Run Early Run: Running Free at Hyundai Fun Run

Roxas Blvd, April 2, 2011, Saturday. We woke up at 3AM. Or should I say, Tey woke up at 3AM while I just stayted up and waited for my shift to end. [Thanks to my teammate Alfredo for trading shifts with me.]

We started preparing for our first free race - the Hyundai Run for a Cause. Two days before, we got our free singlets with bib and RFID. I found it a little weird that my bib number did not match my RFID number. But heck it's free. Why should I complain?

We reached the venue just in time, just when they were starting to introduce the emcees (Regine Tolentino and Boom Gonzales). Maybe it was just too early for them but it appeared (at least to me) that they were a bit confused on how the event should go. Like Regine did not know that she was supposed to lead the stretching or that they should properly introduce their guests (who were Richard Gomez and his wife Lucy, to mention the more prominent ones). But it turned out ok later on. Maybe they just needed to warm up a little.

The Wave and the Sea

Hyundai took the "Wave" system seriously. In the past races that I joined and that had waves (like 10.10.10 and Condura 2011), the waves were just more or less about a minute apart. Being in Wave B, I experienced firsthand waiting for more than 5 minutes before we started. Well safety comes first. Hyundai must have thought you can never be too careful.

The run itself was pretty straightforward (almost literally). The route was along Roxas Blvd and starts and ends near the Grand Stand (much like the Manila Milo Marathon). There were a lot of volunteers along the route, some cheering, some taking photos, many passing bottles of water.

At 20,000 runners, it was practically a sea of people so it was surprising to see my former (or future?) co-faculty John Martin (Recio) there. I thought I'd give him a "High Five!" but I was busy huffing and puffing through all the 7 holes of my bayabas.

At the finish line, I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of my college orgmates (UP Gears and Pinions in the house!) were Marshals for this event. Here's some of them with this bodyguard shot.

L-R: Jayreus Jimenez, King Almazan, Renz Formoso, Riznel Cresino

Strong Finish (sort of)

I thought I did pretty well but maybe my watch was fast? It felt like my usual pace and I thought I would probably finish just a minute or two over an hour. But it's more than a couple of minutes. My unofficial time is 1hr 10mins which is not bad but I know I could have done better. I could blame it on a lot externals but it would still go down to how well I prepared and how I execute that for a new PR.

And how heavy I am! I feel 10 lbs heavier this year (which I think I am!). I thought fastfood would make me fast?! Oh, the lies of the cheeseburger. :P

Super Pictures

Let me share the other fun pics I have from the event.

...with Tey (before and after)