Back-to-Back Sweet Finish Part 1: United Colors of 88 Run

Last weekend, I joined two events - United Colors of 88 and Rock and Road Trail Half Marathon. I never planned to run these two races at my full speed since it was just part of my training for my upcoming ultramarathon. But to my surprise, I made it a back-to-back podium finish.

Since I waited so long for a bus ride to the venue, I arrived with only 15 minutes spare before the 10.88k gunstart. The 21.88k category had started already while I was in a hurry to deposit my baggage, pin my bib and take a pee. I had no chance to warm up but it was good that I was able to catch up with our gunstart.

I started slow and treated the first kilometer as my warm up. When I feel that my legs were comfortable for a run, I gradually speed up until I reached the pace that I can maintain for the whole race.

We took the usual BGC route which includes the Kalayaan Flyover to Buendia and back. Along the flyover there was a woman trying to overtake me once in a while. I have no plan to race with her so I continued running on my own pace.

After U-turn, most of my running friends I encountered said that I belong to the leadpack. Wow! I was unaware. I think that's why someone wanted to outrun me. Anyway, she succeeded since she's been fast all the way while I stick with my normal speed.

When I reached the 8km mark, there was a large human traffic since runners  of different distances merged. In this case, it was quite harder to speed up. I felt like my legs were still fresh  so I  do zigzag ways to avoid the crowd and ran faster to finish.

-photo by Jojo Pauly-

After one hour of running, I crossed the finish line placing 3rd among women. My Mizuno Elixirs were really great for short distances like this.

-photo by Jose Ramizares-

This was one of the most affordable races which offered a great value for runners - from hydration stations up to the finishers kit. There were enough water and sports' drinks along the way.  All finishers got a loot bag and medal. There was a bonus finishers shirt for  all 21.88k runners and for the top 200 of the 10.88k category. Breakfasts were also served. There were also a lot of booths offering ice cream, hotdogs, coffee and some post race treat if you manage to roam around the event area.

It also took part to bond families by doing a healthy activity. The five different schools (Ateneo, La Salle, Xavier, St. Scholastica and Maryknoll) joined forces with Greentennial to made it happen. Congratulations to all the finishers and to organizers for this great event! More to come.