CAPAS, Tarlac — Falling short of a gold medal in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, Mary Joy Tabal remains optimistic as she sees action in several other big marathon meets.
The scorching hot sun on Friday morning played a vital role as the 30-year old runner from Cebu, who ruled the 2017 edition of the biennial meet, failed to do a back-to-back in the women’s marathon.
Still, Tabal, who settled for silver, considered it as a win as her fellow Filipina marathoner Christine Hallasgo captured the gold.
“I'm happy for Christine since this is her first SEA Games appearance. I'm also happy and proud that we made it first and second,” she said.
“Everyone gave their best and I'm so proud of all the girls because we are all giving our best talaga,” she added. “It makes me happy to win second and Christine made it first.”
The Asics brand ambassador pointed out that what’s important is that, although she collapsed at the end of the race, no one was badly hurt or injured.
“Definitely, I'm most happy that we all made it safe,” she said.
After the SEA Games, Tabal has no time to rest as she starts to train for local and international competitions.
“No rest for me,” she said. “I'm trying to defend my title in the Milo Marathon. Then Tokyo marathon next March.”
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