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.

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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.

Registration Annoyance

We went to Boni High yesterday to claim our race kits for the Globe Run For Home event on Sunday, July 19, 2009. It'll be our 3rd official 5k race.

Of the three races, this Globe-sponsored event's pre-race procedure has earned minus points on my grading sheet compared to the other two races we've joined in the past two months -- Alabang Town Center's Southern Race and Robinson's Supermarket's Fit and Fun race.

Why? Because of Run For Home's 2-step registration process. For the other two races it took only one.

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Step No. 1 -- Register for the race. Participants can register in several ways. You can do it online, through a Globe Business Center or a Fitness First branch. I chose to go to a business center since I am frequently at the mall and the online option adds a 13% surcharge for processing. Plus I don't go to Fitness First nor to any gym for that matter. Nakakatamad kasi. But, no problem for me with this step.

Step No. 2 -- Claim the race kit. Race kits were not given DURING the registration step. Instead, Globe decided to hold a 3-day 'race kit redemption' event from July 16-18, 2009 at the Bonifacio High Street shopping complex.

I like that place we call Boni High. We like the chic and trendy atmosphere and the kids love the open spaces where they can run and play. In fact, we've gone there for three Thursdays in the past month or two to 'walkjog' in preparation for the Robinson's event. But not everyone goes there regularly. At hindi naman lahat nakatira malapit dun. This extra step in the registration process cost the participants an added transpo expense (and probably a meal and a cup of coffee).

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Both the Southern Race and the Fit and Fun event were organized so that participants got the race kits at the time of registration, saving us both time and expense.

Besides, even if we did go there on a Thursday, which should not have been an extra trip for me since it fell on a regular jogging date for our family running group, umuulan naman ng malakas kahapon! We're not that hard-core yet, hehehe, so our regular Thursday jog date was cancelled. Although if it's raining on the event itself we'll have no choice but to endure the downpour.

The rain added yet another layer of annoyance to the process because people were just a tad more impatient while trying to crowd under the small tent allotted for the participants who registered in business centers, and still couldn't help getting wet. I'm sure the registration staff weren't particularly pleased either. But I must commend them for remaining calm and friendly given the conditions. Undoubtedly, that alone made the process more bearable for the participants. Salamat po.

But long story short, ano kaya binigay na agad yung race kits pag-register pa lang para nakatipid sana??

Maybe Globe and the race organizers had a logistical issue that I'm not aware of. But, Globe earns plus points for me for the inclusion of the [ ChampionChip ] in every race kit for free. It's a disposable running chip that will give each runner a way to see how he/she fared in the race. It's a novel technological idea especially for a newbie like me. Also, racing singlets are provided, which are one of my favorite things about running events because they are quite useful even after the event and serve as excellent souvenirs. Kudos to Globe for these.