2,343 Runners in the 5K Race, No Rain

That's a lot of people in one place at five thirty in the morning. Maybe I misheard the announcement by the emcee about the number of people who joined the 5K race alone, but definitely somewhere in that neighborhood. "This 5K race is THE fun run part of this event because it has the most number of runners!" she said and I totally agree. Over 6,000 participated in the 2009 Globe Run For Home run-for-charity event held at Bonifacio Global City grounds in Taguig, Metro Manila. I heard that over 1,000 participants ran the 10K race which tells me that if I do a little math, that leaves somewhere over 2,500 runners for the 21K and the 3K races combined. Impressive numbers no matter how you divide them.

Image credit: crazythemes.com

It had been raining hard all week 'til Saturday and I was kind of dreading the idea of racing in a typhoon. I even paid a visit to the ATC Globe Center the day before, quite intentionally, and made sure the race was still on. The Globe lady there assured me that the typhoon was "scheduled to stop today," the day before the race. True to that statement, the morning of Sunday's race day the weather was nice and calm which held for the whole race and the rest of the morning. The rains came later in the afternoon, however, but the whole event had already finished by then.

People were really plenty, the mood was festive, the event rain-free, there were plenty of drinking water at the assembly area and a whole lot of sports beverage at drinking stations located at every kilometer along the 5K route (sponsored, I believe, by Maynilad Water and the 1000 Plus drink company, respectively, or is that 100 Plus?).

Race marshals were visible all throughout and there were clear directional signs for the runners to follow at every turn. And, last but not least, the race venue is my current favorite -- around Boni High Street and The Fort.

That was one truly enjoyable race. Kudos to Globe, Finish Line, and Run Rio for a well-organized event.