Bataan Death March 102 Ultra Marathon March 6, 2011

Pre-Race: March 5, 2011

The original plan to have 4 runners in a support vehicle was splitted into 2 with Yob Red going with me and Dok & Oli together in another car. I picked up Yob, Tony his brother & our driver, Jackie my support and Mizzy as Yob's support. The 'Running for Lolo Pedro Team' met up at Shell Nlex in Balagtas, Bulacan and proceeded to BDM Km. 00 in Mariveles, Bataan via the SCTEX. We got a call from the group of Laarni De Guzman & Tatax Almoro that their car just stalled past the Dinalupihan exit. We advised them to wait for the group of Mot so Arni the runner could hitched a ride to Mariveles. We arrived Mariveles about 6pm and the PNP runners were there already with Jun Cunanan. I thought I forgotmy headlamp so we tried to look for a replacement in the nearby tiangge. Fortunately upon double checking I found my headlamp in my bag. The team headed to the 'Seashore' resto for an early dinner. Each one got ready and dressed up after dinner while the supports were busy preparing for the hydration and food for the runners. We had a short walk towards the BDM Km. 00 beside Jollibee where the check in and starting line was. There was a pre-race briefing by the race director 'Bald Runner' Sir Jovie Narcise, the singing of the national anthems of Japan, America and of course Philippines.

Race Proper: March 5, 2011, 10:10pm

After the group photo ops the race started at exactly 10:10pm. It was an easy slow paced 3km flats before the killer 4km uphills. Yob and I were running alongside Dabobong Angeles a veteran ultrarunner. He ran the 160km just a week ago but had to dnf and now he is again joining the 102km. Some runners taking on the hills while others were just pacing up reserving their stamina. There was a flood of support vehicles after the hills as it was not allowed for them to wait for the runners along the uphill route. The 1st water station was such a relief. From hereon I took a steady pace mindful of potholes that might surprise me. It was totally dark in some parts and the headlamps was such a comfort. At about 15Km the runners were pretty scattered already and in some moments I was all alone running in the dark. Our support vehicle with Yob's brother Michael on the wheel and Jackie Vallejo an AMCI member was my personal support.
I reached the 50km mark in Abucay, Bataan before 5am and after a cup of noodles decided to take a 30min nap inside the car. After the refreshing power nap it would be a walk-run strategy from hereon and instructed the support car to stop at every km. I asked Yob to go ahead with his own pace. I was now feeling some tightness in my calves and soreness in my knees. I tied a tire interior just below my knees to lessen the growing pains. At about the junction of the Gov. Roman highway my legs suddenly froze and the cramps going past my knees. Manny Dela Serna of Timex team handed me a sachet of GU Roctane which I gobbled in a rush. I slowly walked after I packed ice behind my calves under my compression socks. It numbed my legs and I walked cautiously for a few meters up to the Dinalupihan junction. The sun was already slowly heating up and the long unshaded stretch to Lubao, Pampanga is about a 20km straightaway. I told the support car to stop and wait for me every 500m as they poured ice water on me to cool me off. Met up with some of the timex team members for a quick lunch and a change of shoes in Lubao town center. Most of us almost wasted from almost more than 12hours of run-walk. We're almost there but the heat was almost unbearable. We hit the roads again heading to Bacolor. From there I started to gradually picked up my pace for about 6min/km. And from nowhere the thought of being almost there carried me thru to run without stopping for hydration the last 7km till the finish line. I changed into our green uniform just a few meters to the finish line where the 'baldrunner' was patiently waiting. I headed straight to where the team was huddling for water & anything I could eat. I was called back to the finihs line for the handling of the finishers trophy - a miniature replica of the kilometer mark of the Bataan Death March. 17hrs of non stop action testing one's resolve both in body & mind. BDM102 - Checked!!! Next goal - BDM160. Will give it a very long thought. LOL!

BDM Training - Shotgun to Boso-boso & back

After doing a 52km run just a week ago, next long run training was supposed to be at Sta. Rosa - 'reverse Palace to Tagaytay & back'. But the 'General' was not available in the morning of Saturday Feb. 19, 2011 since it was his kid's graduation day. So 'somebody' suggested to do the San Mateo route instead. There were 9 members of Team Lolo Pedro with one very 'able' support. Plan was to start at 5:30am from Aling Tina's store in San Mateo where mountain bikers normally meet-up. I picked up Dok at 5am and there was Chock's car already at Aling Tina's when we got there. With him still catching on sleep were DS and Yob. In a few minutes the other gang members arrived - the major, Arni with Tatax, Oli and Mot. Chock & DS grab a quick breakfast and started off at about 6:18am. The route leader was Oli & Dok being familiar with the place thru their regular mtb rides here. I had not been in San Mateo for a while. I used to frequent this place when I was more into mtb before even joined some races held at the Divine Mercy route.



