Manila Race Rained Out by Frank

I was excited Thursday when Ting gave me my race packet for the Manila Half-Marathon Challenge scheduled for Sunday, June 22. This was gonna be my 2nd 5k race. I was given the number 4445! Actually not a bad number -- better than 4444 -- ha! ha! Supposedly bad Fengshui.



I set my alarm to 4:00am so that I could be at the Quirino Grandstand by 5:00am for the registration. I knew the storm was upon us -- we had named it Frank (internationally known as Fengshen -- hmmm, quite coincidentally closed to Fengshui!!). We were already experiencing heavy rains but I had hoped that it would clear up enough for race morning. In fact, when Tina phoned them, they said the race would go on -- rain or shine, typhoon or not!! Brave words!!!

At 3:30am, Ting started texting everyone and Rico Ibana said that winds were already 55kph and getting stronger and that it was really not running weather. We all agreed that it wasn't worth the risk and we all decided not to get up and just sleep in. Good thing we did as the typhoon lashed onshore that whole morning -- the organizers had to eat their words and cancel the event. Later on, we found out the race was moved to July 6.

Given that my training was derailed by my gout, this was actually godsend. I have a bit more time to get some running time in before this Sunday's Rush to Mizuno Infinity Run (June 29). Maybe it's good since that means I'll be running the two Sundays prior to the July 13 Lasalle run. Hopefully, I stay healthy enough to get through these events.