Tabal puts Asian Games disappointment behind

SINGAPORE—Mary Joy Tabal admitted she was disheartened over her recent Asian Games performance in Indonesia.

The Cebuana, the reigning Southeast Asian Games marathon queen, wound up 11th overall in her Asiad debut with a time of 2 hours, 51 minutes and 41 seconds.

Her effort was almost 17 minutes slower than Kenyan-born Rose Chelimo of Bahrain, the gold medalist who clocked 2:34:51.

“I was targeting 2:45,” said the 29-year-old Tabal, the country’s representative in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

“It was hot.  Even the winner said she was 10 minutes off her usual time.  But no excuses.”

The 4-foot-11 Tabal is currently taking a break from her Italy training.

Over the weekend, she was in this island-city state to lend support to Asics, her apparel sponsor which has been backing her since 2013.

Asics KO100 series

Asics launched the limited edition KO100 series here to celebrate the centennial birth anniversary of its founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka.

Only 1,918 pairs of each model—Onitsuka Tiger’s Tiger Corsair, Asics Tiger’s Gel-Mai and Asics’ Gel-Quantum 360—will be sold worldwide  in reference to Onitsuka’s birth year, according to Asics general manager Kenichi Harano.

Onitsuka Tiger is one of the oldest shoe companies in Japan, established in 1949 by the former military officer.

Tabal’s short break means she isn’t running half marathons everyday.

Instead, she is concentrating on gym training and short runs that last under an hour.

“After the Asian Games, I must rest my knees and feet because my training before that was really punishing,” said Tabal.

By the second week of October, she will be back in Turin.

Olympic qualifier

Early next year, Tabal plans to transfer camp in Japan and run the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, with Asics supporting anew her bid to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“If I qualify there, I could concentrate more on my training for next year’s Manila Southeast Asian Games ,” said Tabal.

If she fails in Tokyo, Tabal will try again via the Ottawa Marathon in May, the same event that sent her to Rio.

She isn’t planning to run any more 42K races this year, except in Laoag City in December for the 42nd National Milo Marathon, where she is the defending five-time queen.

Last year, she ruled the Milo race in her hometown the day after her father died of a heart attack.