TP50: Tarlac my 17th Province

There were more than a handful of marathons and ultras held in late April and early May.  But it was the Tarlac to Pampanga 50K Ultramarathon (TP50) that the Bicolano Penguin joined.  The appeal of TP50 was two-fold.

First, it is a night  ultramarathon, specifically it started at 11pm  (April 27) with a cut-off finish time of  9am the following day (April 28). Most of the running time was in the cover of darkness - protected, if you may, from the searing heat of this hot summer.  With the heat index soaring to dangerous levels in Luzon in April, the prudent thing for an ultra runner with "heart problems" like me is to avoid long distance distance running events under the heat of the sun.  Good thing, the TP50 is one for the night walkers, errr.... night runners. 

Second, parts of the TP 50 is in Tarlac, a province I have not had the pleasure of running a  marathon or ultramarathon. Given my bucket list to run a full or an ultra in all the provinces of our beautiful country, joining the TP50 will be another step to fulfilling that impossible dream. Surviving the TP50 gives me my 17th province (Tarlac).  I know all of them by heart.  Let me list them dowm from North to South:   Ilocos Norte, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan, Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Albay, Northern Samar, Samar, Leyte, Negros Oriental and Davao del Sur.  82 minus 17 equals 65 provinces more to go. 

     

Each time I "survive" a province with a full marathon or ultra, I mark it with a yellow highlighter in a map posted on the board in my office. The latest, the 17th province,   is Tarlac.  

A bit of an unknown for me when I registered for the TP50 together with my fellow row5runner Ernie is the race organizer - Smoke 10 Events Management.  It was our first time to run in a running event organized by this team.  Good thing our TP50 experience proved to us that it is one dependable team.  The team lead is Jner Manalang and he responded promptly and pro-actively to many inquiries and requests from the race participants.  His management style is not pompous nor dictatorial.  Many of the things he said happened like the Samgyupsal pre-race meal at the assembly area and the well-stocked hydration stations every 5 kms. Based on what I have seen at the starting and finish line areas, Smoke 10 events has developed already a loyal base of local running groups and ultrarunners in the Central Luzon and Metro Manila areas. 

Fellow row5runner Ernie joined me in the TP50

Race Director Jner of Smoke 10 Events Management doing the race briefing.

Enjoying the freshly-cooked Samgyupsal dinner before the start of the race.  

The hydration station at the halfway point well-stocked with biko, pansit, softdrinks and water.  

The road race course of TP50 is Point-to-Point. The start is in front of the municipal hall of Capas, Tarlac and the finish is 50 kilometers away in Plaza Burgos in the town of Guagua, Pampanga. Crossing three cities and five towns in two provinces, we encountered more varied environments, neighborhoods and sceneries.  Nothing beats touring a place on foot.  We get to feel the lay of the land. Like in Capas, we can feel the growing urbanization of a provincial municipality with the ubiquitous fast food chains (Jollibees & Chowkings) sprouting left and right of the national road.  The next town to be featured by the TP50 route is Bamban where we encountered for more than 2 kilometers  rows of videoke joints that provided nigh time solace to truck drivers and other weary road travelers. Too bad, singing was not an option for many of the ultrarunners on that TP50 night. Crossing the 174 meter-long Basket-Handle Neilson-Lohse bridge that is known as the Bamban Bridge, we found ourselves exiting the province of Tarlac and entering Pampanga province.  The Bamban Bridge is actually the conspicuous landmark in the area as much of the terrain entering Mabalacat City is dusty grasslands.  It becomes more exciting as we traverse the MacArthur Highway connecting Mabalacat to Angeles.  This is an area that never sleeps and the lights on the road are always on that we saw no need to be using our headlights for running even at 1am in the morning .  Whereas this area was populated by many girlie night clubs catering to US servicemen during the heydays of the US airbase in Clark, now the stretch of road between these 2 cities are still full of night establishments but this time catering to a more diverse clientele be it casino players, Chinese workers, Korean expats, or local young ones having a good time on a weekend.   Exiting Angeles City, we found ourselves on the very long road to the provincial capital city of San Fernando.  The establishments on the side of the road are mostly restaurants of varying cuisines ranging from Kapampangan to Korean to Vietnamese to Chinese to Italian to Turkish to Cebuano to fusion to vegan to native. Goes to show that the richer the economy of the place the better the melting of the pot. Sadly, it was still dawn when we pass by these temples of culinary delight. If any of them were open, I  would have opted to grab a bite or 2.  Soon the growing megapolis gave way to the sleepy town of Bacolor.  Being a satellite town, it is dwarfed in economic prosperity by the capitol city.  Nonetheless, when we were running in this town, the sun was already out and we can see before us the richness in faith of its residents as many, in their Sunday's best,   were already walking to  church for the Sunday mass.  Speaking of church, we knew that we are already in the last town in our 50km exodus, when we saw the Baroque magnificence of the St. James the Apostle Church in Betis, a district of Guagua.  Seeing such amazing artistry, this powered me to go for a fartlek type of run in the last 3 kilometers of the race.  Soon, I was turning a left which brought me just a 100 meters away from the coveted finish line. Funny how easy and fluid our running strides are when we near the finish line  It is like all of  a sudden the slow penguin in me gives way to an inner Giannis  Antetokounmpo.  I swear it felt like it took me only 5 strides to cross the last 100 meters of this 50km ultramarathon.  Here's to a hyperbolic finish to my TP50.  

Prayer before the start of the TP50 race. 

Group photo in front of the Municipal Hall of Capas.

With  Calbang Ener and his fellow Cabalen runners 

The TP50 ultrarunners are off to an energetic start. 

The St. James the Apostle Church in Betis, Guagua.    

The joy in crossing the finish line.

What are the words on the lucky runner's shirts? "Basta Runner Sweet Lover"? 

Feeling like a winner.  Yup, all who finish are winners. 

Chillin in Guagua

Camaraderie before, during and after the race. The appeal of ultra running 

Congratulations to all the participants  of the TP50.  All 155 solo finishers and 8 relay finishers. For the record, the Bicolano Penguin finished in 103rd place. Considering that I usually start at the last row , this means that in principle, I  overtook 51 runners.  Perhaps for a slow runner like me, there still can be a tuhog delight.  As I've said many times, running indeed can make the impossible possible. 

Kudos to the organizers - Jner and his Smoke 10 Events Management.  With our happy experience in TP50, we are sure that many more will be running to have a bite  at their upcoming long distance running offerings like the NE70 Ultramarathon in Nueva Ecija this Sep 7-8 and the  Masskara Marathon in Negros Occidental   this coming Oct 13. 

  











Photo Credits:  Smoke 10 Events Management