Post Race Piece: Manila Bay Clean Up Run 2012

Voiceless due to cough, on the second day of monthly period and just two of hours of sleep trying to fix a current adversity, I headed to the CCP Grounds fronting MBC and Star City where the START line of the Manila Bay Clean Up Run 2012 is located.

We arrived early at the START line and we are wondering why the organizers made the 15K runners fall in line just to put a red stickers on our bibs.  If the sticker’s purpose is publicly announced I didn’t catch and so do with my two running buddies.  We’re all wondering what the sticker is for.  My wild guess is that, it’s their last minute inventory of the 15K runner (just a wild guess).

15K runners queuing for a sticker which purpose we’re not aware of lol

The lazy dawn is made alive by the hosting of two house DJ’s of MBC/DZRH.  The program opening must-haves proceeded with all the speakers emphasizing the purpose of this run which is the campaign to clean up Manila Bay.  The "gun start" is fired by no less than Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. 

MBC/DZRH house DJ’s hosting the pre-run program and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim doing the gun start

The gun is fired about ten to fifteen minutes late from the scheduled time of 5:15.  This is one thing that I really dislike with runs – late gun start.

Off we go! 15K runners!

To complete the excitement on this run, of course we have to tackle the “FLY OVER!”  where the first plastic straw marker is given

After the fly-over is a series of confusing turn around and kilometer markers.

 











I dislike the running route of this event because:

• There was a point where the 15K runners shared the lane with the 3K and 5K runners who’s majority are walking in abreast.
  I don’t have anything against the fun runners in the lower distance category.  I’ve been there.  But all runners who are joining a race should learn that they are not the only people in the running route.  They should learn the ethics of not occupying the whole lane while “walking abreast”.  I’m a slow runner too, but I am conscious not to be a nuisance with my co-runners especially those in the longer distance.
• The kilometer markers are confusing
• I just simply don’t like tackling the same route more than once.  For me, it makes the running boring.

Anyway, I forgot about the boring route once I saw what’s waiting for me at the finish line aside from the medal.  It’s a SHOWER!  It was refreshing and truly enjoyable!




Me and my buddies finished just good. I think I’m a bit faster than my last 16K run in spite that I’m not feeling well. My buddy Dodeng who ran more than 10K for the first time really did a great job – she’s really fast wow! My other buddy, Mac suffered from cramps due to lack of training.  The official race result is not yet available as of this posting

Reuniting with my buddies at the finish line, happy with our medals though we found it NOT as nice as it looks like in the photo when it was presented during the event's promotional posts.
  Mac, Dodeng and Me
(our other team mate is on leave from running LOL)

The loot bag quality and design is good but there were two sets of contents:
Loot Bag 1: a bottled water, a ball pen, anti-mosquito lotion, a 100 ml tooth paste and two Ride All You Can tickets from Star City
Loot Bag 2: a bottled water, a twisting fan, a brand less pouch, a white face towel and two  Ride All You Can tickets from Star City

I chose Loot Bag 1 

All in all the event went fine.  The hydration is good.  The organizers provided bottled water and Pocari Sweat instead of the messy plastic cups so there wasn’t much litters along the road.  But I didn’t see any portalets.  Good thing I’m training to hydrate less when I’m running longer than 10K so I don’t need to urinate more often.  But I heard people asking about the portalet’s location.  Aaaw too bad for them they didn’t find any.

Till next year Manila Bay Clean Up Run!  Please improve on the medals and provide portalets!