MARATHON #1

By: Butch Tansengco

Race day: The 32nd National Milo Marathon Metro Manila Elimination Race - I was promptly in bed at around 8:00 p.m. of the eve of the race, but the anxiety of running my first marathon prevailed over me and it took me another two hours or so of channel flicking and tossing and turning before I finally dozed off. Nevertheless, I beat two cellphones (three, including my wife’s) with their respective alarm settings set to go off at 2:00 a.m. and was up and about by 1:30 a.m. to go about my pre-race ritual, courtesy of a handful of running books purchased during the course of my two-month preparation and countless back-issues of Runner’s World:

- light breakfast (at least two hours before the start) consisting of a peanut butter sandwich, a cup of milk and cereals and a cup of fruit cocktail: check

- applying petroleum jelly to areas that are prone to being chafed: check (or so I thought)

- gear (singlet, race bib, shorts, socks, shoes, heart rate monitor, chest strap, foot pod, shades, cap): check

- sunblock: check!

My wife, Lora (who was going to run the 10K), and I left our Makati home a little past three and were parked in front of The Manila Hotel some fifteen minutes later to meet up with Coach Rio dela Cruz and his assistant, Coach John (a South East Asian Games gold medallist and record holder), who were kind enough to volunteer to be my support team during the marathon. I constantly ribbed Coach Rio that his main incentive was to see me finish (hopefully within the prescribed five-hour cut-off for the event) or his coaching career would be over! Of course, this was all done in jest as Coach Rio had reluctantly agreed to my foolhardy request in late May to get me marathon-ready in two months.

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Pictures taken during the Rush to Infinity held last June 29, 2008 at Fort Global City are out. Visit theactiveachiever.com. These were the shots that were taken by professional photographers such as Ben Chan aka Photographer on the run

Just go to the gallery section.

A young entrepreneur Rio Dela Cruz is now a part of the select few people who can organize a kick@ss footrace in the metro. Handling personal coaching duties, Coaching the UP track team, a new line of running apparel business, and organizing races is a hefty responsibility. But not for Rio, his schedule keeps him busy as a worker bee.

~write-up and photos courtesy of
Ben M. Chan aka Photographer on the Run