After
being out of circulation in the local road races, its was a welcome sight for me
to return and what better time to return on the road than via the 36th Milo Manila
Eliminations at the Mall of Asia (MOA).
On
my way to the venue at the junction of EDSA and Roxas Boulevard, I could see
sillohuettes of runners at the flyover bridge. I assume these should be the 42k runners
which was supposed to be flagged off at 3:00am and at that time it was around
3:50am There was no rain but you could feel it in ypur bones that rain should
be dropping in any minute.
By
4:15am I was already on queue at the northern open space parking of MOA and as
expected it was full and I was one of the last vehicle that was allowed to
enter the parking area.
By
4:25am I was already at the starting area and the emcees were briefing the 21k
runners and about to send them off. At exactly 4:30am the 21k runners were
released which I had the opportunity to witness. God there were a lot of
runners. 31/2 minutes after the start, there were still runners crossing the
starting line. I leave it up to you to estimate how many were there.
At
4:45am all 10k runners were allowed to enter the holding area and the usual
pre-race formalities, briefing and what have you were done by the emcees. As
per the announcement, this event was more than the 42k and 21k events in term
of participants. At exactly 5:00am 10k runners were released using the usual
Diosdado Macapagal Avenue to Sotto Avenue in Cultural Center then to Roxas
Boulevard until the crossing of Vito Cruz and back to MOA area for a good
distance of 10k.
01h25m15s
after, I crossed the finish line on race walking mode a good 5 minutes ahead of
the sweeper time of 01h30m on running mode. It was not the best of my race walk
time but I feel good that there were still a big number of runners behind me who were
running and walking in the process.
Milo
Marathon is already an institution and what more could you expect except that
it is getting higher and higher in its degree of excellence in the matter the race
is held. To think that they are doing this almost every week on
different regions in the Philippines to make sure that the be able to bring the
sport all over the island which is to highlight of the 36th Milo Finals at Manila sometime in December. To the Nesle group and their brand Milo THANK YOU. They have
done so much to the youth and those who are needy and wanting. To Coach Rio
dela Cruz who has handled this event on the race technical side for the last two years congratulations as
always.
From
the finish line to where my van was parked it was a good 3/4km so I took the
said distance to cool down. A minute after I arrived my car a heavy downpour of
rain finally came. It was heavy in every sense of the word. Another race that spared me from the rain, but, not the others as most of the 42k and 21k were still on the road.
