"After 42.195 kilometers, everyone turns into furry animals with funny names"
- Anonymous
Kilometer 52, somewhere in Bataan. 7 :17 am.
Nearing the halfway mark, one would somehow grasp a palpable sense of accomplishment having completed the ultra distance already. At this point, 99% of the population would have called it a day , limping gingerly to their cars while prepping for breakfast at Mcdo 32nd Street or Paul Calvin's. But alas, this wasn't BHS. We're not pampered pansies anymore. I'm right smack in the middle of nowhere with the heat steadily climbing. At this point, you're doggone tired. And yet, the lurid element about the whole thing is you have nearly have a day to do it all over again.
Still alive and strong at the 52k mark.An essential rule that I apply is that before every race, make sure you have ample restroom time to unload whatever needs to be unloaded. Anxiety and excitement make for a potent tummy-churning mix. Unfortunately, the "posh" accommodations at our "hotel" weren't too inviting. Suffice to say, I ran on a full stomach. Which became even fuller after ingesting practically everything that was on my "buffet on wheels", some which were completely mismatched. Thus, something had to give at one time or another. Great. So after nearly 8 hours of running, I had to go. And that's where the fun started.
I couldn't allow this to happen to meh! Ewww.I knocked on the first house I saw. Here's a faithful transcript of the proceedings that followed :
GBM : Kuya, pwede ho bang makigamit ng CR? Kami ung tumatakbo mula Mariveles hanggang San Fernando.
Manong : Ay pagkalayo ah! O cge dito na lang pasok ka. Pero pagpasensiyahan mo na ang banyo namin.
(Opens door. Point to, er, a hole in the ground. Yeah. A hole in the ground)
GBM: Ah, ummm, ay kuya iihi lang sana ako eh!
Manong : Ah ganoon ba, akala ko dudumi ka?
GBM: Ay hindi ho, naiihi lang talaga!
Manong : Eh para saan yang tisyu?
GBM : Uuh, para sa pawis lang ho!
Manong : Whatever!! (okay maybe not, but something close to it)
Well, this wasn't a purely kaartehan decision. Squatting over the Neanderthal-like hole could have run the risk of cramping me up. After all, 56 kilometers is 56 kilometers. So as I made a beeline for the exits, I just realized I had lost 10 seconds of precious pace over that. Ugh.
It's a hole in the ground for crying out loud.I had AJ and the gang look for anywhere clean. This was slowly turning into a national catastrophe. Option number one- Funeraria Hidalgo. Pass. Option number two - a clubhouse inside a subdivision. Problem was, the clubhouse was at least 500 meters away from the gate along the highway. Great. I didn't even dare consider riding the car because obviously it isn't allowed. With the temperature steadily rising , the extra 1k did not help any. I was losing hard-fought time and pace with these detours.
To further exacerbate things, the efficascent oil that we had been using for rubdowns apparently did not jive well with my fancy P650 sunblock (ulk) and well, the sun itself. My legs felt like they were literally burning. Like you poured an entire bottle of Omega on it or something.Bad decision! Dang. By the time I had finished going to the restroom and had the efficascent oil washed out, I had lost more than 35 minutes already. Great.
It burns, it burns. Km 65, somewhere hot in Bataan. Around 10 am.
After that fiasco, crew chief AJ told me that Abby had just passed me. I hadn't seen her since the start of the race so I decided to catch up with her and say hi. At least I could somehow make up for some lost time. I tempo ran about 3k at 6:20 pace just to get to her. She was in full focus mode, and even my fun Gingerbread jokes would not work on her. She would later tell me that if she had any energy left, she would have punched me in the face. Smirk.
For a certain stretch, we were going back and forth. I would leave her, then she would catch up as Aj and RV would methodically hose me down and drape me in ice-cold towels because the heat was somewhat of a joke already. It was fun though, because it was like we were sharing two support cars. Carina, Joni and Z all helped immensely in hosing me down and giving me foodies.
