No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam

Some came to compete and some came to leave their mark, the others came to honor and remember the survivors of Bataan Death March where thousands of Filipinos and Americans soldiers were forced to march many miles by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. I came to run.

The runners were off at 6:30 AM, the earliest start time for marathon I had ran. I started slow to warm up, letting others passed by thus creating more space around me.  After a mile, I picked up the pace, passing other runners along the way then at around eight miles marker as I was about to switch into cruising mode, I faced a high mountain terrain, every step was a constant battle until I hit the 24 mile marker where at that point I heard a faint cheers from the crowd, getting louder and louder as I dashed to the finish line.

It was a grueling course- rugged terrain, high elevation, a mile of sand pit, constant twist and turns and sudden outburst of winds from every direction. It was test of how far can you go and how much pain can you endure on a six hours time limit marathon.

References

Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon