SlimmeRun, 19 Apr. 2009

Left my place a little bit earlier to have time for warm-up exercises before the race. When I arrived at the venue, I’ve noticed not many runners. Either, I was too early or most of the runners were in Laguna for the Greenfield race. After I deposited my backpack, Efren, a fellow Happy Feet, saw me and we both did the warm-up running exercises.

More people arrived gradually. I saw other familiar faces of Master Mon, Ipe, Totoy, Jesse, Jan, and Tina. Also there was, BroDen, a young De La Salle Brother and sports enthusiast, with two of his students, who were also running the 16k distance. While waiting for the race to start, I availed of the overflowing coffee at a nearby stand.

This race was only a practice run for me. No pressure when it comes to doing one’s personal best. I just wanted to enjoy it.

Again, it was frustrating to know that the race didn’t start on time. I just hope that the organizer (next time) be conscious of time. Runners, after all, also prepared for this. They had to wake up earlier than possible, do warm-up exercises thinking that the race will start on time, etcetera, la la la. We even had to watch and wait for Slimmers World Miss Bikini Philippines 2009 candidates to finish their warm-up dancing. Given the kind of weather we had then, it was really too hot for a run already. All runners of the different events ran all at the same time after the gun start. On our first turn towards Market, Market!, some runners took a shortcut. Cheaters!

As we were all running McKinley, we couldn’t crossed right away at the intersection because vehicles were given priority. What a way to race, eh? I was also a bit worried of the safety of the runners because we couldn’t identify the race marshals. Where were you guys? It was a Saturday and the streets we were traversing were kind of busy.

There were enough water supplies in every water station except the one along Lawton Avenue after Essensa. The racecourse was also good. As I passed along Heritage Park, it was so timely that the water sprinklers were on. It was a good way to cool off oneself. Vitwater was handed to every runner at the last turn around point, which was good. The organizer also gave lots of goodies including a baller ID. All in all, the race, if I were to rate it, was satisfactory.

Few meters away from the finish line (Photo courtesy of Kinderdorf)

Runner, walker, and pacer Jan M (Photo courtesy of Kinderdorf)

I didn’t notice how I clocked but it sure made me feel happy that I finished the race in spite of the heat. Super thanks to Jan M for pacing with me. It was really a good and comfortable run. Just the way I wanted it to be. Kinderdorf took a photo of me while I was on my way to the finish line. Super thanks Sir Ipe!

SlimmeRun is a race with 3k, 5k, and 16k distance events and organized by Slimmers World.