At 11:00 PM last Saturday, March 6 2010 the KM00 of the Bataan Death March was filled with runners and alike. It marks the start of the BDM race which was the brain child of Sir Jovie Narcise aka "The BaldRunner". Almost all were excited, most especially the runners, for they would be conquering a total distance of 102K in 18hours.
It took me a long time to write about the BDM race, it's because I'm still in awe of the courage I saw when a lot of runners joined this race. Sure, I was not in their shoes literally but I had witnessed their hardship of running the full course. I even saw the camaraderie in runners and support, some support crew would even offer their help to runners whom they are not supporting. A total of 142 registrants joined the race, some of them joined the 1st BDM race last year and a lot were newbies. But veterans or newbies they have set the same goal and that is to FINISH the race no matter, within the specified cut-off time.
Since most of the participants were already at KM00, Sir Jovie decided to start the race earlier than announced, Bro. Ronnie aka RunnerforChrist led the prayer. Both the American and Philippine National Anthem was sung, the Stars Spangled Banner was led by Sir Jovie. He instructed all the support crew to head to KM07, since the road leading to it, is narrow and steep, in order to avoid traffic at this route and just let the runners occupy the road, and that is what we did.
KM07
We waited for Erick here first, he said that he would just be walking from KM00 up to this point considering that it's mostly uphill. And he also strategized on how he would be conserving his energy to finish the feat. And so we did wait, two men from the Army arrived first at this point followed by other runners who were really psyched up for this race. I think it was after 40minutes when Erick arrived at KM07, I together with Ryan (Erick's brother) assisted him, replenishing his 2 Nathan bottle with water and Gatorade. He would be running with Vener aka Run Unlimited, which I agreed, running with a buddy makes it all different. Erick would be telling on what station we would be waiting for him, so that he can get supplies if he needed to. Next stop would be KM10.
KM10
Both of them were taking it easy, they wouldn't want to rush and end up with an injury. They would be running 92 more kilometers, Erick asked for boiled egg and salt this time, I think he got hungry. He would be instructing us on what KM point we would be waiting for him, whether it would be after 5 kilometers or more. So that when he arrived there, we would be ready on what we will give to him. The key to a successful team work is communication, and even days before the race, I have made myself ready that Erick might get angry and grumpy. I have told him that since it was his moment, so I won't mind if he gets mad or shout at us, but since we communicated well, we have avoided this scenario which I was thankful for. :)
KM15, 20, 25, 30
Stations that we waited for Erick, I forgot what we did and what time they arrived at this point, so please forgive me. I'm still in the process of urging my ultra husband Erick to write his story on the BDM, I do hope that he would, it's a different story from what I 'am sharing, this post is from a support crew's point of view, I hope to post one from the runner's view.
The rules of the BDM stated that runners would be running on the left side of the road which is considered as the safe side for runners and we the support crew would be waiting for them at the right side. But Sir Jovie allowed the runners to run on the right side so that they would approach their support easily. Erick and I have already talked on what to give him at certain point station. We would be convoying with Vener's support crew headed by his wife Christy, which I had the pleasure of having her company.
KM35
My eyes were beginning to shut at this point and I can see Mr. Sandman, I felt so sleepy. I was looking for a carinderia open to have some coffee, I think it was already past 4 in the morning. I was thankful that we saw one, we bought pandesal, and I was alive again. Coffee is my steroids, my day is not complete without one and I cannot write without one cup or two. :D
We offered pandesal to runners approaching us, Erick borrowed my watch and I have no way of checking what time it was when he got here.
Next stop would be KM40, it is at this station when Wilnar Iglesia and Chris Iblan of Takbo.ph approached our support vehicle asking for anything that is hot. For the past kilometers these two young men have been in front of the pack, they are both strong runners, finishing some run in the lead. The look on Chris was alarming, he really looked like that he is not well, this got us worried. We offered him banana and boiled egg hoping that he would be better soon, as in soon, since the race is still 62 kilometers away. While Christy and I are chatting, we learned that he had water intoxication, I googled it and learned that:
"Marathon runners are susceptible to water intoxication if they drink too much while running. This is caused when sodium levels drop below 135 mmol/L when athletes consume large amounts of fluid. This has been noted to be the result of the encouragement of excessive fluid replacement by various guidelines. This has largely been identified in marathon runners as a dilutional hyponatremia. Medical personnel at marathon events are trained to suspect water intoxication immediately when runners collapse or show signs of confusion." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication)
Let us stay safe and make it a point to listen to our body.
On the other hand, both Erick and Vener were still in good shape, Erick once again asked for hammer gel, boiled egg and salt, when I told him about Chris condition he too got worried.
KM50
BDM's aid station is located here at KM50, lugaw, boiled eggs, boiled bananas, crackers would be served to runners at this pit stop. It was past 7 in the morning when Erick, Vener and Cesar Abarientos reached this station.
Lugaw is one of Erick's fancy food during and after a run. As what was promised, foods were available at the KM50 which every runner took advantage of.
Erick changed his clothes here, so that he would be comfortable running since the sun is almost up.
Since most of the bloggers are having their post in parts, I would be doing the same. Will post stories from KM50 onwards. ;)
500 more meters to go (laki ng kalaban nya)
