UNICEF Walk in the Child’s Side & Official Results

McKinley Hill at Bayani Road uphills, magkikita ulit tayo!  These I said a full 2 weeks ago at the VSO Bahaginan Run.

I arrived at the site a around 5:15 am, eager to do a short warm up stretching and run for the reason that I no longer need to worry about water stations.  The site was busy with pre-race activities from the organizer.  Lito O of Happy Feet followed shortly and thereafter Roselle (running diva).  We had a short warm up run.  I made it a point to run only 2 laps to conserve my energy while Roselle and Lito decided to extend their warm up.

The runners began to swell by 5:45am.  I bumped into Happy Feet peeps Carmen, Zinnia, Mikey, Bobby, Wilbert (vballrunner), Tina, Doc Gigi, Mark and Tiffin, Vimz (kulit on the run), Art and family, Ben Chan (photographer on the run) with his PhotoVendo staff, Sensei John and of course birthday boy Boss Chief Mon Domingo.

Happy Birthday Mon!  May you have many more to come!  We deeply appreciate the little big things that you do for Happy Feet.  I pray that God shower you abundantly with His blessings.

The run started at 6:00 am. with semi-overcast skies – perfect running weather.  The 10k runners started first.  The 5k runners followed 5 minutes thereafter.  I had only one strategy for this run – start slow and relaxed; FINISH STRONG.  I took it easy for the first 5 kilometers where it was mostly downhill with McKinley Hill being the only uphill segment.

McKinley Hill is sooooo unforgiving to runners who sap themselves early.  By the time we went uphill, a number of runners started to walk and you could see that their energy level was low.  By the time we reached the left turn to C5 Road, I was tempted to accellerate but I thought that I should conserve my energy for the uphill on the way back.  I guess lessons brought about by the lactic acid burns that Country Club Dive, Santiago loop and Palms Country Club in Alabang clearly resonated to my mind and paid handsomely in this run.

The serenity of Heritage Park was something to behold.  I paid my usual respects to a friend, Serge Ayson as I passed by his grave near the man-made lake.  I felt a gentle nudge and started to pass a number of runners.  This trend continued when we reached the uphill portion to Lawton.  I could see a lot of runners already spent as I passed them.

The 9km mark was just before we turned right to Lawton.  I decided to test myself and accelerate further.  Lo and behold, I continued to make progress.  By the time we reached the downhill portion of McKinley Hill, I decided to go all out and make headway up to the finish line.

I finished the race with an unofficial time of 1:11:00.  While this may be slow to the experienced runners, this is a milestone to a 52 year old newbie runner!  How I wished that I went to serious running earlier.

The race was well-organized.  Congratulations Rio!!  Water stations were more than adequate.  There were even a segment in Heritage Park where volunteers handed out bananas and ensaymada (a very generous gesture indeed) to the runners.

More importantly, Rio came out with the official results on the same day.  To my mind this is a first in Philippine running.  Great Job!  Click here for the official results.

Not to be outdone, the post-race features were great to say the least – Hidden Spring and Rush water freebies, photographs, Starbucks coffee, UNICEF goodies and Pinoy Star Wars characters among others.

The Happy Feet post race activities consisted of a birthday treat by Chief Mon at McDonalds plus the usual kwentos and race recap.

This UNICEF race is indeed a race to remember.  Will look forward to the next one.

Me, Lito and Doc Gigi.