What You Shouldn’t Do in a Fun Run: A PSE Bull Run 2011 Experience

Proof!! :P

I have never thought of myself as a hardcore runner, nor do I consider myself physically fit. I have never set foot in a gym. I have never used a treadmill in my life. And to be honest, my only form of exercise is the early morning walk to the office. So, running is not something that I can do in a breeze. But I wanted to run then. So I did. My first was the Earth Run, I ran for 5K. Followed by the Pasig River Run last October where I walked for 3K. So, the PSE Bull Run 2011 got to be my third. But if you’ll insist, I call myself an occasional runner. 

My friends and I registered for 3K in the PSE Bull Run 2011: Takbo Para sa Ekonomiya – our first fun run for 2011. The run was scheduled to start at 6am. But on the 9th of January, Apple Joy and I met at the McDonalds Boni at around 5.30am. We should have slept early, I know. Then, we proceeded in Shell Select at Ayala to meet up with Celina. It was 5.45am. Celina arrived a little over 6am. We were not really sure where the NBC Tent is located. We didn’t check the map for crying out loud. We hired a taxi, and luckily, we were able to arrive at 6.05am. By that time, the fun run already started. We were told to start as well. Celina, with her Accenture backpack bag in tow; Apple Joy, with her little shoulder bag; and I, with my mobile phone at hand, started to run. It had been easy at first. But we were still far from the 1K mark when we stopped abruptly and walked.  On the next 1K distance, we were either running or walking. On the 2K mark, we stopped for a while and took the Gatorade refresher. We were supposed to turn right for the 3K route. But Apple noticed that there was no one in the 3K route. Since we knew from the email communication that those who registered for 3K can run for 5K, we opted to take the straight path – the 5K route. We were just a few meters away from the 3K route and we were arguing if we should go back and run in the 3K. But I guess, since we were not too tired at that time, we proceeded in the 5K. But you see, as we ran farther, we could feel the exhaustion building up. So, we played a game. To motivate ourselves, we set our goal – from the runners ahead of us, we would pick one or two, get pass them in order to walk for few minutes. That did the trick! We were able to finish the 5K run for a little less than an hour.

We then claimed the finishers bag – Century Tuna, banana, and the certificate. We proceeded in the backdrop at the stage and at the paparazzi wall in the side for photo ops.

The next thing we knew, our body hurts like hell the following day. This is what you get for not stretching before a run. So next time, we promised to:

1.       Sleep early on the night before the run.

2.       Check the race route – know where WHAT is.

3.       Drink lots of water.

4.       Stretch, for goodness sake!

5.       Have a regular exercise – it wouldn’t hurt to be physically fit.

Maybe someday, we could finish an entire fun run running!


*Thanks Apol for the picture! =)