“World Vision is among the advocacy I support and I am even sponsoring a child since last year so being part of another edition of World Vision Run is a hard work out for the body and really big boost to the soul. World Vision Run gave us a good cause to support and a good race course to conquer at BGC and Makati. #worldvisionrun2014 #wvrun2014 “
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World Vision
A year ago, I decided to support a child via World Vision. For P600 a month, I get to help a child to have a good education. I get updates from them on how my sponsored child is doing and I get to see how just a little amount has really helped. This is one of the reason why I support their cause as you don’t have to be rich to make a difference. Having the World Vision Run again this year is another way of supporting their cause. I registered again for the 21K distance for this year. I also need the workout for my 30K trail run next week. Personally, I’ve been struggling with my run lately as I’ve been working on how to manage my shin injury and trying to make it stronger by more consistent but lower impact runs. I was planning to go slow for this one but 2 days before the run, I felt much better and I guess I could go a little bit faster come race day.
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Race Course
One thing I appreciate during the run was it gave as a glimpse of the new areas in Bonifacio Global City (BGC). The race starts at 34th street and loops around Bonifacio High Street area before proceeding to 3rd Avenue via 26th Street. The race then goes uphill with a climb at Kalayaan Flyover heading to Buendia which goes all the way to the Makati-Pasay border for the u-turn. The race heads back to BGC via Buendia. The race continues to Rizal Drive to 26th Street and loops in the Bonifacio High Street Area. It heads downward 8th Avenue and passes through triangle drive before heading to the newly constructed 11th Avenue and 34th street for the finish.
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The Race
The race had a 4:30 am gun start and 3:30 am assembly so I was up early with just a few hours of sleep for this one. Surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling sleepy for this one. I arrived at the venue at 4:00 am and used the run from the parking to the venue as my short warm up run before doing the regular stretches. The mood was upbeat at the starting line with the pre-race program and warm up. I promised to push myself a bit for this one just to test if I can go run at a faster pace again.
I usually start at 2:1 run walk intervals though for this one I started at 4:1 run walk intervals. I usually start slow since I need my legs to warm up first or else it will feel stiff but for this morning that wasn’t the case. The plan was to sustain the pace and the interval as long as I can and see how far it brings me. The first 4 kilometers area was well executed before the climb to Kalayaan Flyover. I usually use inclines for recovery walks but this time, I stuck with the faster pace even on the climb. I needed the training effect of the hills to make my leg stronger.
The Kalayaan Flyover had a rolling terrain so I decided to go n with the interval and just take a few seconds of rest on water stops. After the descent on the final part of Kalayaan Flyover, the road is flat going to the u-turn in Buendia at the Makati-Pasay border. I want to be more consistent in my effort and so far so good. Unfortunately, at each road crossings, I ended up being a part of those who had to wait for the cars to pass. Oh well, better safe than sorry.
So Buendia was a long stretch passing from Makati Avenue, Ayala Avenue, Osmena Boulevard and finally taking the u-turn slot before the Makati-Pasay border. I was really pushing myself at this part and hit the first half of the race with a decent time. Going in the second half of the race, fatigue is starting to catch by with the heavier feeling in the legs and the slowing of my cadence. I was happy with a strong half but I decided to push myself further.
Even with a slower cadence, I still went on with the run walk interval until kilometer 12 before the climb back to Kalayaan. I then shifted to 30 seconds climbing and walking alternately until I get past the climb. The sun was up already and it was scorching that morning. By kilometer 13, I dropped the run walk interval and just went on gut feel. I run as long as I can and walked to take breathers. I also used the descending terrain to speed up and the inclines to slow down and rest.
Kilometer 15, I was back in BGC. It’s just a 6 kilometer stretch to the finish line and I’m making sure I get properly hydrated as it’s already hot at this time of the morning. Next 4 kilometers was going to stretches of run and walk just to preserve energy along Bonifacio High Street Area. The last two kilometers was the refreshing part as this was my first time running this area. I took advantage of the descent in 8th Avenue to catch up some time. I took it slow in the area in 10th Avenue and triangle drive before making a last push at 11th Avenue.
After 11th Avenue, it was the last stretch to the finish so with all my remaining energy, I went on to have a strong finish. That was a good run!!! It was not PR worthy fast but it was a lot faster than my previous runs, which is good as I’m just starting to build up again at this stage. I enjoyed challenging myself in this run and I hope I get more pain-free run like this. I’m glad to do another 21K for World Vision.
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