Running at the Adidas KOTR

It's a Saturday!! I'm running today and it feels so weird. My Saturdays are normally golf days but today is one of the biggest running event of the year -- the Adidas King of the Road race. I would have wanted this to be my graduation race -- to move up from 5Ks to a 10K at least -- but, the 1 1/2 months layoff just derailed the plan. Instead, this has become another one of my back-to-form runs. But, whatever the outcome, it was fantastic imbibing the atmosphere of a really well-organized event.

Mama Ting has been prodding all of us to stay in the running circuit and she, as usual, took care of all the registration logistics -- otherwise, it might have been another golf day or worst, a stay-at-home day!! We agreed to meet at The Fort at around 5:30am since the race will start at 6am. By the time I arrived at around 5:25, the place was already alive with all sorts of people and the parking lots near Bonifacio High Street were already packing up. I tried going past Bonifacio High Street to get to the parking lot at the Fort but saw a huge traffic jam, so I had to go through a longer route to the destination. It was only later that I discovered that I almost turned into the start lane -- that's why it was packed!! Also, the 21K racers were off at 5:30am -- that's why I was being waved away from the race route!!

The starting area was already crowded by the time I got there. The race announcer said more than 5,000 runners joined!!

My son is on a retreat this weekend. As such, he took my point-and-shoot camera with him. I had to bring my larger Nikon D40 with me -- I brought it down after parking to get some pre-race shots but soon found out I was running out of time, so I decided to shoot a few shots and return the camera to car. On the way, I passed through the portalets and guess who I saw -- Nora, the Golden Girl!! I introduced myself and she was surprised to hear her name called but she shouted my name in surprise after!!! But, I needed to run to the car so I said I'll catch her at the race area.

When I got back into the holding area, I was able to hook up with Mama Ting and Dante. Good thing I saw Nora standing on the left side of the area where we were, so we hooked up again and had a few pictures taken with her camera. Unfortunately, my camera was already in the car -- sorry Nora, I'll have to rely on your camera for our picture.

Pretty soon, the 10K race was off and we were ready to run our 5K race. Since I ran the Takbo - Breast Friends race last week at ULTRA, I had had no time to train -- not a single run!!! So, I came into this race with no major expectations except to try and finish.

The course was fairly flat. Unlike the 10K and 21K race which brought the runners out of The Fort area into the Makati CBD, we stayed inside Bonifacio Global City. As in any mass start, the first few meters was an obstacle course were we had to swerve around slower runners and walkers. Mama Ting and Dante led the way through the crowd and I bumped into Nora a few meters out near Serendra. I started strong and kept the pace until S&R.

At this point, Nora came abreast and asked what my pace was. I said I didn't know!! he! he! I was just running to finish so no goals -- besides, I didn't have the gear to do this!! (Mama Ting is excited about her new Garmin, she'll be waiting for Dante to bring this back in his next trip!! Maybe I should do the same thing.).

As we neared the British School, I couldn't help myself and slowed down to a walk. After a few meters walking, I restarted running until I reached the corner of 26th Street right after Market! Market! I had to walk a few more meters before running again -- and kept on running until the finished line!! I was surprised to see that the official time was below 34 minutes -- probably a 33.43 finish!! Definitely better than expected!!

We took some pictures after the race near the Adidas Merchandise Tent -- Moi, wife of Ed Francisco, was around to observe the race for some future plans -- watch out for it.

Adidas had a merchandise tent besides the Awarding Stage. A number of products were available for sale but unfortunately (or fortunately) my wallet was in the car. There were rondallas (our version of drum and bugle corps) around to entertain the crowd.

I hooked with Dante and Mama Ting after and we visited the Adidas kiosk for awhile. I decided to get my camera to take more pictures. Afterwards, we decided to walk to Market! Market! to have our breakfast at Max. The rest of the Bayantrade runners joined us. It was a record for the BTG Milers -- 23 runners enter the race today!!

A very happy Dante treated his growing BTG Milers to a free breakfast!! Great way to promote wellness at The Bayantrade Group. Run and Eat for Free After!!

After a breakfast that included the tasty Max Friend Spring Chicken, Mama Ting and I walked back to the race area to check on Dave and Jorge who were both running their first 21K. We couldn't see them but ended up meeting Jay (Prometheus Cometh) and Dindo (RunningDatCom) as well as Coach Rio. Later on Ting sent me a text message from Dave -- both Jorge and Dave did quite well on their 21K although Dave was cramping up towards the last 3Km.

I got to meet up with Jay (Prometheus Commeth) and Dindo (RunningDATcom) and took a few pictures. We should be featured in each other's blogs soon!! he! he!

It was actually an inspiring day -- a surprisingly good run, finally meeting up with a number of the runner bloggers and just being part of the a great crowd at a great race!! Congratulations Rudy Biscocho and Adidas -- until the next run!!