More than two weeks ago, I was glad I became a part of one of the biggest races in the country, the 34th National Milo Marathon. Together with my college friends we did have a lot of fun-fun-fun and sweat-sweat-sweat on the early morning of July 4 as we travel the 5-Kilometer Run along Roxas Blvd. We've been hearing and seeing ads of Milo Marathon before and it was such a nice decision to join this kind of wonderful event. Organized with an advocacy to provide pairs of running shoes for unfortunate children, 28 331 participants joined the event making it the largest number of participants in the Milo Marathon history!
Some said that the previous Milo Marathons is not offering 5KM run and only providing 10KM for adult runners that's why most people already thought the run is for professional runners only. Well, perhaps this time is different. Since they have open the 5-Kilometer run, this opened a chance for the public to participate from any physical capacity they may have. I saw a lot of people from almost all walks of life wearing same concept siglets (Milo shirt for registered runners). From kids to seniors, everyone is wearing that smile which came from the feeling of accomplishing certain distance. Some are families. Some are friends. Some are pairs or couples. And some are running alone.
Like a diversity of people who participated in the race, everybody has their own purpose of joining the event. Me and my college friends went on the race actually not to give pairs of shoes for children, though we knew that a percentage of our registration fee of Php 100 would eventually be given for the cause. Hahaha. Its just so being honest. I dont think that all 27,600 participants had that motivation in mind. To be frank, we went on the race merely to get together and have fun. Hahaha. Well, Milo Fanpage admin agreed with us. He said through a post on one of our uploaded photos on the fanpage:
And he is so so right. We're not even aware that the race has its time limit. Hehehe. So unfortunately and technically none our group has successfully completed the 5-KM race on time. This is because we started out late. Some of us (me not included) arrived 45 minutes late from the gun start for 5KM run. After the time limit of I think 60 minutes, the finish line got closed for other runners and we're one of them. Well, its not really sad for us. We did have a lot of good times there. I even met new friends online after the race like Carl Sanvictores, an IT Practioner from Quezon City.
And so here are some of our captured moments.
Excitement raised as the clock nearly strike 6:00AM for 5KM runners.
Sympre photo opts muna while waiting for our friends who subsequently arrived late.
Well friends, this Eira, currently working in an advertising firm in Ortigas. This photo is taken before we started running the 5KM race. None of us had noticed that the siglet she's wearing was on the other way around. After running like 3.5KM, a comical runner named ZORRO went on her and said, "Yung suot mo, baligtad."
People from different background went on running while sweating out loud.
Its a nice way of spending a quality weekend morning. Di ka naman pipilitin tumakbo all through out. There are marshalls along the route though mahirap sila ma-identify 'cause they're also wearing same colored shirts as runners.
Tony Gonzaga, one of the celebrity runners, said that one thing that inspired her to continue running are the small kids who unstoppably enjoying the race without any mark of doubt.
Nestle PureLife water was distributed for all runners during the race.
As we went on the alternate route to get to the other side of the event area (since the finish line had been closed already), there we met Ms. Donna Cruz who ran the 21KM race (as confirmed by Carl). She is so accommodating that she let everyone took a photo whenever they recognizes her.
Tony G., Karylle and Gerald Anderson are the celebrities present on the event. Afterwhich, a cheerdance competition for elementary and high school division followed.
A lot of MILO Mock-ups were scattered on the Quirino Grandstand ground allowing runners to get cool pics with MILO Products.
A huge thumbs up for the staff and organizers of 34th National Milo Marathon for Manila Leg for a historical race!
Ito si ZORRO, isang nakakatuwang participant ng race na siya ring nakapansin sa baligtad na siglet ni Eira. It is said that Zorro has been around on some races and is usually found running along UP Diliman.
Participants from PUP-Manila Advertising and PR alumni. Kami yan! Except me, hindi pa ko alumni. Hehehe.
My college friend Pearl Dela Cruz with Coach Rio Dela Cruz, known as the running guru because of sharing his science-based approach to training, backed by two decades worth of experience as a competitive athlete. Coach Rio is often seen on race events. You can check him out at http://runrio.com.
Well, what makes the marathon a failure on the other hand is the unpreparedness of the organizers for some issues like runners who are obviously cheating the race and most of all, the freaking catastrophe in the baggage area where they only built 2 tents for over 28, 000 participants. It took 2-3 hours for my friend to retrieve their bags.
Sympre again, after the event, nagutom kami. Hindi naman kasi nakakabusog ang tubig ng Nestle PureLife at ang free Milo na parang lalo ka lang uuhawin sa konte. We hurriedly went to SM Manila for some Inasal epxerience. =)
Though the event is a success in general sense, there have been issues that arouse after the race like the sudden death of Mr. Remus Fuentes 2 days after the event (click here for the entire story). MILO Official Response about the incident click here. There are also rumors that the organizers were unable to control runners who are cheating on the race click here. *Remus photo courtesy of pinoyfitness.com.
It is really sad to hear stories like that. But we all have to learn a lesson from this. After all, for the general participants, the 34th National Milo Marathon is still a race to remember from whatever angle we want it to perceive. Still, kudos for the both staff and participants.
Let us just continue the race of life, like what I have heard from Ms. Tony, life is like a race... we need to continue running whatever hurdles we would encounter along the way because there is always a finish line for those who pursue the journey. Habang tumatakbo, dun ko na-realize kung bakit may print na KAYA MO YAN! sa likod ng mga siglet.
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PS: Just got a question. Is Coach Jim Saret
MSAT, PES, SAQ, CAPT, M.S. Athletic Training/Sports Medicine/ Performance Enhancement Specialist /Speed and Conditioning Coach a mormon? He's a graduate of Brigham Young University kasi.
The production team made us additional people for the TVC doing simple routine like walking, walking and walking, which was, as we found out later on, the major concept of the campaign. Though our effort was free of charge, the prod team made our stay as comfortable as possible by providing us food, snacks and shuttle service. They even promised to be our major sponsor if ever we would be organizing any event in the future, something that's like a music in our ears. Hehehe.
The shoot was held on an empty industrial plant. It was directed by Joel Limchoc under PostManila. Limchoc is also an Executive Creative Director of BBDO GO, one of the biggest advertising agencies in the country. Prior to joining the agency, he spent seven years at JWT Manila where he worked on Unilever and Ford. The project Redbull "Walk" TVC started airing the 3rd week of July on some UHF channels like Studio 23 and on cable networks as well. We were forbidden to post or upload our shoot photos until the time the commercial began airing.
