A Birthday Run! 7 Eleven Run 2016

Event Host Details
7 Eleven – Run 2016, January 17, 2016 SUNDAY at Filinvest, Skyway, Alabang.

Runner’s Records
My first 16km (Yay!)
PR – 2:10

Training/Preparations
I once run a 2+ km, and decided to “bahala na yung 14k sa mismong event.” 😂
Carb loading night before the event
Body conditioning mainly Cardio workouts

How I get there
I just took a bus going to Alabang-South Station around 1:45am and I arrived at Palengke near South Station (station was closed yet) around 2:15am. I have just the right time to take rest, visit the booths, attend ‘some’ things at portalets, set my running clothes and shoes, pray, prepare myself.

7 eleven run is one of sponsor-studded runs! So I really went there earlier to enjoy grocery-ing at the booths (to avoid hassle) but some of them were just setting up that time. What I visited and enjoyed were the Milo and Salonpas booth.
And I was right! After I ran, a lot of runners piling up and up to every booth! Freebies like snacks, drinks, stickers, photobooths, raffles, etcetera are worth queuing for! ✌

During the Run
Well, it is my birthday! So, why not start my day doing something aside from eating! SRSLY!
For my first 2km, I started to feel that my stride did not feel right. So I started my pabebe pace from there. 🙂
Running at Skyway, well, it was my first time there and the experience is a mix of excitement and exhaustion. I am excited because of the ‘first timer feels’ and exhausted because I can see the long pile of runners ahead of me but I can not hardly see how far “more” before the U-turn point. 😂 I can also see the 21k runners on the other side.
As I ran, I just find someone as far as my eyes could see and aimed to catch up and passed them by a few meters before I rest-walk for 30sec to 1minute and as I walk, I again look for another benchmark-to-be for my next overtake. I do not have my pace so that’s the cycle I repeated during the RUN.

At the last 2km of the run, 10k runners joined us up to the finish line. And before I knew it, I just finished my first 16km run! Just like that. I will definitely run again!

Feeling after Running
Sore feet! Loose socks really sucks! I removed my shoes and socks right after I passed the Finish Line! Someone really asked me if I ran on my bare feet! 😂 #Poser

Unforgettable Moment/What I enjoyed Most
Everytime I look up ahead, I wonder how long would it take me to pass at a specific point and I will give my projected time whether 5 or 10 more minutes but as I actually passed that point, it was always shorter than I guessed. That kept me the whole run! It really surprised me how far a 1 Minute run could take me.

I’ve been tracking my run via, STRAVA – did not fail to fail inrecording my runs and NIKE+ – I ran 16k but results showed a total of only 5km. As I passed the 6km mark, nike’s reading was 2.0+ km. So I did not really tracked. Will just wait for the time results.

Crossing the Finish Line

Runner’s Note
There was no ‘Gun Start’ for our wave, 16k- Wave K. The host announcing something about Wave J (16k’s Elite Runners) via mega phone. The next thing we (me and my friend Angel) know, we were surrounded by the 10k runners. I think it was our mistake on where is the ‘actual’ Starting Line of the race. After passing all of the 10k runners in front of us, a different Start Line ark was ahead of us. Nevertheless, we did not hear any gun start.

A warm up exercises for the runners just before the gun start is a plus! There’s a stage set up at the open ground so I really thought there would be a warm up sesh before the run but there was none.

Pictures