HyperSports Get Fit Run

It was January when I first met the People and humble Athlete/Coaches of HyperSports Phils. Inc. (HSPI) at the 1st Session of their GetFit 2012 campaign. That session kicked my hybernating engines up and gave my start of year the fire needed to revive my lungs and maintain the healthy running lifestyle. But the busy and unforeseen circumstances made me unable to complete the Get Fit campaign, and was only visible for the last time at their 4th session.

Training the HyperSports way

A couple of months later, I missed the new faces I met at the HyperSports sessions, their humility, their enthusiasm for the trainings, and their lively attitude. Some of them I finally got to run with on a couple of races such as during the 3rd Merrell Adventure Run and Trek the T.E.C 2012. But last July 8, it was a reminiscing and a reunion event among the Runners and the HyperSports family at the HyperSports' Get Fit Run debut race held at Quirino Grandstand in Manila. Meeting some of my batch/classmates during the Get Fit sessions, I never knew that the event would be very homey, full of fun, lively and festive -- the kind of fun and festivity that most of us, and most of the pioneers experienced at the 1st Takbo.ph Runfest in 2010.

The event was made more alive with the entertaining partnership of wit and humor of the two program hosts -- Sir RunningHost and Coach Edward Kho. Who knew that they will both make a good tandem and that Sir Edward is as talented, not only in terms of running, race organizing, but also with hosting?

This event is my first 21K road race for the year, my last one was still during the Run United Regional Series Cebu last December 2011 where I performed far below my usual 21K time.

The Race
Although I arrived early at the venue, I almost got late entering the assembly line for the 21K. Gladly for me, the gun-start was re-scheduled for a good 15 minutes to make sure that the whole route is ready and equipped for the arrival of the 21K runners. Ms. Lia who has our race kit arrived just in time for around more than 5 minutes before the new gun-start schedule, giving me just a few amount of time to warm-up. Sam (RunningNinja) who also represented Diadora Philippines Running Team with me positioned himself ahead at the starting line together with our friends at Team Reebok - Blas and Beep-beep.

The hyper hosts

When the gun-start was fired, I was still a bit puffing for air as I have just finished my warm-up a minute before the countdown, but I guess it helped as my breathing was already regulated as soon as I started running. My goal was just to finish again on my usual 21K finish time and an additional 5-minute room should I won't be able to make it in 2 hours.

As soon as we've turned to Roxas Blvd., I noticed one runner whom I always see speeding in most races, but at this point, it seems that he isn't running at his own speed. Judging on his movement, he doesn't look like injured so I thought that maybe he hasn't prepared much. Following his pace, we were speeding at an average of between 11.2 to 12.6 kph (I prefer the view of speed than pace), that's more than a few meters faster than my 10K race pace. Meaning soon enough, at around half-point I might be walking a lot already.

I tried to keep up at his pace until we reached Seaside Boulevard going to MOA where he just increased his speed little-by-little, and the gap between us slowly gained from just a mere arms-apart, then to a few meters-apart. His speed increased more and more until I can no longer close the gap and I could only see him as we face each other after the U-turn points. Looking at my watch, I was only running and maintaining a speed between 10.4 to 11.6 kph, while the guy I was chasing at, in my approximate might already be running at 12.5 to 13.5 kph. As soon as I hit the flyover, I can no longer see him. He was really fast!

The runner I failed to keep up with

New 21K Personal Best
Crossing the finish line, I didn't expect that I would be able to break my long-standing 21K (road) personal best cutting-off exactly 3-minutes from the 1st RunRio Trilogy Leg 2 race held two years ago - May 30, 2010.

Finish Time
I always base my personal record on the official gun-time instead of the chip-time because as soon as I hear the gun-start, it's also the signal for me to press the 'start' button on my timing watch. Although for this race, the race result's gun-time difference with my chip-time was a good 3-mins. and 13-secs., which is not possible since I was positioned just at 2 rows behind the front runners and it did not also took that long before I stepped out from the starting line's timing mat. While for the chip-time, it only has 1-second difference with my own personal timing based on my watch. Looking closely at the 21K race result, even those 1st to 3rd placers have 3-mins. and 13-secs. difference between their chip and gun-times so I think the system's gun-time has already started 3-mins. 13-secs. ahead before the actual gun-start.

Sprinting to the finish, photo thanks to Angelo Lagumbay

"...don’t take the approach of being happy just to be there. You must challenge yourself." - Coach Rene Herrera

Event in Review
For me, this race proved to be also one of the greatly organized, friendly, alive, and homey atmosphere event. The race was just like a fun run of close-relatives. I enjoyed every bit of it from before the gun-start, during the race, and even the post-race program and the camaraderie between the runners, there was no division aura of who's better and who's not.

Aside from this, the whole course was generally clean and there was only very few hydration cups littered along the route.

The timing used a reusable IPICO timing chip and runners have an option to return the timing chip after the race for a Php 50.00 refund. What's more impressive was that during the registration period, the participants who were holding a non-HyperSports IPICO timing chip were given an option to submit those timing chips upon registration, which entitled them of an Php 80.00 discount. These timing chips became usable for this event and were returned to the owner-participants together with their race kits. That's the real essence of reusability!

Although, as in all other races, there are always rooms for improvement, and here's my take for this race:

1. Kilometer markers placed along the course would be great.
2. Gun-start should be on-time, but for reason of re-ensuring the course's safety, the late gun-start is acceptable (the late gun-start though became an advantage to me also).
3. No loop-cords or timing-mats placed on critical turning or U-turn points. I heard that some runners no longer crossed the flyover.
4. More accurate race result next time.

With Jojo and friend, Bearwin, Beep-beep, and Mr. Victor Ting

The happy mix of runners

"Kung panay ang pag-eehersisyo mo, pero at the end of the day nagyoyosi ka naman, umiinom, pinapatay mo lang lalo ang sarili mo." - Bearwin Meilly

Race Profile:
Distance: 21 km.
Official Time (chip): 1:56:24
Official Ranking: 37th

Race Info:
When: July 8, 2012.
Where: Quirino Grandstand, Manila

You may check out more photos from facebook fanpage of DiadoraPh Run Team and download the race results at HyperSportsPh website.