Unicef Walk on the Child's Side

I have to admit that this was one challenging race. The ups and downs of this one threw me off pace.

I got to the race at around 5 A.M. so I did some limbering exercises to loosen up my muscles. I was a bit worried that my legs had not yet fully recovered from my sprints last Friday evening. I also walked around to warm up a bit and see if I knew anyone. I saw Carlo and Lara shortly before the start of the 10k. Lara stayed in the 5k area while Carlo introduced me to some of his friends.

It was quite crowded at the start with runners trying to get ahead of each other in such a narrow road. Within 5 minutes, we had already gone through a couple of ups and downs, and I realized that I had forgotten to start my stopwatch. Aaargh!!! By then, Carlo had already disappeared so I just decided to run my own race, using the actual time on my watch as a guide. I was so bothered by the steep incline going out to Lawton that I actually considered walking it just to conserve my energy. Then, it was off again to Bayani Road and the Heritage Park. It was my first time inside the park so while a part of my was straining to keep up the pace and get enough air into my lungs, the other part was enjoying the view. One thing I liked about the area was that I would always remember my son, Javier, every time I would see a plane pass overhead.

I also remember getting disoriented because I was expecting the run to reach C5 at some point. Good thing there were a lot of race marshals to guide us through the correct route.

The way back was just as difficult since I had to pace myself again for the long uphill climb to Lawton. I had used the many water stations take sips of water every time my mouth would go dry from breathing heavily. By the last water station at the corner after Bayani Road (Well, somewhere in that area), my legs felt like rubber. When I saw a group of runners running strongly to back to Mckinley Hill, I decided to follow suit and give it all I had. I worried a bit about running down the steep incline because of what it could do with my knees so I held back a bit but when I saw the finish line, I went all out.


Time for the Unicef Race: 1:03:52. While I wasn't able to beat the 1 hour hurdle, it is three minutes better than the VSO Bahaginan Race. I guess it's not bad considering the challenge of this race.