TNF100 CamSur (5.1.11)

PRE-RACE. Couldn't sleep. Still wanted to watch Sports Unlimited. Decided to take sleep, about four hours.

Was up at 2. Had hot coffee, or was it oatmeal I forgot. Needed to be at Ato's before 4. Was so early. Jogged over 1km to the hi-way. Waited patiently for a ride to Naga. Texted Ato who thought the starting line was at CWC, and kept me waiting at least by half an hour. Saw a cab with some TNF100 participants, it even slowed down to pick me up. Past 4, saw Jun and buddy going already.

Arrived at CWC ready for the worst: DNS. But we were just on time. Met clubmates and other buddies. Photo ops.

Checked in, jumped on the army truck. Got transported to the camp. Sun was up, not a good sign. No enough time to warm up. Armies and trainees greeted us. Chopper was covering the start. Bang!

RACE. Annoying belt bag, exact shoe size, wind by chopper too low. Hard to run, jogged.

Very long gradually ascending road of earth, not the kind of "trail" I was expecting. Water station, Mt. Isarog finally. Reached A2, I supposed. Tsk tsk minus ~4km of "trail-forest run." Entered the forest, excitement.

Cool, moist, green, nature, quadriceps, arms, sweat, leaves, itchy. Wore armsleeves.

Relaxed, no competition, wanted to take my time. Some overtaking, familiar faces, never saw again. Smiles. Race on.

Trees with red and white route markers. Hand held Gatorade to the back of my shorts. Needed to use two hands. Narrow paths, some rocks. Bamboos, ropes. ~50 meters narrow canal, passage going up. Whew!

Marshals in the woods. Going down, crater? Sound of a waterfalls. Could be the highest point in the routemap. Ato overtook, bad. Nel taking photos and vid. Roadblock. Time to catch up. Guy ahead almost lost. Hey! look, routemarker. Went up, everyone followed.

Back on the road. Toes hurting. Banana. Paced with others. Hot. One by one, runners caught up. Reached A3.


Locals in upper Pili speak Rinconada? amazed. Carabaos, farmers, dogs, banana trees. Banana leaf, shield against the sun.

Familiar surroundings, back in Tinangis - A1. Marshals, armies, people again. The longest part.

Unending earth road, corn fields on the side. Thirsty soil, beating sun. Marshal-shooter. Ran. Walked. A townmate, walked, talked, few kilometers covered.

About ten runners overtook, still got energy to jog. Unending road. Watched them disappear.

Motorcycles, other vehicles. Annoying. Dusts.

A sari-sari store. No bottled water. Cold water in a plastic bag to cool myself. Avoided to get thighs, feet wet. Lessons.

Sensed of the hi-way. Got energy to run. Fair weather. Hi-way, finally. Probably running for just over 4 hours. Police traffic, for me? Looked around, no other runner there. About five vehicles stopped, ran with smiling face.

Energy drink needed. None. Found one at Capitol entrance. Two runners caught up momentarily, another approaching. Race on.


Jogged, walked, jogged, gulped, ran. Very hot pavement. One overtook, "4:36" now. Walked until Lago before the last turn going to the finish.