Aside from being physically and mentally prepared you need one more thing if you were to survive Bataan Death March Ultramarathon—support—more than just the morale but actual support vehicle and crew!

Rule #2: Every runner MUST have a support vehicle

This is part of a series
① ② ③ ④

A year ago this would’ve been quite a challenge as being a newbie then I only had a handful of willing and able friends in the community.  This year the situation was much different—I now have the overwhelming love and support of my running family!  It was even so much more than my wildest imagination!

Ultra-Formation

Our team was unofficially founded after the test run by Tina.  Having a dedicated support person and vehicle would be ideal but quite expensive (not to mention leaving a much heavier carbon footprint) but as stated in the rules a support vehicle can support a maximum of four runners (Rule #2:2).  Tina figured that Glen, Sam “The Running Ninja,” and I had practically close paces (which I highly doubt because of her training with “hardcores”) so we could form a team.  I knew she had so much potential to place and naturally we didn’t want to slow her down.  Humble as she was, she agreed with us “just to finish” runners and so the rest was history.  I won’t mention the name we suggested for our team as she might chase me with a chainsaw hehe. 🙂

Ultra-Support

“Kung ganyan ba naman ang support mo kahit anong distance ata matatakbo mo.”

Busy as we were we didn’t realize that some members of our running family (not running BDM) had something up their sleeves—planning their support!  Aside from the normal well-wishes many gave cash and goods, and many even went all out by giving their time and effort!  All these without us asking and without asking for anything in return!  Don’t these acts bring back our faith in people, that there are more good people out there than we realize.  More than just volunteerism—it’s about caring for family.  If you get that level of support you’d feel like you can run any distance!

Ultra-Plan

Mind and body, checked; medical clearance, checked; support vehicle and personnel, checked; all systems green and go!  Wait, where’s the plan?  The plan detailing our pace strategy and our support needs?  “Ideal” as our plan was but BDM “veterans” would say it rarely gets followed on race day.  It would serve as guide for our “just to finish” goals, and for our support crew to figure out what our “planned” needs were.  At least that was the plan.

With all systems good to go, there’s not left to do but wait for D-Day—we can only prepare for what we know, or what we think we know—as for everything else, that’s a different story altogether.

* * *

2nd BDM Ultramarathon 102:

• Background
• Ultra-SPF
• First Half
• Conclusion