The Green Miles - A Simple Running Event

This weekend two race events were held simultaneously, that of "Globe Run For Home" at Makati Central Business District and "The Green Miles" at MOA/Roxas Blvd. A month before the event I have decided to select the event that would be less participated by runners in view of either cheaper registration fee, lesser commercialism and media exposure.



Comparatively registration fee for Globe was P700 and P500 for The Green Miles. Globe being one of the biggest corporation in the country has all the advantage in financial support, commercial machinery and media exposure. For these reasons, I entered the 15K event of The Green Miles which was presented by UST batch 88.

I arrived MOA grounds and immediately felt the difference of a big and small event. The starting area, event grounds and logistical equipments were very basic and can not be compared to big races in the recent past. By 5:00am I already positioned myself at the holding area and was wondering how many participants the event will attract. I tried to see usual known faces to me but could not find any. My guess, they are all at the Globe Run For Home. Then out of no where, I was greeted by Patrick Concepcion (aka Running Shield) and not too long after I saw from a distance Jonel Mendoza (aka Bugobugo). Fifteen minutes before the race Piolo Pascual was called on the improvised stage for prayers and followed by the National Anthem. I was trying to size up the crowd at the starting area for the 15K and my best estimate is that there is no more than 500 participants for the 15K event. As the 10K, 5K and 3K event were to start after the 15K I did not see the crowd on these events but overall I would say the maximum for all events will not be more than 2000 participants.

At exactly 5:30am the 15K runners were released. It was only after the race had begun that I started to appreciate the simplicity and austerity of the event. The event has all the necessary components of a race event with sufficient hydration stations and marshals along the route. The best point that I would credit the event is the route at Roxas Boulevard. On this leg you cannot but help but notice the gigantic Sunday crowd at the Cultural Center Grounds who have improvised to use the drive way as an oval. The Roxas Bouvlevard boardwalk is a great sight to behold with families, friends, lovers and what have you doing their own exercise or just spending a nice Sunday morning with their love ones. At the junction of Aristocrat, there was an event being prepared, Dragon Boat Competition and Bike Race so the area was busy. With all of these happening in the boulevard the route was great and ideal. This is where I think the event excelled not of the route but by what is happening along the route.

The following is my running statistics for the event;


In the end what I can conclude is that the JOY and SATISFACTION of running is not reliant to the magnitude of an event but given the basic needs provided for a race event, i.e. Safety, Hydration, and Sanitation resultant CONTENTMENT and SATISFACTION is on how a runner personally dealt with his run in itself.

To Ian Alacar and his group congratulations even if the attendance is short of expectation the event was complete in its basic components.