34th National Milo Marathon Naga Elims (10.3.10)

The 34th National Milo Marathon was the event I looked forward to. For weeks, we saw the Milo advertisements about the race and we got charmed!

This is the mother of running events in the country! And who does not want to run in this race? I am clueless however about its previous editions held in Bicol. What I am aware of is that, Milo advocates sports and it supports young athletes to fulfill their dreams. One thing common about my first four runs is the level of excitement.

Here, we beat the deadline of registration. We were paranoid of not being able to register. At Naga City Youth Center, we were able to secure our race bib and singlet. We also registered in the 5km category just for the free singlet.

And guess what? I almost miss this race!

We arrived in Naga minutes before the gun time. We hurriedly walked from Universidad de Sta. Isabel to Plaza Quezon. I needed to take a pee, so I went to Jollibee. I heard the emcee calling the 10km runners to check in already. But I needed a bottle of Gatorade. I rushed to the nearby drug store to buy one. No luck. I went to Lucky 9 Store. There was a line of costumers at the counter. Luckily, the guy was so kind to give way! At the starting line, everyone's bib had been signed so I looked for the assigned marshal. I was wearing the two bibs which confused the man. (In CamSur Marathon, I also had two bibs. My sister's co-teacher who happens to be my elementary batchmate could not join. So, I just asked her bib knowing about the freebies.) At least, that man and one marshal in CamSur Marathon had sense of humor unlike that old marshal at the finish line in Milo Marathon, who yelled at me to stop and then grab my other bib!

My performance here was good. I wanted to improve my time at least by 10 minutes. But I could only do it in 1 hour and 10 minutes. I knew I beat my previous time because I walked less. Nonetheless, seven minutes was still fine.

Looking back, the most difficult part of the race for me was the first 3 kilometers. Breathing was my main concern. My legs could still run a few meters but my lungs were not that developed yet as compared today.














I realized that I really have improved in some ways. Before, I could not count the runners ahead of me. Now, those familiar faces who used to be on the other lane already, after the turnaround, are now on the lane I used to occupy.