February 21, 2010 marked the fulfillment of one of my declarations for 2010: I will run at least 5k in a marathon this year. Yep, I’m one of the 11,000+ people who joined the Century Tuna Superbods Run at Fort Bonifacio Global City.

I have to make it clear, though: 5k is not a marathon, so I should change that word. But it sounds cooler and more impressive…right? Then again, who’s impressing who?

But anyway. Last Sunday, some of my friends and I joined this humongous event, as seen in the photo above (that was actually after the run already). Originally, it was only me, Toni and Noel who was supposed to go there, but Gel joined in a few weeks later. I was kind of nervous about the race, especially the day before (when the four of us were also together to watch Rent) because I didn’t know what to expect. True, I’ve been practicing on the treadmill a lot, and once at the UP Oval, and I knew I could do 5k easily (or not so easily, but you know what I mean), but I still couldn’t help but feel the jitters. What if something happens, you know?

I shouldn’t have worried, really, because the race went by smoothly, at least for me. I didn’t have much expectations since it was my first race ever, plus I wasn’t really running to win or to beat a specific time — I was running to have some kind of record to break, eventually.

So there. It was a fun race, but there were so. many. racers. In 5k, specifically, which I heard were about 4,000 runners all in all? Wow. I was already on my way back when I saw some people still on their way at the half of the 5k route — man that’s a lot of runners. It was also kind of hard to really run because there were so many people around. It was kind of funny being at the start line at the gun start: everyone were just jogging up and down in their place until the person in front of them finally moved. Heh.

Sometime in the middle of the race, I started feeling some fatigue in my legs. That’s when I slowed down and just let people run by me. However, by the time I started running, the people in front of me were now walking, so hello elbows and cutting and all that!

I also wanted to have a “running finish”, but everyone in front of me were walking already so I walked too. I could have had a shorter time if I managed to run there…but I don’t mind.

All in all, I finished 5k in 43:50, according to the race results at the website. It’s not so bad, since I clocked around 39:27 at the treadmill when I tried 5k for the first time. At least I’m under 50 minutes, and I now have a personal record to beat. :D

And my overall ranking isn’t so shabby either: I’m #550 for the Female Division for 5k (out of 1711 runners) and #1729 for the overall 5k (out of 3706 runners). I’m still in the upper half, so it isn’t so bad. :)

Will I run again? Yes, I definitely will. I don’t know if I’ll really take this thing seriously, and invest in shoes and other stuff, but I will definitely join another race again. :) It’s fun, and it’s another way to exercise and be healthy (which reduces stress and hair loss), plus it’s a great experience. :D Who knows, I may be able to run 10k by the end of the year. :P I’m not closing any doors on that.

Oh and the best part about Sunday?

Oh yeah. I’ll definitely run again. :P