Isang Araw Lang (Just One Day) Fun Run

This morning I participated a fun run organized by Unity Run.  The event held at Mall of Asia in Pasay.  The event called Isang Araw Lang (Just One Day) fun run.  The purpose of the event is to raise funds to help various schools in the country.  The running event is not only held in Mall of Asia but simultaneously held in different cities in the country.  As I heard in the announcement, the fun run also held in different parts of the world but I don't remember what were those countries.   So how's the fun run for me?  You'll find out after the break.

The fun run has three distances - 3K, 5K and 10K.  This event has two firsts for me.  One, it's the first fun run I participated this year.  Second, this is the first 10K distance that I ran. When I arrived, there were so many people already and because of it the cab that I rode with forced us to descend and walk.  The crowd were thousands I think.  I went first to the meeting place with a friend at the first aid station near the globe structure (pictured above) of MOA (Mall of Asia).  

After wearing the singlet and the timing chip in the bib number, my friend and I went to the starting line.  The 10K runners were the first people in the starting line followed by 5K and 3K.  I noticed that the starting lane or line does not have a big timer so I don't know what's the official time.  The run for 10K should start at 4:30 am but it's already pass 5:00 (I think) when we started.  Below is the race route map for each category.

Some part of the route has no street lights but there are staffs who had flashlights telling us the right way.   Before this day I anticipated the distance because I knew that 10K is long so I trained running a 10K distance once a week (starting first week of January).  There were many runners for the first two to three kilometers but as the distance increase the number of runners decrease, some runners were walking to rest.  I noticed that there are no distance marker on the route but the first 5 kilometer were marked by giving runners a blue strings.  I also noticed Kenyans running very fast and I think aiming for the prizes.

Before I reach the finish line there's a fire engine sprinkling water to the finishers.  Since there's no timer on the lanes, I don't know the time I finished the race though there's a timing chip.  After changing clothes, I went near the stage.

Some children lost in the crowd

After that, I went to the first aid station where my friend is based.  I stayed there until the event finished.  After the 3K, 5K and 10K runners finished the run.  The program started the ceremonial run led by Kuya Daniel Razon.  You can also see the ceremonial run route in the map.  

The purpose of the run is to help as many as possible youths for their education.  And now the fun run finished, here's my rate to it:

The Good

- water station

- staffs all over the route

Needs for Improvement

- a timer on the start and finish lines

- distance marker

Over-all the event is successful because of the thousands of participants all over the country.  You can check the news article here. Or check the website of Isang Araw Lang (Just One Day) here.