VSO Race Recap and Pictures

I noticed a number of things different about the VSO Bahaginan Race which may account for the improvement in my time (1 hour, 6 minutes, 58 seconds) for the 10k. Being almost a month after my first race, the Adidas KOTR, I did expect to run the race without stopping (except to get a drink from the refreshment stations). Nevertheless, this is the first time for me to actually run 10k straight so that's one small victory I I'll remember about this race. Since I can't help but compare the 2 races, I decided to focus on writing about them. So here goes:

1. The Race Course was less stressful. The Adidas KOTR had us run through the streets of Makati. At some point, I noticed that the motorists were very much impatient and were honking their horns to let them pass. The view was mostly that of concrete and buildings. Imagine running on the flyover that connected The Fort to Buendia! For the VSO run, despite it having more portions that sloped upwards and downwards, the view was greener. It might be a minor observation, but it mattered to me.
2. The weather was cooler. It maybe caused by the fact that Christmas is near or that the VSO run started earlier. It was definitely easier to run in the cooler weather. It could be one of the reasons why I didn't tire out as easily.
3. I had friends nearby. That may sound cheesy so let me put another perspective other than the fact that their presence was a big morale booster. I also knew that how I performed then might be talked among ourselves and maybe to other people. So to avoid having to explain a bad performance, I tried harder to have a good performance.
4. I was better prepared. Training aside, I had a better idea of what to expect. I think I had a better breakfast meal this time around. In addition, more essential is the mental preparation. It seemed like I was calmer and I thought out how I was going to run this race. I kept telling myself that I had to be patient. I would frequently catch myself copying the pace of another runner and tell myself to run at my own pace. It also helped that I was able to read up on tips that other runners gave about preparing for a race.

This was the also the first race of my office/running mates, Jen and Meng. I've been running with them every weekend for the past month and it's been much more fun with them around. So to thank them for being great running buddies, here's some of the VSO Run pictures that we took:Finally, thanks to Photovendo, here are more VSO Race pictures: