I was supposed to run a race on September 27. Then Ondoy hit.

New Balance Power Run

Two months later, the race finally pushed through. Instead of being my lead-up to Race for Life, the New Balance Power Run became my year-ender race — and what a race it was!

Eat my dust.

I’ve made it a habit to wake up at 3am for these races because it takes my brain and body about two hours to boot up (I’m not as efficient as my laptop). For the Power Run, though, I was unusually alert that early in the day, quickly got through my race day prep (food, dressing, packing extra clothes), and was out of the house by 4am. I arrived at the race venue in Fort at 4:30am, which was the assembly time for 21K runners. Excited much? Ü (To compare: back in July for Globe Run for Home, I arrived at Fort around 5am.)

When I got there, the stage, booths, race arches and railings, and portalets were already set up. (And I must say, that long row of portalets in the field was a beautiful sight after Fit ‘n’ Right Run’s measly 8 portalets split between men and women.) All that was left for runners to to do was wait for our turn at our assembly points, squeeze past the checkers (no bandits allowed!), and run when the gun went off!

So run I did. It was a new route around the Fort, which I appreciated, and it wasn’t as hilly as I thought it would be; thank God the revised 5K route didn’t take us into McKinley Hell Hill, where the 10K route looped. Water was plentiful at the strategically-positioned hydration stations on both sides of the University Parkway (no gridlocking of runners coming and going).

Everything was going along smoothly. Then I made one crucial mistake which cost me a year-end PR. I spotted a little boy, around 4 feet tall, running with his parents. He came from behind me, then overtook me, then slowed down so his parents could catch up with him. My ego was bruised; at all costs, I had to beat him to the finish line. So I picked up my pace around kilometer 2. I felt good — for 500 meters. Then the side cramp hit; it knocked the wind out of me. I could barely breathe deeply and my legs refused to stride longer. I yelled in frustration and was reduced to walking for two minutes before the cramp subsided and I could pick up the pace again.

Still, according to the unofficial results on the eXtribe website, I made it to the finish line in 24 minutes and 41 seconds. I don’t know if I made the top 20, but it was fast enough to make me one of the lucky few to get New Balance socks and a huge bar of Hershey’s dark chocolate along with the medal, bananas, water, and 100Plus drinks given as freebies right after the finish chute. Race organizers, take note: this is the best way to distribute freebies, rather than setting up a separate booth and making people line up again.

In case you missed that part, yes I got a medal! While other races this year gave out medals only to finishers of their longer-distance events (21K for instance), at the Power Run whether you finished 3, 5, 10, or 21 you got a medal, in lieu of a finisher’s certificate. I prefer a medal any day!

The best part about the race routes were the different start and finish points for the race categories. While all runners started at the same arch, the 3K and 21K runners would finish at that arch while 5K and 10K runners would make their way to a different finish arch. Logistically it must have been more complicated for race organizer eXtribe to manage, but it made for a very smooth chute experience, with no crowding at the finish line. I loved not having to sidestep slow-moving 3K walkers!

While I was pakalat-kalat (wandering around) after the race, I spotted Tessa Prieto-Valdes running by her lonesome in a fuschia pink top, black running tights — and a skirt. Not a tiny fringe around her hips, no. A flouncy, bouncy skirt. She was still sporting the skirt, with a few more furry embellishments, when she got up on the stage to host the awarding ceremony.

Oh, Tessa!

Also (still while pakalat-kalat) I spotted running coach Rio de la Cruz, who had participated in the 10K as a leisure run. I couldn’t resist getting my picture taken with him. Hey he may not be Piolo Pascual, but he’s the man who trained Piolo to run 10K in 47 minutes. (Dinaig ako ni Piolo! Hmpf!)

Question for Coach Rio: How does your hair stay puft?

Even though I didn’t beat my 5K PR, or have a hi-tech timing chip laced to my shoe, or get an award, I have to say that the Power Run is my favorite race this year because of my no-hitch experience with it (barring the two-month delay, of course). It was definitely a race worth waiting for.

Tags: New Balance, Power Run, Running, Race

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After the PIM 10K, which was held on Roxas Boulevard, my next race took me even further southwards, to the Mall Of Asia complex. My running friends and I signed up for the Del Monte Fit ‘n’ Right Fun Run after our PIM stint because we really enjoyed the camaraderie, the photos, and the eating after our run, and we wanted an event to cap off our year. At 300 pesos per entry, we thought it was a good deal for a singlet, a bib number, and a Radio Frequency ID sticker that would serve as a timing chip. Then my family, my sister, and her fiance joined in the fun as well.

After some trouble claiming the race kits (according to race organizer CEMG, the singlet supplier was late on deliveries), I finally got them the Friday before the race, except for mine. Good thing I called the CEMG office (particularly the point person Marianne Tapales) and was told they’d deliver my singlet to my doorstep. Ü

On the morning of November 22, My family and I arrived at 4:30am, the assembly time. However, when we got there, the arch hadn’t been built yet and the booths were still being set up (ahhh, assemble-y time). When we went to look for portalets, there were only eight of them — four for men, and four for women. I was thankful I was only going to run 5K, and purposely held back on hydrating myself too much before the race to avoid a Tatakbo Ka Ba running-with-a-full-bladder scenario.

I bumped into some of my co-instructors from Fitness First, and both of them were there not to run, but to perform in the race’s program. Joanne Ignacio, as last year’s winner of the Fit ‘n’ Right reality show, was one of the hosts, while Andre Sunga would lead the race participants in the warm-up.

Fitness First, represent!

Well, Andre tried to lead the participants in the warm-up (part of the program that began really late), but not everyone in the crowd were dancers (he used a modified BODYJAM warm-up). There was also poor crowd control because the 10K, 5K, and 3K runners had not been segregated. As a result, when the gun fired for 10K start, the warm-up was still ongoing and some 10K runners were unaware that their event had started.

We 5K runners moved to the front of the line, but even then there was no real countdown to the starting gun. All of a sudden everyone was running, and I wove through the slower runners to get ahead. This was when I started to enjoy my run. The route was flat, the air crisp and cool, and I was able to get my first (and only) cup of water from the hydration table. I noted that it was a short table, and true enough, from the horror stories of people post-race, there were hydration problems. The 5K and 10K routes were the same (10K runners would do two laps), and by the time the 10K runners were on their second lap, the tables were out of water.

I finished the race with a time of 24 minutes and 7 seconds, a new 5K PR for me (even beating my Race for Life time), and then waited for my friends to come through the finish chutes. I was able to stand really close to the finish line because none of the marshals were making me leave. I found out post-race that the bib checkers were crowded out by participants waiting for their friends, and this caused problems in verifying which bib numbers had crossed in what order.

The Del Monte freebie booth by that time was handing out huge sackfuls of Del Monte products, but it was located very near the finish. People standing in line were blocking the way of runners. There was a general air of frenzy in the place, and there were no safeguards to determine who had already claimed their loot bag. As a result, when our turn came, there were no more goodies. Well, at least we still had each other. Ü

Good Running Buddies = Salvaged Race Experience

I had fun with my friends, but it was only after the race that the sad faces set in. I had a hiccup with the RFID timing chip when I was recorded as coming in 3 minutes later than my actual finish time. I thought that was the biggest problem, but then I didn’t know how bad other participants’ experiences were until I checked out the comments on the Fit ‘n’ Right fan page on Facebook. Ouch!

Del Monte was quick to offer an apology and to accept responsibility.

From my point of view, CEMG, being a first-time race organizer, had miscalculated the logistics needed for the number of participants who had signed up — water, portalets, marshals, and grounds set-up. I do think they’ll learn from their mistakes, and I appreciate the way they handled the backlash — with an apologetic attitude and a promise to do better. I think they just might have bitten off more than they could chew with a big product race such as Del Monte’s (which received a lot of promotion in the tri-media). Perhaps they should have gained experience first with smaller events, like company runs with a lower number of participants.

Hopefully, next year’s Fit ‘n’ Right run will be a lot smoother. Ü Which reminds me — I can still claim my loot bag at CEMG this week.

Tag: Del Monte, Running, Race

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