Two weeks ago, I ran my sixth full marathon at the Manila leg of the 40th Milo Marathon. To be honest, I did not have a lot of training for this race, other than the regular gym visits for conditioning and core workouts. As for running, I had very little mileage because I was scared that my knee injury would start acting up again. 

I had about five hours of sleep before the race. I woke up two hours ahead of my alarm and I tried to get some more sleep but I couldn't, so I ended up prepping early. The gun start was at 3am and I arrived at the venue a little past 1am. Talk about being an early bird as usual. I met up with my teammates and we went to the starting area together to wait. I was extra chatty that day, must be because of the nerves. Then 3am came, and the race has started.

First few minutes into the race, I was feeling fine. After passing the 5km mark, that was when I started to feel nauseous. It must have been the humidity or my poor nutrition two weeks prior to race day (I was cutting down on carbs). It was drizzling, yet the air was humid. I felt so sick to the point of almost blacking out before reaching 10km. Every time I saw a medic vehicle, I was so tempted to lie in it and declare DNF. But as usual, my stubbornness (and perhaps pride) took over me and I was determined more than ever to finish the race. I took frequent walk breaks to shake off the nauseous feeling.

I felt better during the second half. That was when I started to pick up my pace and I eventually caught up with the others. Other than my armpits chafing, the rest of the race was uneventful. The cut-off was six hours, I finished it with five minutes to spare.
Photo Credits: Don of Active Pinas
 Photo Credits: Photo-Ops

Despite my poor finish time, I felt elated upon crossing the finish line. I was just so happy and thankful that I managed to finish the race injury-free and within the cut-off, despite my lack of training and despite everything that happened during the first half. Big thanks to my teammates from Ayala Triads, Team SCR, and Active Pinas for the cheers and the morale boost before and during the race. 
 rank: 1855th out of 2097 runners, official chip time: 05:55:01