When I signed up for the 2010 Men's Health Urbanathlon at 360 Fitness, I already had an idea that I was signing up for no ordinary race. I signed up for the 5k category thinking I'd be able to beg off some of the dreaded "obstacles" that way. As it turns out, however, there was no escaping the obstacles. The obstacles were the same regardless of race category. Participants could choose to skip the obstacles in exchange for a corresponding time penalty, but I wanted to avoid that since I figured only in completing all the obstacles would I be worthy of being called an "urbanathlete." In addition to this, I almost bailed out on the race since I was tired from a party the night before, but my stinginess prevailed and before 5 AM I was on my way to Fort with my friend Ron and was surprisingly awake for someone who'd had about three hours of sleep.
Thinking I was going to get wet or dirty or both, I dressed down a bit and wore my old Kenny urbanite singlet with an old pair of shorts and left my trusty iPod in the car. I just brought the belt bag I'd dug up at home the night before and an old pair of workout gloves. I'm extremely finicky about high necklines, so I had to leave my bright yellow Urbanathlon dri-fit shirt at home. I decided to leave my Adizeros at home fearing they'd get dirty and donned my slightly older, slightly blister-causing Asics instead.
One notable thing about this race is that hydration was overflowing. Sure, the Gatorade tasted a bit diluted, but every kilometer of the race had a water station, and I commend the organizers for making sure runners had more than enough to drink.
The first obstacles were easy. Going through the tire dump didn't require much effort, and while my awful balance caused me to fall off the balance beam at least five times, I was still able to complete that one in less than two minutes. The scaffolding maze and the hurdles were a piece of cake; I wouldn't even call the latter an obstacle. The low crawl got a bit messy, yes, but only because I literally crawled on the ground so that I could make up for the time I wasted coughing and walking when I could have been running. The wall, however was a different story.
The "wall" was actually an eight-foot makeshift piece of wood with ropes which were to be used to climb it dangling from its peak. There was already a long line to climb it when I got there. When my turn came, I out on my gloves and grabbed the rope and had to stand there looking clueless for about ten seconds. The rope had no knots and the wall had no holes or steps, so I had no idea how on earth I was supposed to hoist myself up. I'm not sure if it was because they were just being helpful or if it was because they were getting impatient, but someone near me offered to give me a push up the wall, and I immediately accepted. After one failed attempt, and a bit of acrobatics, I found myself on top of the wall!
Most runners climbed up the wall and went over the steel railing that seemed to help hold it together, but not me. I ended up in sitting down on the wall itself under the steel railing. I was scared I would take a misstep if I attempted to go over the railing, so after a few more seconds of trying to figure out what to do (I probably annoyed the person next to me in line, I decided to do this instead:
After the famous wall I was home free. I ran my last few meters and was elated when I finally saw the finish line! It sucked that the 5k category didn't make me eligible for a medal, but it was the right decision given my horrible cough and colds. Instead of a medal I got a Century breakfast consisting of tuna salad and tuna pan de sal and some kind of discount card, but not before washing the dirt off me at the Manila Water "shower" station.
When I finally got to meet up with friends and other familiar faces, I was impressed to find out that my friend Noelle won first place for the women's 10k category and my friend Gigay had managed to snag a spot in the top five. As for me, while this race wasn't one of my best (on the contrary, it was my lousiest 5k -- hopefully EVER -- given how the number of 5k runners meant I spent almost half the time lining up to get through the obstacles), it was definitely one of the most unforgettable!
Thinking I was going to get wet or dirty or both, I dressed down a bit and wore my old Kenny urbanite singlet with an old pair of shorts and left my trusty iPod in the car. I just brought the belt bag I'd dug up at home the night before and an old pair of workout gloves. I'm extremely finicky about high necklines, so I had to leave my bright yellow Urbanathlon dri-fit shirt at home. I decided to leave my Adizeros at home fearing they'd get dirty and donned my slightly older, slightly blister-causing Asics instead.
One notable thing about this race is that hydration was overflowing. Sure, the Gatorade tasted a bit diluted, but every kilometer of the race had a water station, and I commend the organizers for making sure runners had more than enough to drink.
The first obstacles were easy. Going through the tire dump didn't require much effort, and while my awful balance caused me to fall off the balance beam at least five times, I was still able to complete that one in less than two minutes. The scaffolding maze and the hurdles were a piece of cake; I wouldn't even call the latter an obstacle. The low crawl got a bit messy, yes, but only because I literally crawled on the ground so that I could make up for the time I wasted coughing and walking when I could have been running. The wall, however was a different story.
The "wall" was actually an eight-foot makeshift piece of wood with ropes which were to be used to climb it dangling from its peak. There was already a long line to climb it when I got there. When my turn came, I out on my gloves and grabbed the rope and had to stand there looking clueless for about ten seconds. The rope had no knots and the wall had no holes or steps, so I had no idea how on earth I was supposed to hoist myself up. I'm not sure if it was because they were just being helpful or if it was because they were getting impatient, but someone near me offered to give me a push up the wall, and I immediately accepted. After one failed attempt, and a bit of acrobatics, I found myself on top of the wall!
 |
| Finally on top of the wall! That is my "How on earth am I going to get down from here" face. Photo courtesy of the Greentennial Team :) |
Most runners climbed up the wall and went over the steel railing that seemed to help hold it together, but not me. I ended up in sitting down on the wall itself under the steel railing. I was scared I would take a misstep if I attempted to go over the railing, so after a few more seconds of trying to figure out what to do (I probably annoyed the person next to me in line, I decided to do this instead:
 |
| Voila! (The marshalls didn't seem to approve of what I was doing haha) Still from the Greentennial Team. |
After the famous wall I was home free. I ran my last few meters and was elated when I finally saw the finish line! It sucked that the 5k category didn't make me eligible for a medal, but it was the right decision given my horrible cough and colds. Instead of a medal I got a Century breakfast consisting of tuna salad and tuna pan de sal and some kind of discount card, but not before washing the dirt off me at the Manila Water "shower" station.
When I finally got to meet up with friends and other familiar faces, I was impressed to find out that my friend Noelle won first place for the women's 10k category and my friend Gigay had managed to snag a spot in the top five. As for me, while this race wasn't one of my best (on the contrary, it was my lousiest 5k -- hopefully EVER -- given how the number of 5k runners meant I spent almost half the time lining up to get through the obstacles), it was definitely one of the most unforgettable!
 |
| Done! |
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