After the much-talked-about-facebook-flooding-twitter-trending-race-kit-claiming-and–distribution-fiasco, I’m glad that, finally, adidas KOTR pulled off an organized and well-executed race last Sunday, July 7 at Bonifacio Global City. Thousands of runners raced in 10K & 16.8K category, wearing colorful & oversized singlets. Haha 🙂
“Competition”
I was pretty excited for adidas kotr this year primarily because of the finisher’s medal! I know its silly but the medal looked sooo good I wanted to finish the race immediately. And also, we rarely have a 16.8k category in our local races, which makes adidas kotr a very unique race.
I arrived on the venue, few minutes before the gun start. I was with my HS buddy Mark Lloyd. We paced until kilometer 4, I think. I was not expecting to break my PR for this race (or any other races anytime soon. Lol) Goal was simply to burn calories (haha) and finish the race injury free and get that finisher’s medal. Corny, I know.
“Inspiration”
I started walking when I reached Kalayaan flyover and there, I saw PEx team mates Turkeylopez.com & Enrichard Minion Valerio, running together. Anong magandang hashtag? #walalang. I decided to run with them and we hunted photographers together. Hello PhotoOps!
At kilometer 15, I felt sooooo hungry. I drank every water & 100plus I saw on the hydration table. Lol. From there, I knew it’s going to be a struggle up to the finish. I lost Thirdy & Enrich on the last 1.8Km (Yes, may butal). I thought I was gonna finish the race alone but Tito Rodel Garcia surprisingly appeared when we all thought he was already finished. We ran the last 800 meters and crossed the finish line almost at the same time.
We immediately fall in line for the finishers loot bag. There was a long line, but was moving continuously. Spent 10-15 minutes, I think. Overall, it was a great race. Here’s a quick review:
“Passion”
Positive:
- Sufficient hydration (Water & 100 plus)
- Cheerful & energetic crowd/cheerers
- Good looking finisher’s medal
- Marshals & medics along the course
- Visible kilometer markers
Negative:
- Over sized singlets – Runners should’ve been informed about this upon registration and should’ve not been allowed to swap upon claiming day.
- Race kit claiming & distribution – I wasn’t there because a good friend claimed my race kit for me, but I was told, it was chaotic.
“Affection”
Other than the race kit claiming fiasco, I think the race itself was an amazing experience. I just truly hope that we all learn something from this experience and be able to produce a better KOTR race next year.
Congratulations to adidas Philippines & to the people of Proactive for a successful event and thank you for inviting me to participate on this race! Also, great shots by PhotoOps! All pics are from their FB page. 🙂
Run Adobo PH 