June 05, my alarm went off at 03:50am. With barely three hours of sleep, I got up and prepped for my 10th race. Still carrying the weight of being awake for more than forty hours days ago, I tracked the Opal Rd en route to UnionBank Plaza - the start/finish point for the 1st UnionBank Run or URun.
I met up with friends and former colleagues from the bank moments before the race. Lots of firsts. Fresh from the well-attended Nature Valley Run, Rodel and Nora ran their first 5K. For Taselle and most of the rest, it was the first attempt at running (or walking) the 3K, 5K and 10K categories. As for myself, it's my first outside the Cebu circuit.
The best thing to note about the run was it started on time and although it wasn't a huge crowd, gun for 10K was fired 10 minutes earlier. Route began at Onyx Rd, turned right to Sapphire Rd, left to Ruby Rd, another left to Julia Vargas Ave, left to F. Ortigas Rd then right turn to Garnet and then left to Onyx Rd. We made four rounds (lesser rounds for shorter runs) amidst stares from peeps who thought they're seeing "tellers on the loose". Ha ha ha!
I am not used to running with a small 10K group. I am comfortable trailing the lead pack, finding my own rhythm and catching up at mid-point. But with less than fifty runners in our category, I had to pace differently. As a result, I think I broke my PR with 1:03 (fingers-crossed).
The crowd in attendance was not in the usual hundreds and thousands but with all things considered, organizers called the turnout a success. We'd give it to them. Congratulations, guys! And again, thanks to my UBP friends. I'd await the invite for the next.
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