Held at Brgy. Corte, Carmen, Cebu, it was the most dreadful, exhausting, painful run I’ve had. And I think (and all the participants think) the most disorganized event ever.
I attended the Leg 5 of the Columbia Trail series and it was tolerable but very nice. The trail was varied from uphill to river rock trekking. So I was also looking forward for Leg 6, knowing that it will be held at the mountain ranges in Carmen. Though I wasn’t super excited about the trail and the elevation, I was still eager to run the 15km route. But overall, the run was poorly organized compared the past leg. Here’s why:
- It started an hour late.
- There were few marshalls guiding the runners, thus many of the participants got lost in the mountains. Few accidents happened because the marshalls were not present on the dangerous parts of the trail.
- There were locals who volunteered as marshalls, but most of them don’t even know what kilometer they’re in on their assigned areas; and it’s a very important information since we have to know how many km’s we still have to run (or walk) to get to the finish line. Good thing my fellow pacers have Garmin watches tracking our distance.
- On the first 300meters of our run, we were lost already because some woman (who was a local there, and a volunteer marshall) lead us to a different route. I think 50% of the runners were running in that direction (including me, and mostly front runners, even the Kenyans). It was like 15 minutes later when some marshalls shouting and informing us that we were on the wrong track. Goodness gracious! Lots of runners complained about it and pretty pissed after it.
- Run whenever and wherever you want, you get a medal anyway. Even our officemates that didn’t run have a medal. I even knew one person got 2 medals. Seriously?
- After the cutoff time, they had a mass sweeping all-around the route areas informing the participants who were still running to just give-up and go back to the starting/finish line. It was really frustrating especially for us since we were on the 12km mark already, right after we passed the cave; worst thing is they were pulling out the blue flags on the routes to signal us that we have to really go back. We were so close and we just had to give up or else we won’t make it alive (die of hunger and heat) if we continue. And we also had to go since Stacy (Shiela’s sis) almost passed out because of the heat (and it was already 12nn).
Even for me, I was on the verge of giving up. It was still 4km when I was sooo tempted to quit. Good thing I found Paolo, Jean, Paolo’s bro Angelo and Stacy at some point, and decided to pace each other. It’s good to have running buddies during trail runs (at least you have company when all of you get lost 😀 ).
I think for me the worst part was on the 6-8km because the whole stretch was uphill. The view on top didn’t even help motivate me to continue because I was already tired. And I can’t give up now because I was on a friggin’ mountain! I’m just sooooo happy when we got to the summit because we found a pipe gushing with water. I removed my bag and decided to have a quick shower. That took all my “laspag” and dizziness, and I recovered from the excruciating heat and muscle pains.
At 9km, there was a free FRESH buko juice. I was excited because we passed by a lot of runners drinking buko juice but it was Php 10, and I didn’t bring any money. So when I found the free buko, I drank the whole juice! It was yummmy and very thirst quenching….. and then I got some stomach pains, adding to my knee and ankle pains I was experiencing already. Greedy! (but still worth it).
The best part I think was on the cave/grotto part. It. was. MAGNIFICENT. I totally regret it when I didn’t bring my point-and-shoot or my phone to take photos during the run, especially on the this part when the view was absolutely incredible. I didn’t know that the grotto part was actually a SINKHOLE before. So mindfucked. And the cave was also beautiful. My last caving was in Siquijor. Though it wasn’t as challenging as this one, it was still fun.
After the cave part, we had to go to a shortcut route because it was already noon and if we continue, we might die from the heat and hunger. It was funny because the marshalls were coming at us since we’re the last one running/trekking that they had to sweep. We had to call a medic too because Stacy was really dizzy from the heat and really exhausted.
While going through the shortcut, all I think about is just be on the base already. My right knee is very painful, and I’m super hungry. That’s why I was just so happy when I heard some river gushing and kids laughing on a distance. We’re almost there! And when we got to the finish line, I really thought we can’t get our medals because a marshall told us that we still didn’t finish. Good thing they were giving out all the medals to all the participants of the Elite category (15km route). It would be disappointing if I didn’t get my medal after all those efforts, patience, blood and sweat I gave throughout the route.
Though the leg was really not my favorite (and I think everyone agrees), it was still fun running/trekking the 15km route. We haven’t made it to the waterfalls, but the cave/grotto/sinkhole part and the view from the mountains sufficed it all. It was a really nice route, eventhough I hate the 2km uphill. I still can’t even imagine how I did it, but I made it. I just wished it was organized properly.
And the lesson I learned throughout the race? Patience. Just enjoy every moment, even if its already painful. It will always be worth it. 😀
Le Medal
