Leszl the invincible

My column for Tuesday last week only came out yesterday due to problems in our computer. Anyway, the Cebu Queen City Footrace finally saw the light last Sunday. It was again the same familiar faces that stood at the winner’s podium with undisputed Cebu marathon queen Leszl Getaruelas breezing to her sixth straight victory this year. In the men’s division, the Delposo brothers Joel and Eugene continued to make the race a family affair by annexing the first and second spots. Leszl clocked 41:24 to frustrate Mary Jane Beboso who settled for second in 42:33 while Madelyn Carter wound up third in 43:12. Joel nipped Eugene by two minutes registering a time of 34:11 to Eugene’s 34:13. Leszl remained undefeated in over 20 races, if you include the 16 she won last year. It reminded me of our team in the early 90’s, the Nike Running Club that won 12 consecutive team crowns in the PAL Manila Marathon. Our team was so strong, other teams conceded even before the race, saying they are just playing for second place. “Kung sabagay”, who could challenge a team that had former national record holder and Barcelona Olympian Herman Suizo, three-time Milo Marathon champion and Boston Marathon veteran Jimmy dela Torre, Seoul Olympian Hector Begeo, two-time PAL Marathon champion Rey Antoque, former Sea Games champion Allan Ballester, former 10,000 meters national record holder Mario Castro and six-time Milo champion and Athens Olympian Roy Vence? So I jokingly told local reporters “ayaw na mo kabangon og sayo, ang modaug si Leszl ug ang Delposo brothers”.

My First 10k

As I mentioned in a previous column. My injury has relegated me to a race spectator for the past six months. I envied my co-runners who went to international races. Last Sunday, I was ready to test my 60-year-old knees. Of course it still hurts, considering the same knees have covered over 100,000 kilometers since I started running 30 years ago. Having run over 200 races, I know every trick in the book but also listened to my body. I started very slow my “tokayo” Raffy Ozumo, who was also running his first 10k with a pair of week-long Nike shoes, to go ahead. Raffy eventually won the Tri-Media Division crown with yours truly salvaging second place. Soon I caught up with ABS-CBN’s Haide Acuña who was the cause of my defeat in the executive division on several running occasions. You see, I paced Haide when she was just starting in the races. Haide who will soon join the Cebu Executive Runners Club went on to win the Tri-Media women’s diadem. Haide also plans to run in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon next year. Back to the race, although Dr. Renald Ramiro was in the race, I was worried of my knee. Will it hold on? At the St. Theresa’s College junction, my knees started to hurt, this was what I was afraid of. But having experienced more pain in the hundreds of races I’ve joined, I said I won’t stop (I’ve never stopped in all the races I’ve run). Soon I was near Colon St. just a kilometer away. I walked a few meters to reserve for my final attack of the finish line. Finally I arrived in one piece at 1:05, not bad for cripple and an old runner at 60.