Old men will be the death of me.

In last Sunday’s 2nd Rotary Run 15K race, I marked as target for overtaking a stocky man who appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties. I spotted him running with a friend in Lahug after I passed a group of about five men whom I have been tailing starting at the old Social Security System building.

PRINCE PAQUIBOT on his way to finishing a 47-minute 7K in last Sunday’s 2nd Rotary Run. (PHOTO BY MARLEN LIMPAG)

When I saw him, my secondary goal of finishing 15K in 1 hour and 25 minutes had grown bleaker by the meter. Before I even reached the turning point near the PLDT office on Osmena Blvd., I had given up on trying to finish the distance in 1:20, my main let’s-see-if-I-can-do-it goal for that day. Nearing the UP campus, I was worried I couldn’t even meet my secondary finishing time target.

Until I saw him.

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