Shared support rocks!
Good morning towels save the day!Abby had a crazy yet effective strategy that entailed NOT STOPPING at all. She even brushed her teeth while on the go. Amazing.
Amazing!
Eating the dust of intense Abby.
Taking up the cudgels for alpha males everywhere.Km 70, somewhere very, very hot in Bataan. I could care less what time it is.
It's hot. Really hot. Exag hot. Scrambled eggs on the pavement hot. Somehow, I couldn't quite describe to you how ridiculously hot it was that day. Only later on were we informed that the heat actually hit 41 degrees on the thermostat. If you factor in the heat seeping out from the asphalt, it could have easily been hotter.
HOT.The only way I was able to survive was by being soaked in ice cold towels and being hosed down head to foot every 10 minutes. Everything was starting to look like a mirage. I was starting to be extremely crabby brat to my crew already. I refused to eat anything, even a Jollibee spaghetti that would have been yummy in ordinary conditions. AJ was force feeding me, and I would throw away food when he wasn't looking (heheh).
I hate GBM....
Need a hosedown...
More hosedowns....It came to a point where my words had escaped me already.....
Km 72, I don't know where the crap I am. It's time... to quit?
No. NO. NO!!!! Just as I was settling into some semblance of a comfortable second wind along with a good rhythm with the crew, I felt a familiar pain on the outer edge of my left knee. Visions of walking the last 12k of Globe Run For Home last year came flooding in. No. Not today. Please. As the dreaded pangs of ITBS started to kick in, I was panicking inside. I have 3/4 of a marathon to go, I can't put weight on my knee anymore. A combination of frustration, panic, exhaustion and sleep deprivation suddenly all kicked in, and before I knew it the tears were welling. Good thing RV's shades provided my macho image some decent cover. How the crap was I supposed to finish this thing?? Sob. Sniffle. Mommyy.
End of the road for GBM?I was at an all-time emotional low. Depression. Angst. Abby just ate away at the lead I had built. Now she was gone. Everyone was passing me. Doc Art and Argow were going strong as I struggled mightily to catch up. Alas, my body simply had nothing left to offer. And here I was, legs pretty much a useless pile of rubber. I was already thinking of a lame excuse for not finishing. Sigh.
Thank God for AJ. As my best bud/crew chief, his calm and rational words implored me to solider on when I couldn't get up for the count anymore. Check your competitive streak at the door. Forget your lead. Pace. Time. Whatever. Forget who passed you. That doesn't even matter now. The one thing you should be concentrating on is to finish this race in one piece. We didn't go all this way just to see you quit. Later on he would tell me that he should have watched all the inspirational movies he could, because he was running out of lines. Lol.
Good thing AJ watched a pirated DVD beforehand. Ice. Massage. Tourniquet. Prayers.
And the madness continues.
Bromance of the year?Kilometer 80. I saw the Lito Lapid Sign So This Must Be Pampanga.
Kilometer 72 to 80 was probably the roughest stretch of the entire race for me. The pain on my knee was immense, and I was continually on the verge of quitting. Everything seemed to grind to a standstill, inch by painstaking inch seemingly rendered in stop-motion animation. What felt like five kilometers was in reality only one. In my deranged, sleep-deprived state I was admonishing the crew for being too far in between stops (to aspiring BDM support crew out there, it's an occupational hazard). I told them, Every 500 meters!!! I would learn later on that they were actually waiting for me at 200 meter intervals. Oops.
Crunch Time in Pampanga.Kilometer 82. People speaking in tongues. I think I just saw Grimace in front of me. 2pm?
Fading. Fading badly. At this juncture, I feel like there's nothing left in the tank. I must have fallen asleep while running, as i was jarred back to consciousness by the afterburn of a bus that was about 2 feet away from me. I felt like climbing an summit-less Everest. I was all alone, and weird thoughts were starting to get into my head. Like, !@@##$%%!!!! was I doing this to myself???!!!