The climb started at the head of 'Shotgun' hill leading up to the San Mateo landfill. Dok told me that the name 'shotgun' was coined before when there was a shotgun toting guard on horseback who would drive away bikers up the rough roads then. Now it has been concreted all the way up the top but the rise is severe in every sense of the word. Several bikers were inching their way up the top while we mostly walk/run having fun. We chose to do the gravel road towards the top and all the way to 'Roxas' route if I am not mistaken. This led us to the main road of the Araneta/Filinvest property boundary and all the way up to the 'Giant' store where mtb riders converged for snacks & hydration.

When all had their drinks we moved on towards Boso-boso (no idea how far. 'naku malayo po un sir' - the answer i got when i asked some bystanders). The roads are paved but with undulating hills. I was toying with a horse type gallop going downhill (to the amusement of the group) and I found it with lesser impact on the knees plus it was faster. The duck walk of Chock going uphill was equally hilarious.

We were sparsely separated with Oli always on the lead (he ran most of the hill = 'halimaw'). In a short while the junction suddenly became familiar. It was already Boso-boso where we would normally parked our cars when we were hills training with our bikes for the ironman up to the Sierra Madre hotel. We had our rest and drinks again at the Bulaluhan sa Cabading store and after some photo ops we were again back to the route to the 'Giant' store.



My tommy was acting up. Normally happened when I was not able to do my toilet routine early in the morning. I tried to use the toilet at the store but the door was a piece of corrugated sheet one has to lift to cover up the door and it was dark. When we started back, I grimaced in pain and forced some unwanted gas to relieve myself. The time was almost 11am and the scorching sun was getting unbearable. We moved on steadily running on downhills and walking the uphills. The sight of the Giant store was a big relief. I went straight to the toilet to do some bombing runs. Had some group pics taken and was quite rested (& relieved) and the group walked out for the Timberland gate. We again re-grouped at the Timbeland guard post. I went to nearby nursery and was able to find a faucet where I wet my head and cap which was quite refreshing.



The way to Timberland was still the same dirt road we used to bike before. Some shaded areas provided much relief. I ran the whole cemented downhill road from the clubhouse area up to the Timberland gate. Oli was already savoring a bottle of soda when I got to the resto stop. When Mot arrived we went down together at the 'wall'. It was not safe to run this very steep road. Heard lots of accidents here among bikers (Ige Lopez had a crashed here last Saturday moments after we saw each other up at Timberland. Praying for his fast recovery.).

I tried to run when I got to the lower area all the way back to Aling Tina's. There was steaming 'pinapaitan' soup awaiting with iced cold soda. Took us 7hours to cover about 38km of mountainous terrain with almost 4,000 calories lost. I felt like I just did 60km. We capped the day with a couple of beer before we parted ways. I heard some of the gang continued the carbo re-loading at DS place. I slept the whole afternoon.









more pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275115&id=608862180

BDM (Bataan Death March) Test Run 52km

This is the 2nd leg of the BDM test runs. The 1st one was held last Jan. 25, 2011 and was not able to join since my father passed away. The 2nd leg which was on Feb. 12, 2011 started at the 50km BDM marker at Abucay, Bataan and went all the way to the 102km marker in San Fernando, Pampanga.



We rented a van and was promptly at our gate by 2am. After loading my stuff we proceeded to pick up Dok, Yob and Oli and was off to the NLEX Shell Station for our early breakfast. We met there with the group of Mot & Laarni with Suzanne as their support.

Left Shell past 3:30am and headed to the San Fernando exit all the way to Dinalupihan. We took the Gov. Roman Superhiway to Abucay. There were already several runners with their supports converging at the 50km marker. After a short briefing by the Bald Runner we were off just before 7am. Our initial pace was a bit high at 5:30min/km. Told Dok to bring it down to just 6min/km. We stopped for our first break at bdm marker 60km. Then we asked Eric the van driver to wait for us at every 5km. The sun was up and was fast heating up when we reached the Dinalupihan junction (BDM km. 68). Took our chance for a photo group pic with BR and other runners at the monument.
The stretch of straight highway from Dinalupihan to Lubao seemed endless. Left side of the road was a gravel road and I opted to run on the asphalt road taking extra caution of upcoming trucks & buses which would not seemed to notice runners ahead. With me was Meljohn (Boypra) tagging along and i was very thankful to have company pacing each other. Our support van was to stopped every 2km marker from here on. After about 40km we were already in a walk run walk mode. We just targeted to run up to the next bdm marker then walk for about a couple minutes then ran again to the next marker. It was a relief from the busy highway when we were approaching Bacolor town. There were also some shade from the trees alongside the road.

There seemed to be some extra energy left in us when we reached bdm km. 97 about 5km to San Fernando. We managed to run the last 2km left. We reached km 102 after 6hrs 43min. We were all aware that this 2nd leg of the BDM 102 on actual race day would be excruciatingly painful and hoping that the weather would be not that hot.