the longest run of my life (so far)

I have never ran marathons/half-marathons before, so I decided to join Runnroo‘s weekly 25km run (Dalaguete-Alcoy-Boljoon).

It was fun, painful and emotional.

We started running 3:30am and it was still dark and cold. We have a 3:2 minute run-walk pace, and at first it was tolerable (well, for me, for the first 10km).

After the 10km mark, I ran behind my buddies coz I can feel my toes and knees are starting to give up. So I switched my pace to 2 minutes run, and unlimited power walking. When we reached Alcoy, I was really really tired. My knees are shaking, and my toes are begging me to stop running already. 🙁 Dang, I really underestimated 25-kilometers. I thought it was easy, but for my stamina, uh-uh, I was sooo dead wrong. Even the last kilometer was I think the loooongest 1km walk of my life. It was really painful, and 25km is no joke after all.

But I never gave up. I mean, this was the whole point of the run: to never give up.

Even though it’s painful and I can no longer see my buddies on the highway stretch (that’s how behind I am), I tried my best not to think about the pain, and just think about the glory and achievement I’ll have when I reach the finish line. You know what they say about you get emotional when you run long distance? It’s true. And this is what I realized: life is hard, and it is not easy. Sometimes, no one is there for you when you are in need of help or company. There are situations that are really painful to endure and all you have is yourself. But if there’s one thing that you should not lose when everything else does is your will to not give up despite the situation. I am so much tempted to just ride a bus and wait others from the finish line, but I didn’t. Because I know I can still do it. I didn’t mind the pain I felt. Instead I distracted myself sightseeing the beautiful scenery I was passing by while I was running, greeting people and just enjoy myself singing, walking barefoot and feeling my every stride. And in the end, after 6 hours and 30 minutes of pain, suffering and awesome fun run/walk with my friends, I reached the finish line.

It was an awesome and mind-blowing experience. And I’m even more happy because I did it with my girlfriend and with my awesome friends in the office. It was an honor to have them run with me on this great journey. It’s painful, yes, but pain is one of the great rewards of running, because it’s worth it. I now understand why people run such distances. It’s not only about the distance they covered, but the beautiful things they see and realize while they run.

P.S.

Thank you to Caresharing, Inc. for the loving support for our accomodation and food expenses. Also thank you to the Runnroo team Joseph, Armie, Paolo, Odina, and Jean for the motivation and awesome support while running. You guys are an inspiration. To my fellow first-time 25km runners Vanni, Ayn, Jimbo and Rose, it was great running with you guys! Ug kay Mark sad for the ride home (sakit najud among tiil ug kalawasan, maygani naa mi free ride 🙂 ).

??? WHAT DO YOU WANT?? FOR DINNNEEEEEEEER!!!!! ??? (ang makarelate, gwapo/gwapa 😀 )