Enter Mark. A regular pacemate during the road race season, this athletic wunderkind seems to never tire at all. At just the precise moment that I was completely spacing out, his presence helped me greatly. The casual conversation took me out of my zombie-like state, and just having someone around seemed to have a tremendous effect on my sanity. We felt like we were in some bizarre reality show, and we would somehow manage to alternate between incessant laughter and incessant whining. Heading into the homestretch, I was really liking our chances.
Move over Marc and Rovilson?
Cat walking BDM?Kilometer 87. Guagua,Pampanga. Need air.
At this point,we were alternating between giving up and giving a motivational speech to one another. The heat wasn't cutting us any slack at all. We were trying to play the numbers game if we would still make cutoff. We sure were a sorry sight, me stopping every 5 minutes due to the ITB, Mark due to severe cramps. Our run-walk ratio was plummeting by the minute, two warriors extended to the very limit. At a certain juncture Mark just sat on the sidewalk and said he was giving up, he didn't care if he would be swept anymore.
Being able to empathize with what he was going through, I gave him my best Braveheart, pain-is-temporary-quitting-is-forever speech. And soon after he was shuffling along behind me again. Pure blood and guts. It was winning time, and suddenly all of the stopovers we were making had made it into a race against time.
William Wallace is da man
Kilometer 92. San Fernando, Pampanga. Two and a half hours to finish 10k.
From this point on, everything seems like a blur to me. From what I recall, I lost Mark, there were people fighting in the eskinita ( !@#$^!! wag mong bastusin gerlpren ko pare!!) and the pain in my left knee grew in intensity with each pause. My crew was pulling out all the stops to ensure that I made it. The pain was incredible. But to quit this near, after all that you've been through? No way in hell. If you told me that I had to roll down the road just to finish, I would have.
Don't even think about it GBM.
Kilometer 101. City Capitol. 4:50 pm.
36 straight hours of lucidness. Mariveles. San Fernando. Finally, the insanity was coming to an end. At that precise moment in time, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Just sheer unbridled joy at making it through this life-altering journey, along with tremendous gratitude towards those who had made it possible. Words escape me now. I had said too much anyway, and those of you who had made it this far must be deathly bored.
The high is like nothing you could ever experience. Nothing even comes close. BDM is a beast. I must have told myself I'll never ever do this again at least 20 times. It humbles you. It strips you down and swallows you whole. It changes you.
After all that I just went through, only then did I understand the intricacy of it all.Why these warriors go through all that pain. That suffering. Why would they willingly subject themselves to that type of punishment over and over again?
The long journey over...
At that precise moment in time, as I was approaching the finish line, as I was hearing all the cheers, it all made perfect sense. It's not something that can be encapsulated by a mere scribe's hyperbolic lamentations. It's something you have to experience yourself. So with that said....
See you at BDM 2011. :)
At this point,we were alternating between giving up and giving a motivational speech to one another. The heat wasn't cutting us any slack at all. We were trying to play the numbers game if we would still make cutoff. We sure were a sorry sight, me stopping every 5 minutes due to the ITB, Mark due to severe cramps. Our run-walk ratio was plummeting by the minute, two warriors extended to the very limit. At a certain juncture Mark just sat on the sidewalk and said he was giving up, he didn't care if he would be swept anymore.
Being able to empathize with what he was going through, I gave him my best Braveheart, pain-is-temporary-quitting-is-forever speech. And soon after he was shuffling along behind me again. Pure blood and guts. It was winning time, and suddenly all of the stopovers we were making had made it into a race against time.
William Wallace is da manKilometer 92. San Fernando, Pampanga. Two and a half hours to finish 10k.
From this point on, everything seems like a blur to me. From what I recall, I lost Mark, there were people fighting in the eskinita ( !@#$^!! wag mong bastusin gerlpren ko pare!!) and the pain in my left knee grew in intensity with each pause. My crew was pulling out all the stops to ensure that I made it. The pain was incredible. But to quit this near, after all that you've been through? No way in hell. If you told me that I had to roll down the road just to finish, I would have.
