You know what’s insane? A person who hates running is joining an ultramarathon! You heard it I hate running. I could not imagine running, let alone an ultra marathon. Heck, when I was a wee lad, I was always kulelat on running with my childhood playmates.
But here I am, joining one of the toughest races in the country with only my hiking training as my bullet, so to speak.
I bought a ticket in Victory Liner going to Baguio at 4 AM on May 1. I was supposed to travel on April 30, but my officemate dissuaded me, because it was a long weekend and people coming from all around the Metro Manila would be there.
The Victory Liner Bus Terminal was full of people going to the provinces, even if the time is 4:00 in the morning. For long weekend was abound. I arrived late because the race was set on May 3. It was still May 1, a public holiday. I boarded as a chanced passenger at 7:00 AM in the morning going to Baguio. Kayapa was no easy to commute to. Either you had to have to commute from Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya then board a van going to Kayapa, or Ride a bus going to Baguio, then ride another bus going to Kayapa. After 6 hours of commute, I arrived at Baguio. It was 12:00 in the afternoon. Shucks, the service van going to Kayapa already left. I guess, I had to commute. And so I did.
From this moment, I knew that I will be entering into a grueling training,
I hailed a taxi going to Dangwa Terminal to catch the bus going to Kayapa. According to the Internet, the last trip of the bus was 2:00 in the afternoon. Luckily, I caught the last trip going to Kayapa. Killing time, I chatted with the driver. Luckily, he knew what KOTM was! He told me stories of what was going on during the race. After which, the bus finally moved. Cordillera is a sight to behold. Lots of pine trees, bucolic surroundings, a simple, rural life.
After five hours of travelling, the bus finally arrived at Kayapa. After I saw St. Joseph Parish, my homestay for the next three days, I alighted the bus. An old lady welcomed and toured me around the homestay. Less than ten minutes past, I went to Kayapa Elementary School for the race kit claiming. There I saw familiar faces whom I got interacted with during my previous races.
I returned to the homestay to drop off my bag; the runners from Wawa were there. Save for one runner Jamela, I had had not an idea whom they were, for I was always running alone during my training runs. After an hour or two, we went to the school to witness the briefing for 100 mile runners. Robert, the Race Director, briefed the runners on what would be happening on the trail, the color of markers, and so on. Most importantly, Robert discussed the shortening of the race routes.
Mt. Marikit was supposed to be part of the race. However, it got removed because a landslide occurred there. As a result, the route got shortened from 160KM to 157.50Km; there was a catch: The cut-off time got shortened by 2.5 hours. We realized later on that the shortening of cut-off times were applied to all race categories.
After the briefing, the participants took pictures, a memory for a long, arduous day ahead. They lined up to the starting line, and after the count down, they ran down the course; afterwards, we returned to the homestay.
We along with my roommate we chatted for the incoming race. There was a live telecast of what was happening during the race; we stay tuned to it; we found out that one of the 100 miler runner, Bonnie, got DNFed (did not finished) because his ankle rolled. Too bad, he was supposed to be a hall of famer (a runner who finished H1 thrice) this year. I guess, you will never know what will happen during an ultramarathon; so is life. I slept soundly for eight hours after a long day of commuting.
A brush of wind touched my skin. It was cold, I quipped. I wonder what happened to the other runners given the cold and rainy conditions.
The morning came and the other runners, and I went to Buaca Lake for a sidetrip. We arrived at a little assault going to the lake. People know that the Cordilleras were cold. Thus, you do not sweat that often. They are mistaken. The Cordilleras is hot af! The difference between the Cordilleras, and the lowlands is that the Cordilleras have low humidity. The air is dry, the wind is cool, and the humidity is low.
After the pictorial beside the lake, thank you Judy for the pictures! we returned home, ate our lunch, and prepared for our respective races. At 12:00 noon, I slept soundly until 4:00 PM.
Sadly, an hour or two after the race, it rained hard. Oh well, this will be a much difficult race. The rain stopped sometime, and we proceeded to the school. Again, Robert proceeded in the race briefing, and our cut-off time got reduced, from 16 hours to 15 hours.
We lined up to the starting line, and after a few minutes the race started!
See you on the next post.
Manananggol na Namumundok 