Back-to-Back Sweet Finish Part 2: Rock and Road Trail Half-Marathon

Last November 11, a total of 134 runners conquered the trails of Nuvali by running a marathon and a half-marathon. The race started at exactly 3am. Everyone was required to bring a headlamp since it was totally dark in the area.

-photo by Tong Pascua-

I was quite familiar with Nuvali trails since I already did a couple of trail runs there but still I
felt clueless on where would the darkness will take us. Our headlamps were not enough to lit the way we were going through. It was very challenging.

The route was rough and muddy. I almost slipped along the way. There were ascents, descents, lots of potholes and cow shit. It even rained when we're almost halfway to finish.

-photo by Aquiz Minlay-

We enjoyed it anyway. In fact, I had a great time chatting with my friends (A, Rox and Daniel) while running almost until km 16.

It was an out and back route but with the darkness when we started, I didn't remember anything. I failed to catch  up with A's pace and left Rox and Daniel unconsciously. It made me run alone the last 5 kilometers.

I was not sure if my feet will lead me to the right way but I trusted it.  I  also followed some markers that will bring me to the finish line. Thank God I didn't got lost.

As I crossed the finish line, Sir Jonel informed me that I was the 2nd female finisher. Yay! A great back-to-back podium finish with United Colors of 88 Run.

-with running buddy A-

I finished next to A who also did a great job. He was the 3rd male finisher. Nice!

The two of us waited for my teammates to come.

After a while, we saw Daniel, next was Rox and then Joyce. Tope also followed. As expected, we finished earlier than those who did 42k. We all ran 21km  except for Allan, who's brave enough to do a marathon trail run. We waited for him to cross the finish line.

(Joyce, Rox, Daniel,me with sir Jonel at the back.. haha) Rox and Joyce got the 4th and 5th place female respectively-

While waiting for other runners, the Top 3 Male and Female were awarded with some prizes.

The 21k Female Winners : Gay Baniwas (3rd F), Sandi Abahan (1st F), me (2nd F)

After awarding, we did some photo ops. We were the lucky 6 from the Team Rock and Road. Thanks A for this shot.

Mission Accomplished with Team Rock and Road!

Trail running is really addictive. I will never get tired doing it. Congratulations to all the 21k and 42k finishers. See you when I see you! :)

To view the race results, click HERE.