Don't even think about it GBM.Kilometer 101. City Capitol. 4:50 pm.
36 straight hours of lucidness. Mariveles. San Fernando. Finally, the insanity was coming to an end. At that precise moment in time, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Just sheer unbridled joy at making it through this life-altering journey, along with tremendous gratitude towards those who had made it possible. Words escape me now. I had said too much anyway, and those of you who had made it this far must be deathly bored.
The high is like nothing you could ever experience. Nothing even comes close. BDM is a beast. I must have told myself I'll never ever do this again at least 20 times. It humbles you. It strips you down and swallows you whole. It changes you.
After all that I just went through, only then did I understand the intricacy of it all.Why these warriors go through all that pain. That suffering. Why would they willingly subject themselves to that type of punishment over and over again?
The long journey over...At that precise moment in time, as I was approaching the finish line, as I was hearing all the cheers, it all made perfect sense. It's not something that can be encapsulated by a mere scribe's hyperbolic lamentations. It's something you have to experience yourself. So with that said....
See you at BDM 2011. :)
Congrats Luis, I agree, all the support group rocks! They really gave the much needed boost especially near the finish.. -Sunday Warrior
This was worth the long wait for Part 2. Namatay ako kakatawa sa iyong bathroom break saga.
But mostly nakakaiyak siya Luis. Parang nagbalik lahat ng sakit. There are no words to describe what it's really like. All the BDM accounts are a mere approximation at best of what it's really like. Marami talagang magbabago sa yo pagkatapos. You won't be the same person.
Magpagaling ka na agad ng tuhod. Baka daw sumali si Piolo next year sa BDM, inimbita ni Jonel.
Cheers!
Haide
wah! bakit nasama ang toothbrush-on-the-go photo ko dito?! lol! CONGRATS again kambal! (on finally finishing your bdm part 2 entry!)
Congrats Luis!!! It was great running with you, and thank you for the motivational talk that kept me from accepting defeat at several points!
IDOL NA WALANG KATULAD! congrats on your BDM! hehehhehe......hirap ng BDM noh? pero dahil ADIk tayo! we will do it again! heheheheh
jj
Expressing myself through words at how much I am awesomed by you guys finishing BDM102 would be a great injustice! I am proud of you! congrats!
I need to experience this myself! Train Train!
nice post, luis. how about contributing your race report to the ultrarunning magazine? if it is ok with you, i can send your race report to tia bodington of the said magazine. or it would be better to visit their site on line. thanks for joining & supporting this event. see you at BDM 151 next year!
Ewww Luis that is soww kadiri! Hehehe :)
Kaya ka naiinitan kasi nagpakita ka ng too much skin (woot woot) hehe. Congrats for finishing and pushing through despite all odds. You've got a great crew there. Kudos! See ya next year!
"I made it! I wanted to quit, but I made it."
-nakakaiyak GBM. Congrats! I was looking forward to your part 2. :) Wish I could also do a BDM at least once in my life =)
Mayor! I'll say it one more time, so proud of you! :) Quitting is definitely not in your vocabulary ;) Oh and I have more pics of your bromance. Lol!
you should have done it with that hole in the ground thingy standing up! be proud of what you've accomplished! wahahaha ;)
congrats again buddy! (guard!) hahaha ;)
geleng! next year naman ako ha! :)
Congrats again Luis!
the long wait for the part 2 was worth it...(complete with comic,dramatic & even romantic angles huh!)
BR is right, this got to be posted & shared..
-tin-
Congrats, Luis! A very entertaining post about an inspiring journey. (Still not enough to convince me to join BDM next year, hehe :P) But I daresay you and Mark could whip Marc and Rovilson's asses anytime at ultrarunning. :D
That was... awesomely brave finish GBM... Now it's clear to me, I cannot endure such ultra-distance, hehehe! and Next year's BDM is 151? oh my...
