This 38th marathon medal was unexpectedly simple but elegant- a fitting souvenir from the Kagay-an Festival Marathon, one of nine core events in Cagayan de Oro (or CdeO) City's month-long Kagay-an Festival, a fiesta celebration in honor of Saint Augustine.
I arrived in the City of Golden Friendship aboard the budget airline Cebu Pacific that has now become my unofficial marathon carrier. I had been to CdeO on business at least a half dozen times before. This time it was going to be a personal visit for a totally different reason- to run the the city's first-ever full marathon.
CdeO is the second biggest city in Mindanao island in southern Philippines. It is the capital of Misamis Oriental province and regional center for northern Mindanao. Last year, the city was ravaged by floods during typhoon
Sendong. The Kagay-an Festival's battle cry, therefore, is 'CdeO, back on our feet and moving forward'.
I had registered for the event long-distance. In this part of the world, where online registration is sometimes not available, one just makes a deposit to the race organizer's (
Circle Productions Inc.) bank account and email the registration form. Out of towners can then claim their race packets at designated pick-up points (La Cabana Spa).
I checked in at a hotel that was within walking distance from Rodelsa Circle- the event's starting point. Just a few steps away from the hotel's main door was the local weekend night market, with a free rock concert and all. I dropped by to eat a light dinner. I had missed the event's carbo-loading party the night before.
The following morning, after only a few hours of sleep, I jogged the 700-meter distance from my hotel to Rodelsa Circle. Full marathon runners were already arriving for the scheduled 3AM gun start. Police escorts were already ride-ready. All weather websites predicted a 70% chance of rain. And all would be dead wrong!
After a brief ceremony at the Circle, full marathon runners were called in to the starting line for a pep talk by Race Director Francis Velasquez and a round of warm-up exercises. Starting in 2010 as the Kagayan Festival 10K, a 21K was added in 2011. This year, the full marathon was added to the 3K, 5K, 10K and 21K race categories.
The presence at the starting line of several running teams in the 42K event attested to the growing popularity of the sport in the city. In fact, this marathon was being envisioned as northern Mindanao's premier 42K event. This year, CdeO will also host an
ultramarathon- the Cagayan de Oro to Dahilayan 57K/80K.
At about 3:17 AM, the runners in the elite category who were vying for cash awards and medals were let go after a short round of fireworks display. Soon thereafter, the rest of us recreational runners followed. For this open category, the top 10 finishers would receive an additional medal.
The 42K route was a simple out-and-back, from CdeO towards Tagoloan in a northeasterly direction. We would run on the main highway, passing the districts of Lapasan, Gusa, Cugman, Tablon, Puerto, and Bugo before heading back to the city.
The race course was basically flat and fast, with elevation levels varying from about 9 to 39 meters. At one of the course's highest points- the Puerto flyover- I would encounter the lead runner in the elite category already on his last 15K.
Just after the break of dawn, we would reach Tagoloan Bridge (8°32'34"N, 124°45'23"E) near the 20K mark. Even if I had to pause for a couple of minutes after crossing the starting line to fix some trouble with my Garmin, plus had to cope with a first-ever nose bleeding problem at 10K, I was pleased to be running pretty strongly.
As I reached the U-turn point at 21.1K, I glanced at my watch and was pleased with my time- a 2:18. With the cool sea breeze blowing mildly, I began to desire a sub-5 finish, my norm last year, but the last one of which I did in
Macau, some 13 marathons ago, just before my tendinitis injury in
Taipei.
The run on the way back was rather lonely. I had counted about 60 or 70 runners ahead of me. I would pass a dozen or so more runners along the way and meet many of those I passed during the first 21K. Some were running in groups, but most everybody else were running solo, sometimes hundreds of meters apart.
For the most part, runners occupied half of a 4-6 lane highway and entire flyovers. Police and traffic personnel made sure the lanes were kept traffic-free. Signs, albeit some a bit funny, were posted to advise runners and drivers of the right way. In the future, for runners without GPS watches, kilometer markers would be handy.
The race logistics were all there- hydration stations, uniformed volunteers or city government personnel serving both water and an assortment of electrolyte drinks plus cold water/ice sponges and ripe bananas at roughly every two K...
Paramedics and ambulances stationed in at least 5 points along the route for the injured, tired, and weary...
Even a cold shower from a couple of firetrucks at separate points for the so hot and very dirty :)...
And then there were special watering stops for some of the city's running club members only....
Though there was not much cheering along the way, there was encouragement in bold print from local running, perhaps even political, personalities.
With almost all of the race elements adequately provided for by the organizers, after winning the battle over the onset of cramps in the third quarter of the race, as the sun began to heat up, I ran rather strongly in the fourth quarter, at a constant pace of less than 7 min/K, all the way back to the city.
The finish line arc at the Rodelsa Circle where I started just four and three-quarter hours earlier that morning was again a most pleasant sight to see.
For, after a long while, there no longer was any doubt about my doing another sub-5-hour finish in this 13th 42K/ultra race for 2012 and the 38th 42K/ultra overall since the marathon bug bit me. Little did I know that the Kagay-an Festival battle cry would also apply to me- back on my feet (sub-5 finish-wise) and moving forward too already!
Daghang salamat Cagayan de Oro!
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