only the best for us. Congratulations to all participants who gave their best whether you finished or not, especially to our friends. Thank you and congratulations to the marshalls for staying there smiling inspite of getting wet, also to the organizer and sponsors. See you next year! Zzzzzz... ;)
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:33:37 +0000
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