I love your bromantic moment, hehehe!
potek, muntikan na ako maiyak sa last part nitong post mo! pero naluha ako ng kaunti. not cool! hehehe...
ang galing mo pards. 102kms?!?! grabe...
i hope your knee recovers soon.
congrats again pards. good job!
the part 2 is worth a wait...kakaiyak, tagos sa puso...^_^
congrats Luis! Hats off to you and all the finishers! Grabeh...ang gagaling nyo.
p.s. the cr break was funny- ayaw mo palang ma paula radcliffe hehehe
Wow, I am touched by everyone's kind words :) Keeping with the tradition of this site, I'll still reply one by one to your comments even if it looks ridiculous (Blogspot doesn't have that cool Wordpress reply directly to message thing) only because I super value the fact that you even bothered to wasted your time doing it. :P
Haide, yun nga eh. Just trying to recount everything that happened was a highly emotional experience for me as well. I believe it changed a lot of us :) Thanks so much, hope you're fully recovered as well. The entire Cebuano running community must be so proud of you :) So... dagan na ta BDM 151? :P
Chief thank you so much! It's true that our support crews helped out immensely. No way we could have done it without them :) Congrats on your finish, and I could have sworn I saw you at the Cebu Marathon as well hehe.
wow...congrats gingerbdm! - aleth
Great read LUIS! Really great! CONGRATS for not giving up. :)
Kambal, you're such a big part of the journey, but so much happened behind the scenes that when we look back, it really makes it worth it :) And yes, you have an entire year of relishing that you beat my ass :P Makes for fun conversation at family gatherings though. LOL.
Mark, you the man my friend! You never quit, and I was as proud as anyone when you crossed that line. Priceless! It was funny because we kept on muttering "OKay na to, never again. At least na try". And yet here we are salivating over 151 next year? Panalo! :P
I lol'd. Awesome humor and endurance,hardwork, pain, stamina. Everything.
Luis, thanks for this post. Now I'm convinced. See you at BDM 2011, indeed! Well done, buddy!
P.S. Disappointed ako. Wala nang Tito Caloy stories sa Part 2 hahaha
Idol JJ, ikaw pa din ang ultimate Idol. We did it ! We did it! Exag talaga, one year's worth of anecdotes hahaha :) So proud of you man, partida biglaan pa yan :P
Ge, it's an experience that has to be executed to be appreciated fully :) So can I count on seeing you next year? :p Thanks bud!
Hi Sir Jovie! Thank you very much, quite happy that you liked it :) It would be an honor for the article to be included in Ultra Running Magazine, feel free to send it in Sir, and if they want me to pare it down, they could just give me their standard specs. Once again thank you for organizing this tremendous event sir, we are looking forward to next year's edition :)
Thanks Dens and congrats to you too! Am so happy we made it in one piece. Eww talaga LOL :P Too much skin? PArang ikaw hindi hahaha. Pero gross talaga ung pic na yun no? Ang tawag dun, dedication! hahahaha :)
Awwww Maan, thank you so much! Medjo nasenti nga din ako when I was writing it. I didn't cry though *defensive* Hahaha :)
If you really, really want it, and are willing to put in all the sacrifices needed, there is no doubt in my mind that you can do it :p
Gail, thank you so much for all of the support :P Yay! Ano, next year wanna give it a shot ? The fun part is, you're there in the final video :P
Manager Temmy, I thought about it for 3 seconds. Nah. Hahaha :P Thanks a bunch bud. Next year, 102k fun run? YEaaaah!
Aww thanks Tin! Blushhhh hahaha :) Thanks for the kind words, and it was quite awesome that you and tere were at the finish line hehe :) Next year you running this na? :P
Thanks so much Noeyyy :P Haha, they should try it out! :p Cmon go go go for next year! Yohooo :P Tatakbo na yan. LOl!
