Towards my 1st 10K - part 2 -- the NB Power Race 2008 - Clark Freeport Zone

It's Race Day -- November 16 -- and we're at Clark Freeport Zone. It's my first time to run in Clark and my first time to run a 10K distance. I feel all sorts of emotions -- I'm scared, I'm jubilant, I'm apprehensive and excited!!!

The night before, I was able to have dinner with Allan Esguerra and his lovely girlfriend, Essh. We had dinner at the Korean restaurant inside Mimosa. Food was good and the company was great!! I was supposed to have dinner with Wayne (sfrunner) and Gene Ordanza but they were invited by Tanya to visit Tarlac. So, I ended up seeing Wayne only on race day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Wayne the whole week he was here because of my planning conference in Baguio.

Having a nice Korean dinner with Allan and his girlfriend, Essh

Essh is such an interesting person with an equally interesting story about her. I was gonna write about her story but I'll refrain for awhile until I get some pictures from Allan and get her permission to post!!

I also had a nightcap with Jay (Prometheus Cometh) and his lovely wife Angel. In my hurry to pack for my Baguio trip, I forgot my hydration belt. Thankfully, Jay agreed to bring it along as he was also staying at the Holiday Inn. It was a good nightcap before retiring -- I needed the help to get to sleep.

Race day morning came and I woke up at 4:00am. By 5:00am I was at the registration area. Parking was starting to fill up. I brought by camera with me to try and capture pictures of the pre-race excitement. I took a few -- capturing many of the 25K runners who had to get their RFID tags. I saw Dindo (RunningDATC) and finally met up with Wayne and Gene. I also met a number of other runners/bloggers including Doray and Jinoe. Sorry, there were so many I didn't remember all the names.

The 25K runners lining for their RFID tags

With Wayne, Gene and Dindo before proceeding to the Starting Line

After taking a few more pictures, I gave up and decided to return my camera to my car -- I brought along my big SLR and didn't want to bring it with me while running. I think I'm gonna reward myself at Christmas with a new point-and-shoot camera so that I can bring it with while running!! he! he!

Pretty soon, we were all getting inside the starting area. The 25K runners were gonna start off ahead of the 10K runners. Start was a little late -- instead of 5:30am for 25K, they took off at around 5:45am and we started after a few minutes later.

I had conflicting views about the race route -- some said it was relatively flat but others said it would be a hilly challenge. We'd soon find out which one is right. Unfortunately, the hills prevailed. Immediately after the first 1.5K, we encountered our first hill. While the Baguio training helped, I knew I was in trouble when the 2nd hill came up. That was when I took my first walk break. It was a good thing it was after the 2.5K mark, where the water station was situated. The water helped and I restarted after the hill. At the 4K mark, we were presented with a long downhill stretch.

I kept on thinking that while the downhill was great in helping me recover, what goes down must come up!!! he! he! At the 5K turn, I got my water bottle and headed back up. This time, it was painful all the way -- I knew it was a 1Km uphill climb -- a sustained uphill climb!!! So, this was were I took my second walk-break. And it was only the 6K mark!!

Upon reaching the 7K marker, I restarted running -- it was a continuous challenge to stay running. I had probably one more walking break before reaching the 1.5K to go mark. This time, I just hardened my resolved and kept running until I reached the finished line. 10K run complete!! I time myself around 1 hour 18 minutes. I hope my official time will be around that mark as well.

The Finish Lines were well-organized. The 10K finish had 5 chutes based on the letter attached to your bib number. The 25K finish had the RFID transponders ready to capture the moment. Medals were given to all finishers.

I walked around to cool down and chatted with Wayne and some other members of Happy Feet for awhile. But, I knew my knee was going to suffer -- but I'm relieved I accomplished what I set out to do -- finished my first 10K.

Kudos to the organizers -- it was one of the best organized races I've joined!!! The course was challenging, the race markers were large and plentiful. Water stations were properly stationed at each 2.5K mark. The weather cooperated -- it was overcast and cool all throughout the race!! It was definitely a fantastic experience -- perfect for my first 10K.