Tabal: Medals? I’ll just do my best

RIO DE JANEIRO – Filipina marathoner Mary Joy Tabal knows where she stands in this 2016 Rio Olympics.

On Sunday morning here (Sunday evening in Manila), she competes with the best marathoners in the world, in the sport’s biggest stage.

Tabal is not here to do the impossible.

All she wants, she told Filipino reporters here, is to be at her best, and surpass her best time of two hours, 43 minutes, 31 seconds.

The Olympic record for women’s marathon stands at 2:23:07, established by Ethiopian Erba Tiko Gelena in winning the gold medal in London in 2012.

Sunday morning’s race will start and end at Sambradome, a parade area which is more popular as the site of the iconic Rio Carnival.

Tabal, 27, trained hard for five weeks at the Nippon Sports Science Institute in Japan and flew to Rio last Aug. 3.

Since arriving here from Japan, Tabal has done morning jogs in short intervals and a slow 20 kilometers last Sunday. She’s been on a strict diet of carbohydrates (60 percent), protein (30 percent) and fat (10 percent).

While other members of the Philippine delegation have made frequent stops at the McDonald’s outlet inside the Athletes Village, for free burger and fries, Tabal has kept her distance.

“Not before the race,” she said.

Tabal said her only shot at winning any medal here is to do two hours, 30 minutes. Unless she rides a bike, it’s not going to happen.

“To be specific I just want to beat my time of 2:43 and run 2:40 or below. If I can do 2:40 then it will be a good finish for me,” said Tabal, one of only five Filipino athletes left in contention here.

“I just hope I’m at my best condition on race day,” she said.

Aside from golfer Miguel Tabuena, who’s 16 strokes off the lead entering the third round, others still vying for the Philippines are Eric Cray, in the men’s 400m hurdles on Monday; long jumper Marestella Torres Sunang on Tuesday; and taekwondo bet Kirstie Elaine Alora in the +67 kg class on Aug. 20.

Eight others are done competing, and some have flown home to reunite with their families, including weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who won the silver in the women’s 53 kg class last Aug. 7 and ended the country’s 20-year medal drought in the Olympics.

Diaz is now a hero back home.

With Tabuena a mile behind in the race for medals in golf, hopes are pinned on the remaining athletes, perhaps on Cray or Alora, to give the Philippines another medal and its best finish ever in the Olympics since 1924.

Tabal wrapped up her training here Friday under coach Philip Duenas. On Saturday, she will rest the whole day and save all her energy for the race.

She’s both nervous and excited heading to race, being the first Filipina marathoner to qualify in the Olympics. She made it here with a strong finish in the Ottawa Marathon only last June.

“I’m still nervous because a lot of people are expecting too much from me. That’s what I need to overcome. I also want to enjoy my first Olympics,” she said.

“I will run my own pace. I want my own pace in the first 30 kms. I don’t want to overspeed and end up walking the last 10 kilometers. I don’t want that to happen. I want to do it the way I did in Ottawa. I was relaxed at the start and gave it all in the last 10 kilometers,” she said.

Last Thursday, she rode a bus that covered the race route. She described it as relatively flat with three loops and a little incline and includes a two-kilometer stretch of cobblestones.

“I’m ready. I will give my best,” she said.