Grieving Tabal etches Milo Marathon history

Cebuana Mary Joy Tabal breaks into tears after reaching the finish line to win her record fifth straight National Milo Marathon crown. Tabal lost her father, Rolando, (inset) a day before the prestigious race.
cdn photo/glendale rosal

During their last conversation just days before the National Milo Marathon Finals, multi-titled Cebuana runner Mary Joy Tabal and her sick father made a promise. That they would meet each other at the finish line of yesterday’s race.

For more than two months, father and daughter haven’t seen each other because of the latter’s training abroad. They would have shared congratulatory hugs since the women’s crown and a piece of Milo Marathon history were already conceded to the Cebuana Olympian long before the starting gun barked.

But the meeting would never take place.

The 28-year-old Tabal as expected, vanquished the opposition to become the only runner in Milo Marathon history to win five consecutive titles. She breasted the tape not with a wide victorious smile but with tears and a grieving heart. Mary Joy’s father had died a day before the race.

“I consider this race as the hardest one I ever joined,” said an emotional Tabal in a post-race press conference. “I was one hundred percent ready for this race. I had a six-week training camp in Tuscany, Italy. But then my papa just passed away yesterday,” she continued, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

Her father, Rolando, died Saturday morning of complications from diabetes, according to Mary Joy’s younger brother Rolando Jr. He was 58.

Tabal said she planned of backing out of the race when she learned about the sad news at around 10 a.m. on Saturday. She didn’t have enough rest and in fact has not slept since learning of her father’s passing.

“My siblings tried to hide the news from me because they were scared it would affect my performance. [Once I knew], I decided not to compete because it was too painful to run. But my cousin told me that my papa was very excited to see me finish and even excitedly said ‘Modagan ra ba si Joy-joy ugma. Maghuwat ko niya sa finish line.’” (Joy-joy is running tomorrow. I’ll wait for her at the finish line.)

Tabal said she used that to motivate herself to finish.

“This is the hardest race that I ever joined because I felt emotionally heavy. But I know that there’s a purpose for everything. Because why did it have to happen yesterday? We promised each other to meet at the finish line so I made it a point to finish this race for him.”

Tabal said her father always taught her never to give up, no matter what. For her that’s the most important lesson she learned from her dad.

“His message was always to finish what I started, continue fighting, and never give up.”

Tabal defended her Filipina elite title in two hours, 58 minutes and one second. She finished third overall behind Kenyans Elizabeth Chepkanan Rumokol (2:41.32) and Nancy Joan Rotich (2:50.35). Her time was almost 11 minutes slower than her Milo Marathon 42k record she set last year, which was 2:47.49.

Tabal returned from her training camp in Italy last November 26 but hasn’t seen her father who lives in Barangay Guba.

“He wouldn’t let me go home and see him in Guba because it’s far and he was scared I would get sick and jeopardize my preparations for the Milo Marathon. He just told me that he will be waiting for me at the finish line. He wanted me to rest first because I just came from a long travel and hard training.”

“My body was aching, my feet were heavy but coach Philip (Dueñas) was always pushing me and reminding me to finish the race for my dad, no matter what,” Tabal said.

Dueñas, though, said he, himself, had a tough time keeping his emotions in check. But he had to be strong for Tabal, his ward since 2009.

“As her coach, I have to stand for her all the time. I have to be her foundation. I have to be her source of strength. I am badly affected with what happened because me and her father were very close. But I had to hide my emotions in front of her,” the 30-year-old Dueñas said.

Tabal’s siblings, Maria Fe, Rolando Jr, and Mary Grace also egged her to go on. Dueñas said Tabal’s siblings cheered for her along the route, giving her water in every water station that she passed.

For her feat, the 29th SEA Games champion bagged around P300,000 for topping the Filipina category and placing third overall.

“This is one of my ultimate goals. To defend my title for five straight years. And doing it in front of my fellow Cebuanos is an added motivation,” said Tabal.

It was the first time the National Milo Marathon Grand Finals was held here in Cebu City. The race, held under perfect conditions, attracted around 12,000 runners.