A Trail Run to Remember
by: Honey P. Carmona
Without a sleep and already hungry, I was feeling a bit anxious about still joining the trail run. We arrived at the La Mesa Nature Reserve at quarter past two to set up. I was hoping that I’d still be able to sleep since I was there very early. The phone alarm was screaming “wake up” to my wide awake self at past five in the morning. I took a deep breath and prayed and then jumped off the car and joined the pack of trail runners at the assembly area.
I didn’t realize we started late because some of the runners who committed to take the shuttle came in past the required time that they were supposed to be at the Shell station. The very festive and cool ambience was a hit and they helped in shaking off any pressure that I was feeling. The hosts were hilarious, the band was playing smooth jazz to good old rock and roll music! I told myself, “I came prepared, pero walang tulog. Lord, just don’t let me pass out”. The runners came in waves – I signed up for wave 3 since I assumed that the most fit and competitive runners would have registered for the first two batches. Before I knew it, it was our wave’s gun start. Bang! It was total adrenalin rush.
I used to hike back in the day and the trail really thrilled me. I loved the mud, the bamboos – all the uphill and the downhill roads. I loved them because I’ve missed going through them for more than a decade now. Running, on the other hand, was a different story for me. It was quest, to begin with. I belittled running. I thought it was that simple, but whoa – a big no! I didn’t realize there was a pair of proper shoes for it, the form, training, etc. I challenged myself until I’ve beaten all my goals on the road… from simply just finishing a 10K without stopping to setting my best personal record.
Then Trail run? Yes, trail run. I told myself this was a combo of what I love – running and the trail. And the biggest challenge – the trail itself! There were rough surprise obstacles as you go along as well! The log hurdles was a concern since most logs were almost my height and since you’ve already used up your energy in running, it became a test of endurance. The military wall and the rims were fairly easy, but the mud wall was tough! I think my experience in hiking and wall climbing paid off since I’ve learnt a few tricks in climbing up the vertical slab of mud. My toes up to my knees were hurting during the whole course, but each time I stopped and slow down, I would feel the pain even more. When one of the marshals said, “Ma’am malapit na!”, I took one deep breath and went on. Some meters before the finish line, we were required to do lunges and then the fire jump which we went through at the start now had fire flaming and they were wider! If you were at the verge of losing all your reserved energy, chances are you would fall right in to it! And then, the finish line… what a sweet relief to have finished [it] strong! (And by the way, I was in the top 10 for the female 10K category!)
The Immuvit Fearless Challenge Leg 1 was a superb trail run! Not only was it a challenging quest, but it was a whole lot of fun conquering it! One hella concept!
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Where could I register for the 2nd leg?
I didn’t know it existed before but its great to finally see and experience the “backdoor” of La Mesa (Nature Reserve) instead of the usual “front door” (Ecopark)… Maybe one day there will be a trail run that travels between Nature Reserve and Ecopark. That would be awesome