For this race, “Men’s Health Urbanathlon & Festival 2010,” at first I had no plan of joining it, for I thought it would be an event mainly for guys, and honestly, I had never tried any of the obstacles that would be included in the event, such as: Tire Dump, Balance Beam, Scaffolding Maze, Low Crawl, Hurdles, and the Wall, so it seemed a really hard feat for me to go through them unharmed. But deep within, I would really want to give it a try. So when I knew that my inspiration would be here in Manila on the day of the race, I had myself registered to join the race event. :D
November 7th, the day of the race finally came! But both my inspiration and I were not ready for the race event. On my inspiration’s part, he was really preoccupied with long hours of work and lack of sleep for the past several days. And on my part, I had been experiencing lack of sleep too due to some matters and the night before the race, had a late-night gimmick which ended at 3am on the race day and had to go straight to the race venue after change of clothes and preparation of things.
Upon arrival at the race venue, I was really nervous for I knew that I was really lacking in training and had serious lack of sleep. So I had given up all thoughts of having a good PR, just hoping I would not collapse while on the 10K race category would be enough for me. J
For me the race was very special, for it was a race wherein I had first ran together with my inspiration. We went through the whole race together, and it was a very memorable “date” for me. I am so happy to have someone accompany me all throughout. And I hope in the near future we would have more runs together!
Aside from the fact that I had much fun due to running with my inspiration at Men’s Health Urbanathlon & Festival 2010, the event itself was a really enjoyable one for me. It was quite different from the fun runs I had joined previously, I got to experience passing through different obstacles, and I could say I enjoyed them! Well, except for one, that is The Wall… I had tried rappelling while I was with World Citi Mountaineering Club before, but it was with harness and other safety equipments attached, so I had some fear upon seeing The Wall. After waiting on queue for a period of time watching others finish the feat, but puzzled as to why the women had to be helped by someone else for them to reach the top, it was my turn and I came to realize why. Upon pulling on the rope, I found out that no matter how hard I tried, I could not get myself up even for an inch, I kept on sliding down, quite a late lesson for me, for even though I do ran at least one or twice a week at gym, but I did not pay much attention to my arm muscles, so I did not really had much strength on my arms for me to pull on the ropes and pull myself upwards. Good thing my inspiration was behind me, and pushed me up till I reached the top of The Wall. But while on top of the 8-feet wall, my fear of heights returned, my mind went blank and I did not know how to go down from The Wall. What a blessed instance it was that Mike Flores, my supersonic runner friend had finished his run and was there to help me go down till I reached the ground. It was really a great relief for me thanks to Fonz and Mike. Thank you so much! =) After a short moment, my inspiration joined me and together we dashed for the Finish Line. What a very nice first run-date for us. ^-^
Over-all, for me the event was a good one, it was challenging and well-arranged. The water stations were quite abundant. There were not so many people crowding all over the place, so it was quite orderly. The food by Century Tuna was yummy! And it was really nice to see friends and familiar faces from people sharing the same passion in running. Till the next race event!
