Tabal confident of scoring 4-peat in Milo marathon

The country’s Marathon Queen and the lone Filipina Olympic marathoner Mary Joy Tabal is conffident of retaining her crown in the 40th National Milo Marathon Grand Finals on December 4 in Ilo-ilo City.

Tabal who was recently dropped from the Philippine National Team by the Philippine Athletic and Track and Field Association (PATAFA) said she is not letting negative thoughts enter her mind as she continues her rigid training for the 42-kilometer race.

The 27-year old Cebuana told CDN that she has a lot of inspiration to keep her going. “All I think right now is that I have inspirations,” said Tabal. “I am inspired by my goals as a runner and I am inspired also by the people who continue to believe that I can still do better.”

She revealed that her biggest inspiration is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “The 2020 Tokyo Olympics keeps me going,” added the three-time Milo Marathon Grand Finals winner.

Now that she is the official endorser of Milo, Tabal doubles up her work output in training. She said that she is determined to defend her title and score a four-peat hence her back-breaking 12-week training program.

Her ever supportive trainer, John Philip Dueñas believes that Tabal can still improve on a lot of things and that the Cebuana running phenom is still capable of doing more great things in long distance running that’s why he said they are both working hard.

Tabal added that she considers all the qualifiers from the 13 qualifying races held nationwide as her biggest challenge in defending her national title.