Road to Redemption (2nd of 3 parts)

Road to Redemption (2^nd of 3 parts)

50K and beyond is a woman’s game.  There are studies which show that, because of their capacity to store more fat and high tolerance for pain, women survive the ultramarathon distance better than men.

 

Sadly though, men still far outnumber women in ultramarathons, especially in the Philippines.  In the 1^st Bataan Death March 160K in 2011, there were only 4 women out of 59 starters; while the 2012 edition had 6 women out of the 74 starters.

The first exclusive for women 50K ultramarathon happening on March 10, 2012 in the cities of Cebu, Mandue and Lapu-Lapu is designed to correct this disparity by giving more women an opportunity to explore the ultramarathon distance in a race exclusively designed for women. 

Hopefully more and more women will join the much longer distances in the future such as the BDM 102 and BDM 160, the longest and most prestigious road ultramarathon in the country organized by retired Major General Jovenal Narcise also fondly called BR, which is short for Baldrunner.  BR is widely considered as Godfather among ultrarunners and a pioneer in organizing ultramarathons in the country.

Last week, I wrote about how, after being dead last among 74 runners in the BDM 160, I slowly overtook runners by running a conservative pace of 6.5 kilometers per hour.

50K to 102, seizing a spot on the women’s podium

When I checked in with the race marshals at KM 50 in Abucay, Bataan I was ranked 66^th overall and was the 4^th woman to cross.  At KM 50 I took a 15-minute break to eat lunch and monitor my race plan.  I was an hour and fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.  I rested fifteen minutes to eat lunch.

If there’s anything I learned from my first 100-miler is that fancy fuels just won’t do.  If you want to last more than 24-hours of running and walking, you must re-fuel using real food.

Boneless Dangit, Rice, Bread, Spam, Sunblock & Liniment

Unlike my previous nutrition plan which included only engineered food of energy gels, power bars and liquid food which were all expensive but succeeded only in making me hungry and hyperacidic; this year I had a full meal of rice, boneless danggit from Bantayan, luncheon meat and bread, all of which I hand-carried all the way from Cebu and cost me only a fraction of the cost of gels and bars.

After 3 BDM's you learn to edit your supplies to just the essentials.

I resumed running, shuffling along in the same pace and still managed to overtake male runners in the towns of Samal, Orani, and Hermosa, Bataan.  After 10 hours of running and walking I entered Pampanga province through the town of Dinalupihan.  There I paced with Barry Red who was running to honor the memory of his father who recently died at the age of 68 – which was also Barry’s race bib.

We reached KM 80 or the halfway mark in Lubao, Pampanga with only 13 hours elapsed since gun start which meant we had more or less 18 hours to run another 80 kilometers.  We were in high spirits and felt no pain.

 

It was already dark when we reached KM 83 where the road forks towards the town of Guagua.  At KM 84 I spotted what looked like a woman wearing a Fairview Runners Club singlet.  I ran faster to get a closer look.  It was Emma Alvarez.  She was in third place and I have been looking for her since KM 50.  For two kilometers I ran 10 meters behind Emma and her companion and assessed her gait.  Was she slowing down? Yes.  Was I still strong? Yes.  Can I overtake her without ruining my pace and race plan? Maybe.

I decided to take a chance and ran faster than I should to overtake Emma in third place, making extra effort to look relaxed and strong.  The idea was to intimidate the competition and lead her to thinking that while she was feeling tired, I was just beginning to get strong – like I was just getting started.

Photo credit: J. Avellanosa Photography

The gambit worked.  When I overtook Jonel Mendoza at KM 95 he confirmed that I was 3^rd among the women with Keisha Fule and Kelly Lim (of Singapore) in 1^st and 2^nd place respectively.  Emma Alvarez was 3 kilometers behind.  I reached KM 102 at 16 hours 52 minutes, a good thirty minutes better than my previous personal record in the 102 distance which was 17 hours and 22 minutes.

From KM 102 to 160, runners are allowed to have pacers to keep them safe throughout the long and dusty northbound trek along Mac Arthur Highway.  Ken Alonte, another Cebu based veteran of BDM 102 paced me through this critical stretch of the race and pushed me like I’ve never been pushed before, ensuring my second place finish the country’s longest and most prestigious road ultramarathon.