Makati City Hall Vertical Marathon 3

May 25, 2008 is definitely a day to remember. My debut to the running world. So far, I've been doing training runs and it came time to put myself to the test.





The plan was to join the Doc Fit Takbo Para sa Puso 10k at the University of the Philippines, Quezon City. It turned out that the registration was closed so we decided to join the Makati City Hall Vertical Marathon.

Waking up at 01:45 AM Sunday morning, I prepared myself (just had 1 & 1/2 hours of sleep). Meeting place was the AIIAS gate 03:00 AM. Sir Jerry, Sir Mac, & Wilson Kafiar & my sister & I were waiting for a bus. Got into one at around 04:00 and arrived in Powerplant Mall, Rockwell, Makati City at around 05:00 AM. There was no sign of anyone there, Jerry got hold of some runners and found out that the starting line was around a block from where we were!! At least, we got there and registered.

Waiting for the run to start, I was intimidated by all the HARDCORE runners around showing their massive quads & hamstrings, calves, & their almighty running shoes! I was dressed in jogging pants, a white shirt, and my trusty Reebok crosstrainers that I use all around. This was my normal parkour outfit.

When they called for check in, we didn't know which direction the run was going to go. We weren't residence of Makati City so we just followed the crowd. Later, though, we found out which direction we were going. Standing on the ready, and looking at the person with the gun... click.. and a couple more clicks.. a shout.. "GO!!" and we were off.. what luck!! The gun didn't sound!! Jerry & Mac were still chatting. They were waiting for the bang which never came. But since they saw everyone run, they ran.

It was around a 2k road run to Makati City Hall, went straight in through the front and up some stairs before entering the "gas chamber." Boy!! The emergency stairwell was full of runners on their way up to the 22nd floor. The air was damp, it was hard to breath!! I was panting badly after a couple of flights up.. I couldn't run anymore. I more of walked up 1 run up 2 til the 22nd floor. Then the "easy" part. On the way down, I went on to put my parkour training to the test.

Jumping from landing to landing of flights, parkour turned out to have a slight advantage passing some runners in the process. Out the building, I shot, back to the road and around the corner to the finish line. I finished between 12-13minutes. Didn't get a chance to time myself. I finished just behind the number 1 female finisher. I was tired but still pumping with energy. In around 12 minutes, the run was over for me. I'm officially in and I'm going to continue training for the next runs.

Thanks to Sir Jerry Karundeng, Sir Maclan Matthews and Wilson Kafiar.

Now here are some pics:





Here is Flash!! He beat everyone.. SUPER FAST!!



Here is a good ("excellent") example of a BAD example. I find this very ironic that people who are involved in fitness activities such as running have vises such as smoking that actually deteriorates your lungs which is very important for "airflow" in your body. Bad, bad, bad!! This guy is one of the organizers, or sponsors, or whatever of this run. He did the awarding. I didn't really catch his name.