CEBUANA Olympian Mary Joy Tabal of the Motor Ace Kawasaki Racing team gauged her capacity in a high-level race once more as she competed in the Great Eastern Half Marathon yesterday in Singapore.
Tabal finished seventh, clocking a time of one hour, 25 minutes and eight seconds. Last year, she finished fourth in 1:19:00.
Tabal admitted that it was not her best performance but she still considered it a great race as it got her mind back into the racing circuit.
“It feels great just to be back to racing as it was my first race after Rio,” Tabal, who joined the women’s marathon at the 2016 Sumer Olympics last August 14 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said. “I was excited and scared. It was a great way to recover after Rio.”
The race also served as Tabal’s preparation for the National Milo Marathon next month, where she is a three-time champion.
“After finishing the race, I felt more inspired to do better especially on my preparations for Milo. I lost some confidence after Rio but I am back and I am on the right track,” said Tabal.
According to Tabal, she had got lost several times and had to stop to check for the correct route in the Singapore race.
“But I still looked at this in a good way because it actually really felt good to be back racing again and racing against Asia’s top elite runners at that,” Tabal added.
Republic of Korea’s Jo Un Ok and Kim Hye Song took the top two spots after finishing in 1:14:51 and 1:17:05, respectively. Gulzhanat Zhanatbek of Kazakhstan finished third in 1:18:47.
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