It's been about seven months now since I started joining running events, and even though it takes a while, I was finally able to hit one of my goals, which is to finish a 10-kilometer run within less than an hour as I joined Home Credit's Takbo #ParaSaLife held last Sunday at SM Mall of Asia, known to be the second largest mall in Southeast Asia. It was also my very first run in Manila, as all of my previous runs were held within my province, and yet it was here where I had the best experience ever since I started running.
Since the year has started, I have already joined three running events. It's just that I was not able to write about each of those yet. But I at least made a few snaps (1, 2) on Peakd about it to keep those moments in the blockchain.
Originally, I was planning to join the 7-11 Run that would be held on the same date, since I want to try running their 16km category, and they had a lot of freebies that would be given after the event. but they only open their registration during a certain time, which I always miss, so after failing to register a few times, I decided to change my goal and switch to a different event. And there, I find Home Credit's Takbo #ParaSaLife where I entered the 10km category and aimed to have my sub 1-hour goal instead, though it proves to be difficult, specially since I had run without any sleep as I had to travel from my province to the capital city. I had to left the house at 12:00 A.M. and from there, I had to change 4 different vehicles as I commute towards the venue and I arrived at the venue with just enough time to do warm ups.
Despite the lack of sleep and being a little exhausted due to the long travels hours, I'm proud to say that I was still able to reach my goal without getting into any incidents or getting injured. Being not familiar with the route also did not became an issue, since the roads were all well lit enough and it was filled to the brim with race marshals, who were not only directing all the runners where to go next, but were also happily greeting and cheering us as we pass through them. The route they provide is also very wide with two car lanes dedicated for us and was separated by traffic cones to make sure that we would not encounter any vehicles. In terms of hydration, they had a water station placed every 1.5-2km to make sure that runners will have proper hydration as they run. Since I do not bring any hydration with me, I had to stop to the station a couple of times after I finished the first 5 kilometers, that definitely affected my final time.
But at the end, I reached the finish line with a chip time of 59:06, gun time of 59:21 and with my running app at 59:20, all of which are under 1 hour. Overall, I ranked 240th out of the 2369 participants under the 10km category, which means that I have passed over 2000 runners, running the same distance.
After reaching the finish line, I first go to get some hydration before I get my finisher's Shirt and loot bag, then take some pictures while there were still a few people in the area.
While I'm on it, I saw that people were writing their names on the back of the Tarpaulin, so I also copied them, and wrote my name as well as my hive username under it. Forgive the bad writing since I am still tired, but that won't change much even if I'm not.
After taking photos, I changed into my finisher's shirt, since I cannot go home filled with sweat, as I will also gonna ride public transport going home, but since there's a line in the bathroom, it was already bright when I was able to wear it. I also started to feel hungry, so I took a quick breakfast before going home.
And that was how my last official run ended. Overall, the event was very organized to make sure that everyone would have a safe and unforgettable experience. And given all the stuff that was included inside the loot bag, the good quality shirts and medal, I can say that I have gotten more value than what I paid for, and will likely join events that will be held in this place in the future. But next time, I will try to get an Airbnb or a hotel reservation, so that I can have a full rest on my next race.
Anyway, that was it for me. Thank you for reading my post, and see you on the next one.
