TITANIUM RACE REVIEWS: Ansons Fun Run in the Sun 2012

TITANIUM RACE REVIEW SUMMARY [++++ 4 Titanium Crosses] : I finally fell in love with McKinley Hill as a race venue because of this race event. It was fun, it was festive and it was indeed a well organized race event that had lots of prizes and freebies for all the runners to look forward to. I wish that I had the luxury of time to linger as I might have had the chance to win at the raffle today. Well, to those who won the MacBook Air and the iPad, congratulations to you all! And to all who did their first race event at ANSONS FUN RUN IN THE SUN today, you did great! Now why not try incorporating running into your regular running routine?

 

I am trying to recall when was the last road race that I joined? And it dawned on me that it has been awhile since I’ve joined any road race for that matter! In fact, I only remember doing the TRI UNITED event and Mayon 360 for the month of April. And for the month of May, I realize that I have not been able to do any race event at all! Yikes! Well, at least this coming June, there are three races that I am looking forward to. But enough about those races. I am here to write about the ANSONS FUN IN THE SUN RUN 2012. Truth be told, this is the third year that ANSONS has been conducting this race and it has been the third year that RUN4CHANGE has been managing the event. And all I can say is that I had fun, genuine fun. The atmosphere felt like I was in a fair with all the different booths, many or almost all of them giving out samples of some sort. And believe me, the place was overflowing with food! In fact, you would not even need to pig out in nearby restaurants or troop to the nearest fastfood to get your fill. All you need do is just be patient enough to line up to two or three minutes in the different booths and you are bound to get something. So let’s get things on the road, shall we?

1. Hydration Stations [+++++ Five Titanium Crosses] When I learned that Jay Em’s group, PROACTIVE would handle the hydration requirements of this race I knew that it would be fantastic. In case you do not know, most of the major race events happening in Metro Manila and many race events by RUNRIO is logistically handled by PROACTIVE for their hydration requirements. So whenever there is an upcoming race, I don’t just look at the race organizer anymore. I also look into the race partners, the sponsors, the security, the location and of course, the time of the race event. These things also affect the hydration requirements of the race. And I am very happy to see that POCARI SWEAT sponsored this event, because of all the energy drinks and isotonic drinks out there in the market, this is the one that I have favored the most as it works best for me and my physiology. It is what I bring at the gym when I do my training runs and it is what I also use for all my ultramarathons. In fact, I used POCARI SWEAT during the BDM160 and it worked like a charm for me. I just find it strange though that many runners would drink a cup of water just after finishing one kilometer of running! Did it really take that much effort for them to finish a kilometer of running? The firs kilometer of the race event was mostly downhill running. Hence, the effort in running is not so much compared to running uphills. Oh well, there’s a first time for everything. And I guess most of the runners that I saw at ANSONS RUN today were indeed doing their first time race event. If it is your first time, this is an excellent choice for a first race event in your running history and running career.

2. Race Route {+++++ Five Titanium Crosses] I only did the 3k distance as I am still recovering from injuries that I gained from the Mayon 360. My upper torso is no longer in pain, but I still have challenges stretching muscles and all. In fact, I need to go for another check up. Other than that, dare I say that the 3k beginner distance is also EXTREME! All those hills! I kept looking at the faces of the runners when I was zooming past most and looking at their race bibs. I was able to pass many 5k runners while going uphill towards the main highway. It is pretty clear that many people joined this race event for the sheer fun of it. And yes, it was fun. I had fun seeing groups of friends taking pictures, lovers walking/running and even holding hands up and down the race route and I even saw a proud owner of a black Labrador? She did the 3k distance. I was trying to look for those who wore costumes but I seemed to miss out on them. Oh well. Overall, I felt bad that I was not able to get a medal. Only the first 50 gets a medal for the 3k distance. I had thought that I was fast enough. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Need to work it up further so that I can really make my 3k race reach the 15 minute mark.

 

3. Race Singlet [+++++ Five Titanium Crosses] It’s simple, it’s nice to wear and the fabric is not bad either. Whether we choose to accept it or not, a major factor of why runners join races is not really because they want to get fit. It’s because they want to get that particular singlet, that particular design and that particular medal. And in this case, the quality of the race singlet is somewhere in the middle. It is not inferior but it is not the best of its kind either. Still, I am glad to see that most of the runners still wore the singlet on race day. In fact, I am keeping my singlet to this race event as this is in fact my first 3k race event. Hard to believe that this is my first 3k race event after finishing the Bataan Death March 160 ultramarathon nearly five months ago. But yes, it is true that this is my first 3k race event. And I felt like a newbie, struggling with each step of the way. Savoring each moment as I paved the roads of McKinley Hill.

4. Race Organizers [++++ Five Titanium Crosses] I never realized it, but I am also a staple for RUN4CHANGE race events for the last four years. Only recently had I the chance to meet the race organizers in person. In fact, most people think he is new in the race organizing circuit when in fact, veteran race event runners would know that RUN4CHANGE has been in the scene for quite some time now. All I can say is that it’s good to see young people learning the ropes of leadership and sportsmanship and see them in action in this race event. For the difference with RUN4CHANGE to other race organizers is that they maximize the spirit of volunteerism and have a training program that supports Filipino athletes. For every RUN4CHANGE event that you join, you help not just build Filipino athletes that RUN4CHANGE supports, but you also help students finish their college education. Other race organizers utilize the spirit of volunteerism too, but it is only RUN4CHANGE that has an advocacy in athletics. In fact, RUN4CHANGE is supporting athletes at an upcoming nationwide meet for athletes somewhere in the Visayas region in the next two weeks.
5. Race Venue [+++++ Five Titanium Crosses] I’ve never liked McKinley Hill as a race venue, but I’m beginning to change my mind about it. One, there’s an area where people who bring their cars can adequately park. Two, it is the first time that I’ve seen a race venue properly maximized. In most recent race events, I no longer even bother to walk around the race venue. Still, Eric of RUN4CHANGE encouraged me to walk around, look around and check out the booths. And so I did. I was not able to get any cotton candy or ice cream, but I got the best thing ever — FREE COFFEE! I love the smell of coffee in the morning! There were two vendors that were dishing out free brewed coffee. I opted to get the other vendor because they served the coffee in paper cups. The other vendor ran out and so served hot coffee in plastic cups! I told them the flavor changes and it’s not good holding hot brewed coffee using a plastic cup. There’s also a booth that offers free corn flakes with milk. You can go back and have seconds, so I had my fill. Oh wait, I forgot about the bananas that were just parked in the middle of the registration area and the baggage area. Now that felt weird. They just left all the bananas there! I hope that most runners just got one banana and not hoarded it! There were a dozen other booths and a band that played good music but I could not linger anymore as I had to look for another companion and also I do have other errands to consider.

6. Baggage Area [+++ Three Titanium Crosses]  If there’s one area that needs improvement, it is the baggage area. It took them close to seven minutes to look for my bag! To think that I was among the few early birds to get their bag back since I only did the 3k distance. My suggestion? Allocate an area within the baggage area. One area for each particular race distance. That way, it would not be so muddled. Within that area, try to arrange the bags in numerical order. I don’t think that it would be that much difficult to do such a thing. Good thing there are only 2,000 plus runners to this race event. I can imagine the chaos at the baggage claim area if this was 5,000 runners or 10,000 runners.

Overall, this is a race event that I hope would be around for a long time.