Week 1: Adobo Run After Dark

Faced with several weekends with nothing on my calendar, I embarked on an ambitious project: Five consecutive weekends of 5K fun runs, each in a different location.

The rationale:

• I like to run
• I need to exercise
• I want to do something I can brag about

I've joined a couple of other fun runs in the past (five to be exact; and yes I keep count) so I'm familiar enough with the mechanics. I'd be happy enough if I could just beat my own personal record-- 28:12 at the 2006 Milo Marathon in Dumaguete-- and maybe finally manage to run a whole 5K without resorting to walking.

The first event on my itinerary was one I saw advertised at Inquirer.net: The Adobo Run After Dark.

Adobo Run After Dark

Saturday, October 30, 2010

McKinley Hill

Distance: 5K / Time: 33:20 / Rank 71 of 477

This one brought me to McKinley Hill, a route known for its steep roads, as well as for the fact that no one knows how to commute there. I've done this route before but that doesn't make the climb any less backbreaking.

The event was unusual in two notable ways: First, as you can tell from the name, it was held on a Saturday night instead of the usual early morning. Second, it was the night before Halloween, so participants were encouraged to come in costume. Just enough people came in costume to make their gimmick a success, I think. Tragically I forgot to bring my camera, but you can see the pictures at takbo.ph. I was running alongside swimsuit guy for a while-- watching bystander reactions to that was a lot of fun.

This was organized by Adobo Magazine, which is apparently some kind of advertising company I have never heard of. After the race there was a loot bag with a free Adobo Magazine, refrigerator magnet, and some other stuff I can't remember at the moment. The tragedy here was that they only prepared 1000 loot bags even though there were far more participants than that, and each participant had a loot bag claim stub. Naturally the 10K runners, who ran farthest and arrived last, are the ones that end up getting nothing.

There was a loud after-party which I didn't really stick around for. It had live bands and supposedly unlimited beer which they jokingly (I hope) said would be thirst quenchers for the runners. I like beer as much as the next guy, but pumping alcohol into exhausted people in need of hydration sounds like the worst idea ever.