May 3, 2009 – This is my first race after my doctor told me to rest from “competitive” running for one month. What?! I can’t believe that she advised me to rest. After months of having the on and off pain in my shin, my doctor finally confirmed that I was having Shin Splints. It was a choice between resting for a month so I can continue running again or just continue running until the injury worsens and retire early from running. Now, minutes after I walked out of her clinic, I was telling myself: “did I made the right decision to go for a check-up?”
Yes, it was a good decision to see my doctor and hear her advise. But, the challenge was how I will adjust to her advise. Since Thursday evening, I was prescribed to take Naproxen – it was not in my thoughts that I will be taking that med earlier than expected. Emilee and I had some exchange of thoughts (some of our friends got involved too) on what to do (because, I was reasoning, I might be so depressed of being sidelined that I am tempted to munch and munch again… he he he, good argument).
So, the plan were (1) continue running but I should be slower than my (slow) average pace of 6:00 – 6:30 mins/km, (2) if I will be doing my easy jogs, I should be running on asphalted roads, and lastly (3) we shall be decreasing our easy jogs and the Sunday races that we will join.
Fast forward to the ATC Southern race:
We were expecting a good race course today knowing that the route will pass thru the Ayala Alabang Village. It will be a challenging one since there are plenty uphill and downhill roads inside the village. Though the race start a bit late to accomodate the on-site registrants, it didn’t bother the runners since it was cloudy and the race routes were shady – courtesy of those decades old Acacia Trees.

Runners of the ATC Southern Race
On to the race, we had a fast start. I felt I was doing less than 6:00mins/km. I only realized that I was going fast when some of the seasoned runners are starting to overtake me when I slowed down. At the km#5 hydration station, I saw that my time was 27minutes+. It was at this point that I decided to really slowdown, worried that the microfractures (as the doctor told me) would aggravate. My target was to have a pace between 7:00-7:30mins/km (and not faster).
With my pride starting to win the mental battle of speeding up or slowing down, I managed to finish the race at 1hour, 11minutes, and 20 seconds as my official time (hey, when I crossed the finish line, the timer read 1hour, 10 minutes, and 43 seconds). It was a good finish for me who’s been advised to take it slowly (I think, I did not).

The official race results were out already as early as 7:30am
Overall, the race course was well planned. The marshalls were helpful. The hydration stations, well, they were helpful except for the last station where they ran out of plastic cups – still they were very apologetic. Hey, the weather cooperated too! By the way, this was the first race where the results were published before the program ended (this was super fast) – it was pinned on those lamp post.

For the benefit of the SOS Children's Village

Running for a good cause
Of course, running for a very good cause is a milestone for me and Emilee. From what I know, the registration fee of PhP 150.00 goes directly to the SOS Children’s Village. Kudos to Alabang Town Center (the major sponsor and organizer of this run)!

Me and Emilee
Hopefully, I will be able to recover in time for the 10-miler of the Market!Market! Power Miler Run on May 17.
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