Quezon City International Marathon - Sights and Insights

More than a month ago, I was set on running my third 21K at the Quezon City International Marathon. I was excited and was lucky enough to have been included in the list of runner/bloggers who were invited to participate. I knew that I could do it with a sustained training program and it would be great to experience a broader Quezon City event versus the usual Fort Bonifacio/Makati or University of the Philippines runs. I also wanted to support my friend Dave de Leon, who was part of the organizing group under Runnex.

But, as with a lot of well-laid plans, things started to fall apart. Training days became strained because of work load and weather interference. Then came the devastating typhoons and I was pulled left and right with activities and work. As such, I found myself facing last Sunday with a training plan in shambles.

So, what do you do when you know you can't handle an ardous 21K run? You go and help support the event through the eyes of my camera instead. In the next few posts, I shall try to give you a flavor of what transpired last Sunday (Oct. 18) at the QC International Marathon. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture the run along the route -- I stayed around the Quezon Memorial Circle area. Hopefully, other bloggers would have route-based pictures to complete the view.

This post will focus on the race starts -- I missed the Full Marathon start -- couldn't get myself to wake up on time, but I was able to capture the 21K and other races.

At the starting line early in the morning -- the 42K runners took off at 4:30am, followed by the 21K runners at 5am. The QCIM logo looked golden and radiant under the bright lights at the starting area.

Zorro was both a fixture and a runner in the 21K. The QC government came in full force to support the race in line with their 70th founding anniversary. Even the PNP came in full force to help with crowd control. I was impressed with the portalets -- the colors were attractive and different!

Dave de Leon introduced me to a number of the Runnex organizers and I had a chance to meet one of our foremost national track stars -- Elma Muros.

One the unique features of this event was the Paraplegic division. It was inspiring to see our brethrens in wheelchair handling the grueling race -- a real show of upper body strength.

The Honorable Mayor Sonny Belmonte of Quezon City was there early in the morning to lend support for the whole project -- here you see him firing the gun for the start of the 5K race.

A collage of pictures showing the action at the starts of the different races

Right after the turn from Commonwealth Ave. is the water station of 100 Plus. Dave samples some of the 100 Plus drinks prepared for the runners

Salonpas was also prepared to help respond to the sore muscles of the runners. Unfortunately, they didn't have the Salonpas sprays -- which would have been gratefully welcomed by many of the tired runners coming into the final stretches of the race.

That's it for the meantime. I'm working on the next installment featuring some of the pictures taken near the finish line. Till my next post!!!