QCIM 2010: A PR Experience for Bobby.

It is said that in long distance running, you compete with yourself.  It is perhaps useless to think of competing with the elite Kenyan runners as they are from another running universe.  So for more of us mere mortals, we think of bettering our running time from previous races.  Simply, we aim to establish a Personal Record (PR).

In the case of our resident stud runner, Bobby Castilla, he simply obliterated his time from Camsur Marathon by finishing   an impressive 4 hours 20 minutes yesterday (Dec 5, 2010) at the Quezon City International Marathon.  This time is 1 hour better  than his 5 hours  21 minutes at Camsur.  The route which started at the Quezon Memorial Circle thru the UP Campus up Commonwealth Avenue,  into the La Mesa watershed forest reserve and back  the same way, finishing at the same starting line, Bob tackled at an average speed of 8 kph sustained for 42.195 kms.    Simply an impressive time for the 40-50 age group.

What is Bob’s secret formula for such running prowess?  I remember asking Bob a few month’s back and he emailed a reply which is unprintable in this otherwise wholesome blog.  Hahaha……………

I ran also the full marathon at QCIM and my time was more pedestrian at 6 hours 20 minutes.  For the 3^rd time in as many attempts, I again failed to finish below my target of 6 hours. My consolation is that   my QCIM time is an improvement from my Camsur time of 6 hours 30 mins.  I guess it is back to the drawing board for me, more like back to the gym and chiropractor, to strengthen my weak and tired muscles and bones.

Our Navy classmate Fards (Commander Ruben Fajardo) ran 21 km but he registered a relatively slow time (by his standards) of 3 hours.  This is understandable as Fards incurred a muscle injury while running the dark UP Oval.  We expect Fards to rebound in the coming weeks as he has lined up 2 more half marathons (Milo & Corregidor) this December.  3 half marathons in 3 weeks is an extraordinary feat in itself. Back to back to back.   

Ed Balcueva and Ernie Badong joined the 10 km run at QCIM.  I heard Bert Ferro, too.  They continue to improve and we expect them to aim for longer distances next year. And in this quest, I guess they can learn from what motivates strong runners like Bob.

What then motivates strong runners like Bob?  Since Bob is the silent type, I will try to offer an answer by  getting it from  my favorite running magazine – Runner’s World. In its December 2010 issue, Dr. Jay Kimiecik (professor of exercise psychology at Miami University in Ohio), said that runners who possess an inner drive to excel, have successfully tapped into three powerful human desires.  We all have innate needs to feel competent, to relate to others, and have a sense of freedom about how we do something.  For runners, competence is the feeling that you’re getting better over time.  With relatedness, running makes you feel like you’re part of a community.  And autonomy is about having control over whether you run - - your spouse or doctor isn’t forcing or preventing you into it. (Sounds familiar, refer to Bob’s article entitled “Running against Doctor’s Orders.”)

It is obvious that Bob has found a way to make running resonate with at least one (if not all) of these basic needs.  It is common sense for all Batch 83 runners to follow Bob’s example.