WHY run beyond a marathon? My brain was toying with the question at around 35 kilometers into the race. Glycogen reserves in my body were tapped out, my legs were tired, my entire body started hurting and the lowest point was setting in. I needed food.
How did I get here in Dumaguete for its first 50Km Ultramarathon?
Some of my running friends arrived in the morning of the race, while others arrived the day before. I had the Labor Relations class that entire morning on race day, and Commissioner R told us there was to be reporting and a quiz. I went to class with all my running gear in a backpack and prayed for the stars to align.
To make the long story short, the class went well, I grabbed food from the school canteen and rushed to South Bus Terminal. The bus left on time, and the trip from Cebu to Dumaguete took seven hours. I arrived in the city one hour before gun start at 9 p.m., just enough to pick up my race bib at the starting area, lace up my Brooks shoes, meet up with my running buddies, and do some stretching.
My mindset coming into the race was to finish it in four hours or so. Or at least that was the plan until the actual race started. I was on point in the first five kilometers, pacing with Greg, a Spectrum runner. The first two kilometers was at a blistering split. Part of the plan is to put in some distance in the first half of the race, keep up with the lead pack.
But the seven-hour bus ride took its toll. Travel fatigue set in, and that’s when I knew it would be a long night. I pulled back a bit, and four runners passed me. I was now at sixth place.
“Let’s keep it that way,” I told myself. I settled in a comfortable pace and finished the first 25 kilomters in 2 hours and 20-plus minutes, which was still on track to hit my target time. But I felt trashed at this point after fighting off fatigue and sleepiness in the last 10 kilometers, and I had my first doubts of even finishing. I pushed them aside. Protect your headspace, Jonas (me self-talking again).
The ability to run long distances makes us, humans, the apex predator. Millions of years of evolution made the human body an efficient machine designed for running, hunting and gathering food. The cheetah may be the fastest animal on the planet, but it overheats and dies if it maintains that speed beyond one kilometer. Humans can go on and on and on.
It was past midnight of Dec. 2, and we had been running for three hours. I rested for about three minutes at the Start/Finish station and headed out again with Lorenzo, a very strong CebuDeafRunner, to grind out the second half of the race.
With 15 kilometers to go, my Glycogen reserves were tapped out. My tired feet continued traversing a gradual incline from Bacong to Valencia. The marshals from the last hydration station told me I was the sixth runner. The road ahead was almost pitch black, and dogs were barking on both sides. I couldn’t see them unless I pointed my head lamp at them. You also wouldn’t notice that the next six kilometers was an uphill climb until you felt a crazy buildup of lactic acid in the muscles, reducing my power efforts to power walking. I said to myself: “It’s okay. Everyone in this race is suffering right now. Power walking helps relax the muscles for another solid push. You freaking love this, Self.”
I was not even a runner a year ago. Yet there I was, alone in the dark chipping away the miles in an unfamiliar place with the only light coming from my head lamp. My heart leapt for joy when I saw a hydration station, which meant food and water! The volunteers were lying on the ground sleeping when I came up. They rose and served me boiled eggs, bananas and water melons (yey!). A kind police officer on a motorcycle escorted me the rest of the way to Valencia. (To be continued)