This was my second running event. I excitedly looked forward to it since it will be happening out of town, in a place I have never been to. I did everything online for this. I registered online for the run as well as booked my hotel reservation through the event's website. My singlet arrived about a week later. I wouldn't be surprised that it's well organized, first, because Gov. Luis Ray Villafuerte, governor of the host province, is developing tourism in his place which is host to a lot of foreign productions and sports organizations and second, it was no less than Coach Rio de la Cruz who was the Race Director.
The last time I checked my watch it was almost 12 midnight and I had to wake up at around 3am to catch our shuttle to the Sports Complex which was at least a 40 minute ride away, broken in 2 segments (a small shuttle to take you to the pick up point).
It felt different taking that small shuttle that overtook the long line of public buses ... the highway at this time was closed to the public and only those who were participants of the marathon can pass through, it was like taking the bar exam all over again where we bar takers had special access.
At the sports complex you can see everyone getting so excited and all pumped up. We all decided to go to the start line to send of Amrhein who was running the 5k, their gun time was ahead of ours by 10 minutes. It was a good judgement to go with the 5k people since when it was all filtered out, us 10k runners, who were not yet called to the start line, ended up at the front row, well, at least almost, were it not for those celebrities of course who got special treatment and suddenly positioned themselves right in front of us (read Aga Muhlach and Iza Calzado). It was no big deal though since they were themselves running enthusiasts and not merely there to goof off. In fact I ran ahead of Aga, later on we ran side by side and he finally overtook me, grrrrrr, before the turn. I also remember Iza going back, while I was still on my way to the turn.... when I reached that point I thought, hey wait a minute I saw Iza a while back, gosh, she's really fast huh.
I enjoyed the scenery, the locals were on the road cheering. It felt good that strangers show their support. The route was well planned as it was just one full lap, not a repeated lap as it was during my first run since it affected my state of mind, i was too conscious of the fact that I was still far because it was just the beginning of the second lap and the idea alone felt tiring and frustrating.
I finished at 1:08:34.4. Congratulations to me. I won. I am running not against anyone but against myself.
It was time to check out the booths. Yes, we got the promised loot. The air was festive. Other celebrities in attendance were Marc Nelson and Dyan Castillejo-Garcia. There were Kenyan and Russian runners too and of course they bagged the winning spots. Why the hell do they run so fast? There was a contingent from Cebu with Yong Larrazabal who did the full marathon and wife Donna Cruz who did the half marathon. Both did pretty well, I'm proud of you Cebuanos (well, Donna should be a Cebuano at heart by now).
We checked out CWC, it was an amazing park. How I wish the kids were there to try wakeboarding. Aga, by now, was wakeboarding, he was a wakeboarding enthusiast too. Sadly, though, we had to leave since the clubhouse could not promise to hand out our orders within thirty minutes and I didn't want to get soaked under the sun or try out wakeboarding.
We took the shuttle back to the hotel and I rode together with some runners from Cebu. To my surprise, a friend of mine was also there and we were billeted in the same hotel. I felt a bit envious that they had a really big group that went out of town for the run, the camaraderie, the high spirits and all. I wish I had more friends who run ... or maybe I should start developing friendships with runners.
I can officially say that after Camsur, I am an event running addict.
I can't wait for the next Camsur Marathon on 25 September 2011.
