Sante Domination Run

21K of Domination – Photo by RJ Knight Runner

Read about: Incoming: Sante Domination Run

” It was a day to dominate your distance and your limitations. The Sante Domination Run had thousands of runners treated to the wide streets of Aseana and the scenic view of Manila Bay via the Cavite Expressway as they witness the crossing of dawn to the early morning sunshine while they get to earn their medal and mileage for the weekend.”

Domination Day

One of the best medals for the year.

If you’ve been following my post, this would be my 3rd half marathon this month with still 1 more left next week.  Before you say that I’m on a suicide mission, let me say the reason of the runs.  The runs are there to help build up my endurance for my first full marathon in February.  Each race tests a different dynamic on the run like Milo Marathon in Baguio was for the altitude training and Siargao It Up was for the heat training.  Sante Domination would be a perfect way to test the run – walk method.  Though I’ve been using the run-walk method lately, I’ve never done it consistently in a race as either I get eaten up by the speed, elevation or the heat.  With a dawn gun start and a slightly flatter terrain, it would be the perfect place to try it out.  I’m actually excited about Sante Domination Run from the first time it was presented to us to the build up of participants over the months to the actual day of the event.  I see it as the first of a series of big races under the Sante Barley banner and a chance to be a part of their first foray.

Race Course and Elevation Profile

Scenic Cavitex Route – powered by Suunto Movescount.

Race starts at Bradco road in Aseana and passes through Coastal mall and enters Cavite Expressway at Kilometer 3, hits the toll booth at kilometer 5 which comes with a scenic Manila Bay view from Cavitex.  Kilometer 8 climbs the ramp heading towards the area of Cavitex surrounded by Manila Bay for the halfway point, which is very scenic in the early morning sunshine.  The race proceeds back to the higher part of Cavitex and proceeds back to Aseana for the finish line.  The race is not a flat one as there are a lot of false flats and the biggest descent and climb is at kilometer 8 as it descends to the u turn slot and the road back to the ramp is the biggest incline.

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The Race

Reade, Get Set, Go. – Photo by KB Runner of Photo-ops

The plan for the race was to go at a relax pace going for a 5 minutes run and 1 minute walk intervals.  Speaking of being relaxed, I almost missed the gun start since I was so lax with my race preparations in the morning.  I arrived at Aseana at 3:30 am but the parking area was already full so had to park at the far end of Mall of Asia which is about 2 kilometers away from the race so I rushed to the starting line and arrived there at 4:00 am.  Fortunately, the gun start was moved to 4:30 am due to logistic issue at Cavitex so was able to rest up a bit.

Chill pace for this one – Photo by Gasma Xfinity Runners

The starting line was packed with thousands of runners so I just positioned myself at the back end of the starting line as I also have the habit of going with the pace of the lead pack and paying for it the rest of the race.  The pace from the mid pack to the back is more tolerable.  At the start of the race, it was crowded which was fine with me as I get to use it to warm up my muscles.  The road in Aseana was wide enough for the runners to move with the speedsters taking the lead pack and the runners now go on their respective paces.  There was a slight drizzle at kilometer 3 entering the Cavitex area which was really refreshing.  There was a stench though entering Cavitex from the nearby marketplace.  No complains from me, just motivation to move faster.

Run Franckee Run – Photo by Tara Trip Tayo

I’m doing counts of 300 (5 minutes) for the run part and counts of 60 (1 minute) for the walk part and not minding much the pace but only checking on the distance from time to time.  At kilometer 5, we crossed the Cavitex toll booth and the race shifts to a nice view of Manila Bay from the side of Cavitex.  By the 8th kilometer, the early dawn shifts to the morning sunshine with a view from the ramp of the strip of Cavitex surrounded by Manila Bay and the good part was the race heads to that area.  The view of the bay was refreshing as you see the dark of the nigh slowly shift into the early morning sunshine.  At kilometer 10, I checked on the time and man, I was slow, 1:18 for the first 10 kilometers of the race.  I missed that my cadence was slowing down at some point in the race but crossing the halfway point still fresh without any muscle pain was a good sign that the run-walk strategy was working.

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It’s always refreshing being at the halfway point as you can now start counting down the kilometers.  The next challenging part was the climb back to the upper part of Cavitex.  I resumed on the run-walk part of the strategy and after exerting effort on the climb, it was back on top of Cavitex at the 13th kilometer.  It was also at this time that the heat was starting to be a factor.  With Cavitex and Aseama, mostly open areas, the heat of the sun was in full effect.  It was mechanical at this point run for 300 counts and walk for 60 counts and stopping at water stations.  It was harder at this point but I wanted to execute the strategy from start to end.

The finish line awaits – Photo by Justin Gomez of Photo-ops

Slowly, I get to pass familiar landmarks with the toll booth being the last 5 kilometers and the entry back to Aseana, the last 3 kilometers of the race.  The scent of the finish line is getting stronger and for now, I’d just ignore the sun’s heat countering it with spilling water over my head to get refreshed during water stops.  The finish line was just a few run walk intervals away.  In no time, I was back in Bradco and crossing the finish line.  The race was done at a relax pace but I still felt the sting of the 21K distance and the heat of the sun but happy to finished my 3rd half marathon this month.

Wrapping Things Up – Photo by KB Runner of Photo-ops

It was my first time to fully execute the run walk in a race.  I do need to work on my cadence though but I’ll work on speed later, the focus now is building endurance.  Since this is about domination, my goal was to control the energy consumption during the race and the run-walk strategy really helps distribute the effort during the race.  It was not a fast one but it felt good having enough energy and not struggling at the latter part of the race.  Sante Domination Run was a well executed run with a scenic route, a good crowd control, a great photo coverage and ample hydration though there was a bottleneck in some water station due to the volume of runners.  Congratulations to Sante Barlet and Without Limits for a well executed run.  I’m sure that Sante Barley would be a dominant brand when it comes to running and multisports.  I and thousands who came are looking forward to the next runs. We Came, We Saw and We Dominated.