Just a week ago, I ran my first official Marathon last August 9, 2026, at the Inaugural Bulacan Marathon held at SM Pulilan, Bulacan, so it was a very memorable event for everyone who entered it, and it was made even more memorable since it was raining for the most part of the race. As for me, it holds more meaning since not only was it my first marathon, but as I said, I've been running for a year now, so it kind of became my anniversary run.
For 42k runners, the start of the race was 1:00 A.M., so to give us time to get a proper warm-up and a place to park, we decided to be at the venue at least 1:30 hours earlier. At that time, it had just stopped pouring, but as soon as the pre-program orientation started, the rain poured once again.
Introduction of 42k pacers.
Overall, there are over 5k runners who have joined this event, and among those were more than 1700 runners for 42k alone, so the starting line was packed with many runners who have accepted their fate of running for hours while it's raining. As for me, I do not really have any target time since it was my first marathon, rather, my priority is to get to the finish line safe and without any injuries, especially when there are many places within the route that have no adequate lightings and there are pits or uneven parts of the road that can result for runners to trip if they don't notice it, and the rain just makes visibility even harder.
Before the Gun starts.
Eventually, the race started. With this kind of crowd, starting fast will be difficult. When I was around the middle of the line, but after the first 2km, the route became less crowded, so I was able to run at my easy pace. Aside from the dark areas within the route, there are also quite a few uphills that make it harder to run.
I did not bring any hydration with me, because for every 1.5- 2 km, there were hydration stations, with some of the stations serving Pocari. Then, because running consumes a lot of energy, there were also stations that would serve food, such as sweets, chocolates, fruits, porridges, and for what the organizers are known for, serving roasted pork. I would say that I have spent a good 30 minutes stopping at these stations to eat.
Aside from that, I also stopped to see the 'Labanderas', who were washing clothes along the route. Just another gimmick by the organizers to show how early Filipino women were washing clothes. There are also people in traditional Filipino clothes along the route who were dancing some of the known folk songs to showcase the rich culture of the place.
After 5:31 hours of running, with an average pace of 7:53 minutes per kilometer, I finally reached the finish line, and despite all the hurdles that I encountered with the weather and the route, I was able to cross the finish line without getting injured. Finally, my marathon virginity has been taken away from me.
And just look at how big our medals were. That was what a 6.5" finisher medal looks like, almost as big as a plate. I also received a string bag with my finisher shirt, but I'd rather not wear it at the venue since the rain was still pouring.
Overall, I ranked 713 out of the 1711 runners that run the marathon, making me faster than 58% of runners in the 42km category. I will say that it was a pretty good time for my first marathon, despite taking a lot of stops to eat. And when I looked at my record in Strava, it says that my moving time was 5 hours, so if I hadn't stopped at the food stations, I could have finished the race a lot faster.
Now that I am finally a marathoner, what's next, you ask?
Actually, I just participated in a 5km funrun yesterday and finished it in 28 minutes, and this upcoming August 30, I will be entering a 10km funrun with the goal of beating my best time of 54 minutes, so let's see if that could be done.
That was it for this post. Thank you, and see you at the next post.
