Larrazabal conquers Mt. Everest of marathon

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III is living his favorite quote from Kobe Bryant—”If you want to make history, you have to make historical things.”

Last week, the 51-year-old Larrazabal, president and chairman of the board of the CebuDoc Group, made history when he became the first Filipino to complete the World Marathon Challenge.

“I was very happy, thankful that I finished strong, not injured. I never expected I would actually finish it. I thought I would end up walking in the last marathon,” said Larrazabal of his thoughts while crossing the finish line on the last marathon in Miami where his wife, Donna, was waiting for him.

The World Marathon Challenge is a race wherein the runner will run seven marathons—that is 42.2 kilometers each on seven continents in just seven days or 168 hours between February 6 to 12.

The famed ophthalmologist had to battle dusty winds in Africa, extreme coldness in Antarctica, scorching hotness in Brazil and had to contend with just about three hours of uncomfortable sleep in between races to complete the very risky challenge.

“My strategy in this case was to take one marathon one day at a time. I knew it would be very difficult. As advised by my wife, Donna, she told me to just take it very easily, be consistent, don’t get triggered by emotions to complete it right away, don’t go too fast, don’t go too slow, which I did, and I was very successful at that,” said Larrazabal of how he conquered the World Marathon Challenge.

Mental strength

Mental strength was also a huge factor in Larrazabal conquering the challenge.

“The body can do what your mind tells it,” said Larrazabal who cited as an example when he told himself that he had to finish Antarctica, the second race, so he would still be able to continue the challenge.

Or, when he told himself that it was cold while racing under the sheer heat of the sun and in stifling humidity in Fortaleza, Brazil.

The race was so hot that the racers were given water every kilometer to drench themselves with.

Larrazabal had to jet off from Cape Town, Africa; to Novo, Antarctica; Perth, Australia; Dubai, Asia; Madrid, Spain; Fortaleza Brazil, South America and finally to the last marathon in Miami, North America.

Larrazabal completed Africa in 4:33:18, Antarctica in 6:44:47, Australia in 4:13:02, Asia in 4:27:50, Europe in 4:26:58, South America in 4:23:29 and North America in 4:06:30.

Fourth place

“I didn’t push my self hard, I just run consistently,” said Larrazabal, who earned the respect of his opponents who described him as one who started slowly but became stronger and eventually ended the final marathon in Miami in fourth place.

Larrazabal only had a month of training because he just decided in December, when he did his first Antarctica race, that he would join the World Marathon Challenge.

Part of his preparations was to run back-to-back marathons, one of them was the Cebu City Marathon, and run twice a day instead of the usual one. And, he did leg weights, as he had to strengthen his legs to prevent from getting injured.

With the help of his wife, he also did a lot of research on how to preserve energy, or how not to get injured.

Thus, with only that kind of preparation, the eye surgeon said that he wasn’t really sure if he would be able to finish the challenge.

His being the president and chairman of the board of the CebuDoc Group also came into play as he also had to think fast on his feet to solve problems that came up while he is on the race. Such as in Antarctica.

Even though he had raced Antarctica in December, that did not prepare him for Antarctica’s weather condition in the evening. It was not just the cold but it also got so dark that a lot of runners took a tumble because it was hard to tell if it was ice that was on their path or just a mound of snow.

But that was the least of Larrazabal’s problems.

Finish the race at all cost

His real problem was that he only brought with him one pair of gloves. When his hands were starting to get hard because of the cold, and no one could lend him an extra pair of gloves, Larrazabal debated whether he would continue or not because if he damages his hands, it would mean the end of his career as an eye surgeon. But, he also wanted to finish the challenge.

While debating all these on his mind, he saw a fellow runner who was running while putting his hands inside his jacket. So while running, he put his hands inside his pockets to add an extra layer to his gloves.

“There’s always a solution to every problem. The solution is not to give up but to find ways to solve the problem,” said Larrazabal.

Happy thoughts

Thinking happy thoughts was also one of the ways that Larrazabal distracted himself from the Antarctica coldness which can lull runners to sleep.

Running consistently in his pace was also key to Larrazabal’s strong finish.

While runners were dropping one by one because they got injured or out of sheer exhaustion,  Larrazabal was doing the opposite. He got stronger in every race and even started to overtake racers especially in Fortaleza wherein he finished fifth and in Miami where he finished fourth.

After Antarctica, Larrazabal thought the worse was over. He was wrong.

They wasted so much time in Antarctica that they were just left with 12 hours to complete the last three races so they would not go beyond the 168 hours limit.

Thus, what happened was like a whirlwind of changing planes, running the marathon, hopping back on the plane to get to other marathons which meant even lesser chances of comfortable sleep.

New experiences

Nevertheless, Larrazabal was also able to pack in new experiences like running for the first time on a Grand Prix race track in Madrid, Spain or running the entire marathon on a rubberized track in Dubai.

Although Larrazabal said that conquering the World Marathon Challenge was already the peak of his running career and that he promised his wife that that would be his last, the eye surgeon hinted that there may be more to come such as becoming a member of the 100 Marathon Club. /rcg