Earth Run: Taste of land and water

True to its name, the recently concluded Earth Run was a race that posed challenges through its hilly course coupled with rainfall that caused the delay of the start of the race. The race was scheduled at 5:30am. We arrived at Mckinley Hills at around 5:00am but I decided to proceed to NAMRIA to check on my officemates who will also be running. As we returned to MKH, we heard the announcement that the race will start at 6:00am. It was not so much of a problem since it was already raining and it seems that it will not become hot during the race.

Swthrt with Xen, Nato and Cecil

There was a good number of runners considering the 3 races scheduled for the day. The other one was also at Fort Bonifacio, the IE8 and another at UP Diliman campus, the Run for K.I.D.S. race.

The race
The race started at exactly 6:00am as announced amidst the falling rain. All the runners in different categories were released at the same time. It was already a tough course in the early part of the race. Runners will have to take on the hilly road of MKH. Swthrt and I started on a comfortable easy pace. We reached the first turn around point near the British embassy without any problem. We later noticed that we were running with a Fort Strider pacer with a flag showing 7min/km pace. We kept pace with him until we reached Lawton Avenue going to Essensa which was the second turn around point where they give straws. At this point, Swthrt begun to feel a slight pain on her shin (her persistent problem) and so we slowed down a bit. We tried to maintain our pace but had some walk breaks along the way. In as much as I wanted to run 100%. I did not force Swthrt because I don’t want her to burn out early. This was her first 16K race and I wanted her to finish it strong. As in my previous posts, we planned to just enjoy the race. But actually, I had a target goal in mind of 1:40-1:50 finish time. We reached Gate 3 after 49 min of running. This was the third turn around point and marshals were giving out the third straw. We would speed up from time to time going to the Bayani Road. The test run we did along Bayani Road a week before the race proved helpful as Swthrt was not surprised on what to expect along this route. We reached the Bayani-C5 turn around point and got the fourth straw at 1:20:43. What caught my attention were young children handing out straws in front of the Heritage Park entrance gate, which was still several hundred meters away from the turning point. This may give way to cheating. Straws should be given after making the turn at the designated turning point. Another thing was, I saw a student driver practicing along Bayani Road and definitely placed runners in danger. Upon reaching back to Lawton Avenue, I started encouraging Swthrt by telling her, “konti na lang” and she would reply back, “pagod na ko”. As we reached the venue area, we were surprised that we have to make another loop where the last straw was handed out before reaching the finish line. We crossed the finish line with unofficial time of 1:55. It was 5 minutes of our goal time but we were more than happy to finish in sub 2 hours.

After finishing the 16K run

Mesh receiving the medal

Swthrt and Mae

On the race organization
It was well-organized with the support of running clubs like the Fort Striders who provided pacers and marshals to help runners. Sufficient water on paper cups (totally earth friendly) though at some point they gave water in plastic bottles. There was a good number of marshals at turning points which guided the runners but less of them manning the traffic especially along Lawton Avenue going to Gate 3. The distribution of give-aways were done orderly as it was handed out as you cross the finish line. I just noticed that runners running longer distances were given less give-aways. This was so because they came in late. This is also true to other races i have joined. The loots are taken in by the shorter distance runners like the 3K and 5K runners. I like the idea introduced once by Coach Rio in the RuNew Race where in there were separate booth for give-aways for each race categories. In this way, the goodies were evenly distributed among the participants. Overall, it was a good race.

The reward
Swthrt was able to prove to herself that she can do it. The pains and tiredness were worth it knowing that she had accomplished her goal. What a better way to reward her by treating herself for a full body massage. I’m proud of you Swthrt! Luv u!