I think rest made this possible. I beat my PR for 21K at the recently concluded Earth Run 2012 held on April 15 at BGC. I finished at 1:50:22 (chip time). That’s 7 minutes faster than my previous record at the Condura Skyway Marathon last February.

I felt my feet were tired during Holy Week, but I still ran a steep 10K all-uphill/downhill road in Tagaytay and played some street soccer as well. The following week, I decided to reduce my workout. On the dawn of Thursday, April 12 — 3 days before the race — I experienced a cramp during my sleep. It was weird because I had never experienced cramps before. That was the first time, and it happened while I was sleeping. The next day I felt some sore muscles on that area of my left calf, so I decided to cancel my short morning runs up until race day.

I was late to start because I went to the restroom three times before the gun start. It’s not wise to drink 500ml of water straight an hour before the race. That made me start without even having a warm-up. I just paused several times in the first kilometer to do some quick stretches. But in spite of it all, I felt strong and my legs felt fresh — the Buendia flyover felt just like a flat road, back and forth.

I know the importance of rest during training, but this experience is a strong and quick validation of it. This week, I just ran 30 minutes on Tuesday. On the dawn of Thursday, I felt a little cramp in that same muscle again. I don’t know what’s causing it. I played 2 hours of indoor soccer that night, and that’s it for the week. I’m ready for another run — this time for NatGeo this Sunday — and I hope to finish strong again, below 1:50, to set another 21K record.