It was my 2nd time join
the race. Because of good experience
last year. Despite no training almost a month during CNY, I brought more cheer leaders to give me power, here they go: my two princes.
The course was same as
last year, except the the first turn of running course pulled back a little, made it shorter by ~200m, measured 4.84km, according to my Garmin305.
The swimming course was same. 2x out and 2x back made 750m. Thanks to organizer to upgrade to uncle group (40-49), I could start in early waves (wave 4). The tide in Palawan beach was low at that time, but already higher than last year. This time I tried to use open water sighting every 5~10 strokes, avoided wasting effort in zig-zagging. I don't think I improve my speed a lot since last year. But TI sure save a lot of effort for me. So I didn't felt sluggish as I crawling from the water. I scored 21:18 for swimming leg, compared with 24:04 last year.
Despite gasping at the beginning of the run, I soon recovered and both breath and stride became relaxed. I listen my body and ran in an average 4:40/km pace, HR~177bpm. It was right in my 5k HR zone, according to Jack Daniels' formula. I made this even pace till the finish line, finished in 22:33, compared with 23:58 last year. My final ranking was
106/207 finishers in the age group, better than
last year's 123/189 (30-39 Group).
One interesting thing. When I was about to leave transition. The official found I wore no shoes and want to stop me. I hurried off saying "it's OK, I'm fine with it", leaving the worried official behind, saying "it's rule, you can not run without shoes!" I don't think they were going to DQ me and deprive the joy from me. But I was surprised when the official finally caught up with me after halfway U-turn and informed me he's going to record my bib number for "leaving transition without any shoes". I said I was fine with it and already violated this rule last edition. He didn't get me out off the course and let me enjoy, what a nice person.
The post run session was playing an celebrating with my daughters in the beach. The race left me only relaxation, family fun, nor even post run muscle soreness. It was amazing.
Thanks Tekko volunteering photographing the race, some of the photos credited to him and "
Running Shots"
Album1
Album2