ALfred, you are quite a strong runner right now, and if you put in your long runs and dont run the first 42 like a marathon, you can do it my friend. Thanks so much for dropping by, and see you this Wednesday at ANR Ortigas :)
Roelle, seryos? Hehehe :) Ayus lang yan, konti lang naman :) Ako din eh... pero konti lang din. LOL :P Secret lang. Hahaah :) Knee is much better, thanks bud. It was quite a journey, sorry sorta long, long din ung race eh eheheh.
Luis, you're an inspiration to us all..I hope someday I can emulate your feat. GO IDOL!!
Jhuvy, awww talaga? :) SUper thank you! I tried to encapsulate the prevailing emotions that occurred during the race as faithfully as possible :P
Thanks Joy :P Lol! Di ko ata kaya mag PAula RAdcliffe with that hole :P 56k in na kasi un, scary pag nag squat ka baka may bumigay :D
Leth, thank you thank you! :) Took me forever to write it :)
MAri, hahaha lol even if I wanted to, I couldn't have given up :) My crew would have roasted me and made me walk home if I did :P
Aww, thanks Irene :P It was one heck of an experience, and I'd like to share more with you guys as you attend our ortigas ANR sessions :) See you next Wednesday!
Jules, medjo naging dramatic na eh, di na pasok hahaha :P
Pero... I had one Tito Caloy quote of the day though :)
"OKey na ma DNS, okey lang ma DNF, wag lang ma DOA"
:P
Ellen, thank you so much for the kind words :) You're a strong runner, I believe if you want to give this a shot next year, and are willing to actually devote the voluminous amount of time needed to train for it, I think you could actually have a shot at it :)
Congratulations, GBM! Thanks for taking us through the journey!
Thank you Leland, glad you liked it :) Hey, wanna give it a shot next year? Hehe.
Not quite ready for such a feat, good sir. Hehe. But BDM, being the premier ultrarunning event in the Philippines so far is, definitely something to aspire towards. In a few years' time, Luis!
Again, congratulations! Here's to more successful runs!
For the nth time ... CONGRATULATIONS!
I really enjoyed reading this entry and I learned a lot too. Heck, I even dream of running 102KM, it's in my Bucket List now.Ü For now, I'll stick with 5K. Hahaa!
♣
OMG! That guy there, he really pooped? That's inconvenience at its worst! It's good you still had presence of mind to look for a place where you can go.
♣
LOL on the bromance with AJ, but I have
to say that's a cute picture ─ very sweet!
Thanks bro, hey you're a pretty strong runner, it may be sooner than you think :)
Congrats again Pap, intense talaga...reading this made me feel like doing it again but then again thought the better of it hehe! You could only fool me once...good morning towel rocks! It was an awesome experience being a part of your team, wouldn't have done it any other way..well maybe a few changes sa food mo (particularly sa jollibee spag) but all in all great experience :) till the next time pap!
Awwww Russs thanks so much, glad you liked my article hehe :) It would have been awesome if you were there, was secretly hoping you would pop up haha.
Yeah, the guy really poooped! :P
I'm hoping you'll be around for next year's edition which is infinitely tougher.
Thanks soooo much Russssss :P
congrats luis! sana next year pag makabalik makasali ako BDM 102/145. di pa prepared this year eh (physical, mental & logistics) :)
Haha Pap, hay words could not express the gratitude I have towards you for making sure I did not drop dead out there. Bromance of the year! There's good reason to be believe on my end that there was a good chance I could have DNF'd if not for your motivational ditties. Un lang, I have to deal with the BDM card for the rest of our days hahaha :P Next year uli? yeaaah!
Thanks Mond! It should be a blast next year, feeling ko mas madaming sasali din :) Kayang kaya mo yan, ikaw pa! Support, the TAkbo.ph gang is always around to lend a helping hand, tulong tulong lang :)
congrats on the bdm and happy that i was able to take images of you :)
Hi Luis. Congratulations again on the ultra. SOmething that I hope to do before retiring from running. Take care.
Wayne
now http://b2bwayne.blogspot.com