Alabang tri recap

Hi all,

let me first congratulate not only those that manage PB's (personal bests, like we know it in the western world) but also to those just finishing their respective races, whether it be your first 21k, 10k or just the 5k. Any race completed is a bonus as it is only a positive thing for the body. I missed all of you at the KOTR as running is still my first love but having to do a tri the next day, I gave the KOTR a skip. I am still not so fit or should I say crazy :) as some people (Joms) to do both. I am not worthy to speak to you yet.... :).

I am not going to lay out my different splits but will give an overview on my experience of the complete race all together:

Arriving early for my third but second official tri as I got DQ the first tri :( , I already noticed so many changes from the last. The registering and the claiming area for the packets was much more organised. It took me no longer than 2 min to be from claiming my packet than to hanging my bike. As Levy mentioned, the numbers in the transition area was even laminated and the spaces between the bikes was much more. All in all, a great start to the race.

The race briefing was done on time and explained propperly in the transition area. Great job Rick on the complete race. There was enough time for questions as well, and so it was all clear.

At the pool it lived up to the great start of the morning. It all went smoothly. There were also adequate helpers at the pool that knew their jobs respectively. Great job guys.

The cycle route was great. I would have loved to see a bit more water points (maybe just one more) for the bike leg. The reason for this is, it is a hard course as there are quite a few good uphills. For a less than average guy on the bike, I was tiring quite quickly so I used up my gatorade much quicker. Still not complaining as the marshals were great and they knew what they were doing especially in organising the traffic. Thumbs up to all of them. There was a discussuion about changing the route once mass starts at the church which got me a bit jittery but I obviously did not pass in that time frame so it was the normal route.

The run was terrible or should I say MY run was terrible. I was dehydrated halfway through. I started great and felt good untill the 3rd last km. My legs felt heavy and I felt drained. I missed the water point as I saw a guy standing in the distance. I started to prepare myself for the water and started to push it a bit more so I can make up for the time I will decrease in speed to be able to drink water. When it was time for me to be more or less close to the "water guy", I was totally shocked. It was a water boy right, just the wrong type of water boy. It was a male standing with a trolley and garbage bags, busy "watering" the plants :). I did not know whether I should laugh or cry.

I then joined up with three runners next to me once I eventually reached the correct water boy but was on the outside of the other runners and they took the water cups that was being held out. I just had to push through. Another runner joined up with me from behind and started encouraging me and that helped me a lot. It is funny how nice runners can be to each other, it is as if we are a family. I experienced real pakikisama (not sure of the spelling).

All in all, a great experience. If I had any doubts into continuing with triathlons, Rick and his crew keep on putting up great triathlons and so I get more hooked. Thank you guys for making it a great experience to us all. You definately have my thumbs up. I must also just mention the shirts is great. It is of great quality and fits great. I will definately see you all at the duo in Clark next Sunday, at least there is no swim ha ha ha...

Untill then, KEEP FIT.