Urbanathlete

I have been an avid reader of Men's health magazine for a few years now. One of the things that intrigued me upon glancing their pages was the "Urbanathlon" a fun run held around the world featuring several obstacles such as the container van, the monkey bar and the wall.I was unable to join last year's event because it was held the same time as Run United 3. So when this year's edition was announced, it was a no-brainier to join.

Last Sunday, I got a taste of my first ever Men's Health Urbanathlon. Being able to register just a few weeks before the event, I decided to go for the 5k distance instead of the 10k or 21k. Another reason is that a hydration belt might be a hindrance when it comes to doing the obstacles particularly the military hurdle and the "Wall".

There was quite a delay in the start of the race for all categories. Possibly because the obstacles were not finished yet or there was a big bottleneck with the obstacles. Good thing there were already some activities in store at the event area.

After almost an hour of waiting since the 21k runners were released, the 5k batch was off to go. Minutes into the race, we were greeted with 3 straight obstacles namely the vertical run, the container van and the monkey/ parallel bars. By the time we were able to reach the bars, logjam has started.

The next obstacles would be scattered farther with the hurdles at the MOA globe, Military Hurdles at the SMX area and the Scaffholding maze with the 2 walls at the finish line. During my time, only the Military hurdles had a logjam.

By the end, I was able to finish at exactly 40 minutes. as a sub 30 5k finisher, I was expecting the obstacles and bottlenecks to cost me around 15 minutes. Good I was able to finish it 5 minutes earlier than expected. Overall, it was an okay run with a different twist. As said at the begining of the race, it is not about having a PR but overcoming the obstacles amidst the run.