With unity, there is completion.

 

Being late by 14 minutes in Run United 3 and upon learning the 15 minute cut off for Run United Philippine marathon, I decided to go to the venue early. And by the definition of early, not arriving at the BGC area an hour earlier only to be stranded by traffic due to the roads being closed by the 42k runners.  I left home by 1:00 am and arrived at BGC by 1:45 am. Upon arriving, Run United has never looked so empty and I was the only runner in the starting area. There were some 42k participants at the side, but no one at the starting area. 

The wait was quite long. Good thing there was a playground near the starting area to lie down to and take a power nap. When the activities have started bands, videos and other forms of entertainment were being shown on stage. Riovana was open as early as 1:50 with runners lining up for gel and bathroom breaks. 

After a few minutes, the full marathon participants were off and running. There were a few latecomers into their category and while they were allowed to run the entire course, were given a waiver to sign declaring their run as unofficial.  Then, it was the 21k runners time to shine.

The good thing about being early is you get to position yourself on front. This was probably the first time I was able to be on front on all 7 Run United races that I participated in. 

 (Photo from Running Photographer's FB page)  

So, this is how it feels to be in front of a big racing event (by big, meaning it has thousands of participants). Being side to side with the Kenyans (whom over took me in 3 seconds to win the event). The ultimate goal of this race is to break my PR 2:43 set back in Run United 1 to make up for the lackluster performances in Run United 2 (2:55) and 3 (2:51). I had to go as far as changing the training program from straight long runs to intervals. 

While being an hindrance when it comes to sleep,The early gun start is a plus within the race duration. Particularly avoiding sunlight for the 3/4th of the whole race. The first few kilometers went quite well. With my first one just a few seconds over 5 minutes. With the exception during the middle of the race, a 7 minute or less per kilometer pace is maintained.

By KM 16, I was able to clock in a few seconds less at the 2 hour mark, meaning if this was a 16k event, I already attained a PR. One thing that was good about this is the pace is very possible for a 21k PR even if I stopped by for a minute at the aid stations to have my knees massaged with omega pain killer. One thing I noticed is that training in intervals actually does a lot of benefit. The length of walk and rest periods are the same as before, but the speed seems to have increased. 

By the end of the race I was lucky to have attained a PR of 2:37.

The post race event, It the lines were gone, would be a great. But as it was crowded, I had to go to the essentials. Basically the Finisher's area, the Active health apparel booth, the Loyalty Shirt Section (Good thing I had emailed them countless times before going to the event). 

So there, after 84 kilometers of running, 4 days of wobbly legs and early travel, the Run united series is complete. Whether I'll be joining next year's event remains a question. But for now, It feels good to savor the moment. 

Run United 3 aftermath

In my nearly 2 years of running, this has got to be one of the hardest races so far for a number or reasons:

The gun time is unusually early even for a 21k race (most start at around 4:30-5:30 at the most). This one started way earlier than that at 4:00am. The 32k runs resulted in closed roads that made a lot of people in the 21k run, including me, late. Good thing I was still able to pass by close to a third of the pack or so to avoid the very bottom.

We then had to go through a storm. I did encounter some rainy runs before like Milo 2011 and RU2 2012. But the rain in this race is intense!. It was non-stop and the rainfall ranging from moderate to hard accompanied by strong winds. It was a bit hard seeing as rainwater continues to pour in my eyes. The rain did push through our advantage as it helped the runners ease the fatigue and heat.There were no floods but puddles did accompany us.This was also my first half marathon that had non stop downpour.

Post race was great. The photo booths had extreme queue lines and the post race kits, particularly the duffel bag was cool. It was bit weird since I got the 32k finisher's shirt instead of the 21k. By the time I noticed it it was already too late as the booths were already closed. I liked the 21k's color scheme better. The post race activities were okay but 21k and 32k runners were already too tired or too turned off by the long lines once they reach the finisher's area.

I finally finished the Run United trilogy. One more medal from the Run United Philippine marathon and it will be complete.

Run United 1 2012 experience

Preparation

My initial goal for this race is to see my improvement for my ultimate running goal this year, make it to the Milo marathon 21k cut off time of 2:30. The previous best I had is 2:50 and I would like to see how the progress is going.

Initial BGC Run

I arrived at the starting area around 4:10 am. By then you can also see the multitude of runners from the MOA area stepping down on the shuttle bus. By then the National anthem is played and an opening prayer was done. They then went through with the program by showing Runrio music videos and what's in store for the year by Unilab Active Health.

The traditional race route animation followed. When the animated CG Rio was playing, people were shouting and clapping on the new race route in store for run United 3.

Run United 2 Experience

 

I had a 14 minute Guntime and 9 Minute Chip time 21k PR improvement at Unilab Run United 2. A bit surprising since I didn't have that much practice but Vitamins and rest paid its results.

Run United 1 Experience

After a slow running time, it's time to bounce back with one of the biggest running events in the country. The Unilab Run United 1 is the first leg of the run rio trilogy. One of the biggest running legs in the country, to show how grandiose it is, there are around 12,000 runners that were competing that day.



Upon entering the event area, I'm surprised at the huge turnout of the event, the queue from the starting line is around 2 blocks long. Video monitors are stationed in the start area and at the back. The announcer told us that there were at least 4 thousand participants in our category (39++ to be exact). This was also the debut of the runrio song "Running for Love" Which is a great song, and as of present, can only be heard through Runrio events (Unless you look for the music video in youtube, but it has those testimonials that kinda killed the mood). To top it all of, a 3d animated Rio running like pacman on the a map showed us the route we were going to take.

After the gunstart, Running in this event was actually a lot harder due to the sheer number of people. You'll spend a lot of time and expend a lot of energy trying to overtake runners. The Lanes are really overcrowded especially when the slow 10k runners and fast 5k runners merge. It seems like wheher you look left or right, there is an eternity of runners around you. Good thing though, that around the 4k mark, the 2 categories split their ways. But since this was a "transition" race from 3k to 5k lack of base and fatigue started to build up, and was forced to walk for multiple parts of the race.

The result was 31:10 and ranked 319th out of 3,900+ runners in the 5k category. Surprisingly, falling in line in the heat of the sun for pics and freebies were a lot more tiring than the running event itself.