Phistar.Com - The Celebrity In You

With 5 days before Christmas and with Christmas parties almost daily, at certain times 2 parties in a day, it is quite difficult to maintain a good diet and restrict your alcohol intake. You then begin to take a justifying stance, “anyway its Christmas time”. However, the good nature side of you start feeling the guilt of falling into old habit and gaining weight in the process.

As an antidote, the Philstar.com Celebrity Christmas Run today 20Dec09 was a needed activity during this holiday season. The event offered a wide variety of categories from 3k/5k/10k/21k. I entered myself only for the 10k event.

When I arrived the venue at the Bonifacio High Street, a good number of participants were already doing their warm ups and exchanging pleasantries to their friends and acquaintances. The event was dubbed as “Celebrity Run” so I was trying my best to look for known celebrities but could not find any. They were just probably so outnumbered by the runners.

The 21k event was supposed to be fired off at 5:30m but the actual start was done at 5:40am. I took note that there were a good number of runners for the 21k. Surprisingly, I noticed a sizeable number of female participants. After the 21k participants were on their way, 10k entered the starting pen and the number double as expected. Bald Runner later on told me that the 5K was of even greater number than the 10k.


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For us 10k runners, we were started at 5:50am. The route was the usual 10k route using the dreaded McKinley Hills. From the start up to the 8th kilometer the distance markings from my Garmin 310xt was registering the same as that of the visual markers provided, however, much to my surprise something went short from the 8th to the 10th kilometer so much so that my measurement was only 9.80 kilometer. I do not know if others have the same observation as that of mine. I crossed the finish line at 01h01m47s.

Other than the delayed start of the event, I find that event was on the acceptable level in its delivery. There were ample water stations for the 10k, however, I would not be able to provide feedback for the 21k and other distances. Also just a little advise to Ian Alacar, maybe next time try not o give direction instructions when the runners are already at the starting pen and awaiting the gun start, particularly if the start is already delayed as the runners tend to be restless . It is just like you do not keep race horses locked up in the starting gate more than necessary before the a gun start, otherwise, it create a mood of restlessness. But, overall the race was handled properly.

After I crossed the finish line, I noticed that runners were still congregating amongst their circle of friends each with their own story to tell for the distance they have run. For me this is what the fun of running is all about, they joy of sharing your personal experience of the race. It is you against yourself. And I think the “celebrity” in this run was each and every runner.

I take this opportunity to extend my warmest greetings this holiday season. A Merry Christmas to all!