Nike's very first 10K run in Manila (Nike We Run MANILA 10K)...

I claimed my race kit today at BGC around 2pm. So obviously, a lot of runners are so excited about this event. I spent over an hour, standing in line to have my chance. Well, so far I wasn't disappointed. Tee shirt is of high quality and as per its tag, I assumed it is from a genuine Nike apparel, I also love its color - orangey... The only glitch is that my D-tag's number doesn't match on my tee-shirt's.. hmmm.. what the heck, it doesn't matter ;D  maybe they've decided this number to be just a design only haha.. doesn't make sense at all..

As an added bonus, a Nike marked drinking tumbler was included in the Nike loot bag but still waiting for the thumb-drive, will be given after the race as part of the finisher's kit...

Below will be the freebies & race route...

Eight thousand runners are expecting a lot from this event. So we'll see how the race goes on the event itself... insights about the run to follow... ;)

Race day... October 15, 2011 - Manila is the 3rd city from south-east Asia and among the 15 cities around the world participating in the Nike We Run City 10K races

This is it! The much awaited big event. My first night run. Whoa! I got lost... I didn't find 34^th street immediately and almost missed the gun start (at 5:20). Baggage area was too crowded and everyone was a little bit disoriented including the staff themselves. I hurriedly made my way over to the starting line at about 5:18 and as expected I was able to position myself at the tail already.

I was thinking of how to surpass this 9, 000+ (yes, you read it right, the supposedly 8,000 slots expanded to 9,000+) runners (or should I say walkers?) Darn! We were like a colony of fire ants gathered into a very large group ready to attack. I had a hard time getting my target PR (this should be my first time to set a Personal Record) as it is very hard to pass through these walkers err runners. Most of the people who joined here I think was beginners (of course I myself is a beginner also, what I meant was 1st timers who joined just to say they were able to join, just like before I got serious into running ;p), because they have started race walking already until the end of the race and since I am at the end, I can't run also for they have blocked the whole track and didn't even bother to keep at the right side to give way to runners on their left even ignoring warning shouts ("On your left!") from runners who wanted to get through... well, it's also my fault because I came in late, but to hell with the traffic, I didn't expect it to be this severe since it is Saturday already. Apart from this, lack of lighting's in some areas slowed down runners as well and the road was already wet, hazardous plastic cups were all over inviting accidents.

This is the reason why I'm having second thoughts about joining big events such as this because of too much hassle, but I can't blame RunRio (the event organizer) for this, I understand it's not easy to organize events which involves a very large group of people with different attitudes, ouch! haha. Well, enough with the complaints and grumbles, at least I did enjoy the after party/performances from Chicosci, Sandwich & Parokya ni Edgar ( <- you guys rock!!) while waiting for our chance at the snap zone photo booth and photo operation from our own cameras. And of course freebies are still great although after finishing the race I just received a letter from RunRio apologizing for the delay distribution of USB drives aw! Will wait for it tho', is still so excited.

photo ops before and after the race.. w/ running buddies - jay, merry, kuya joven - ... also met w/ @runnerstoe (rod) of PF community...

snap shot @ snap zone

Congratulations to UST for winning the school challenge and all other winners from all categories.

It's still a fun event.. looking forward to upcoming RunRio events. More power runners!