Slave of Speed

Trip down memory lane of the once semi-glorious sprinting career of a small time sprinter

First ever athletics medal -- Bronze, 4x 100 relay, BPSCAA (Bacoor Private Schools Athletic Association) circa 1997


My first official exposure to the world of track and field did not start on a good note. I lost a 200-meter dash event where I was situated in the outermost lane of the oval.  The track venue was an "old school" oval where the ground (which appears like a combination of sand, soil and some tiny crushed rocks) was kinda wet due to the rainfall prior to the day of the event causing the ground to become kind of  a soft, mud-like clay. As I was accelerating on the turn, my right foot got stuck in the mud.  Admittedly, I would have probably lost the contest anyway but I'm pretty sure I should not have finished dead last. Later that day, I joined in other events. I was like a starlet taking every available role hoping to get a crack at stardom as I took advantage of every opportunity to win a medal that day by competing in every possible event like the long and high jump but lady luck ain't smiling at me. Thankfully, I did not go home(or school) empty-handed as we secured two bronze medals against some highschool seniors in the relay event, one all-male team and another with mixed type of relay.   Interestingly, I have never heard of a relay composed of two males and two females for a 4x100 team, but I won't complain since the two females in our team earlier won the gold medal in their respective individual events :)

First individual event medal -- Silver 400 meter dash , BPSCAA (Bacoor Private Schools Athletic Association) circa 1999


My personal battlecry for season '98 is "back with a vengeance", but surprisingly, our school did not field a team for the track and field event for that year when just the previous year, our school managed to win the 2nd overall title on the strength of the medal victories earned by the track and field team. It's akin to Cuba not sending a boxing team to the Olympics. Ironically, the school decided to keep the basketball and volleyball teams, where the clubs were the consistent cellar dweller of the tournament.

So season '99 was my senior year  so I want to take a stab at one more shot at glory. But my illusion of a glorious closure to my senior season was shattered upon the sight of a 6-foot something behemoth(representing *St. Francis of Assisi College system) whose limbs could produce a stride equivalent to my two strides.  It appears to me now that the contest was reduced to a battle for silver. As soon as the gunstart went off, the 6-footer made his presence felt that made the contest look like a battle between a college track star and some elementary joggers. I noticed a familiar face on the other lane and eventually recognized that the guy was the runner (I clearly remember he's representing **St. Anthony School) who has beaten my teammate in the other event (100m or 200 m if I'm not mistaken). As we made the second loop, quick thoughts run through my mind; I started with the illusion of a golden finish, then midway through the race realized that the battle was for second place and now I'm only hoping that a bronze would at least exorcise the forgettable individual event of Season '97. But lo and behold, I found myself alone trailing the guy who earlier won a gold medal. I made a quick lookback and saw the 6-footer guy smooching the sand/mud/soil surface of the oval, collapsing probably due to extreme exhaustion by giving it all on the first loop or maybe suffering the same albeit much worse fate than I did back in '97. I admit, the sight of that fallen competitor pumped some hope that I could finish better than bronze. The sudden rush of adrenalin may have been an extra push to cut some seconds but its effect was temporary as I felt my knees trembling and falling and scraping my knees (remember, the oval is made up of some broken rocks). The deafening shouts of the crowd (probably due to the unfolding drama of this rather uneventful event) did not help. I could not even distinguish the tone of the screams of my teammates, several of whom I could not even recognize due to exhaustion, whether it was to egg me on as I was a spitting distance away from the finish or out of panic because a runner from  another school (I believe he was representing Divine Light Academy) is about to overtake me. With scenes plucked from your typical teleserye, I finished the race in dramatic fashion, wounded and bruised (body and ego) and almost falling on my face.

My teammates, even the younger ones, made me the butt of jokes for that embarrassing finish line scene.

NOTE: Medals were given during a separate date reserved for awarding ceremony which includes other awardees for other sports, thus I could share no podium photo memories 

First Jump event medal - Bronze High Jump DLSU-D Intercollege circa 2004

This is the first athletic event since my headline grabbing, scene stealing, medal winning but extremely embarrassing performance.

 I was frustrated because I arrived late at the oval (this time it's closer, if not totally accurate in size and appearance, to Olympic track oval) so I wasn't able to participate in any sprint event.  As the bar was raised higher, we were reduced to four competitors.  Two of them including me was eliminated when we obviously failed to hurdle the bar. The final placing of the two jumpers who eventually won the gold and silver were decided by one last jump in a height one level higher than the previous level where we were eliminated.  However,  we, the two losers, had a hard time clearing the bar on the height level that caused our elimination. If I recall it correctly, the bar was lowered to another level and the other guy cleared it and I didn't.  But the official both awarded us the bronze. I surmise it would be due to our failure to clear the bar on the "battle for third" height level. I feel like I didn't deserve it initially but accepted it anyway.

Last Sprint medal - Silver, 200 meter dash DLSU-D Intercollege circa 2005


Nothing fancy on this contest. The competition was a one-round event, no qualification or semis.  One round. That's it.  If you're not fast enough, then you don't deserve a medal.  The fastest times in all the heats were used to determine the ranking of the runners. I ranked second in my heat. All I could do is wish that my time is better than the other first placers in the other heats  to at least secure a bronze. As luck would have it, my heat appeared to have been the strongest among all of them since my time is good enough to rank second overall to match my best finish in this so-called athletics career. :)