Yesterday, my wife, son and I joined the 2010 Runnex 10K Executive Classic at UP as part of the graduation run for the participants of the Runnex Discover Running Series running clinic. Most of my past races were big productions in business districts - Century Tuna Run 2010, Mizuno Infinity Run 2010 and Globe Run for Home 2010. Compared to those races where there were thousands of runners, this was very small with just around 300 runners. There were no celebrities (unless you consider Zorro as one), no bands, no blaring music, no timing chip, no frills.
For the clinic participants, they provided pacers. For the slowest group, the group I paced with, it was paced by Mr. Rene - The Jazzrunner, who also doubled as a running resource person for the runners he was pacing. The marshals throughout the course were mostly members of Runnex, assisted by members of the UP Mountaineers who were on bicycles. There were younger looking marshals and I'm not sure if they were children of the Runnex members or were volunteer students. Aside from directions, all of the Runnex member-marshals we passed were giving us encouragements and sometimes even running tips on form and breathing (you don't get that from marshals in other races). From the younger marshals, you get greeted by a polite "Good morning po! Konti na lang po." with matching smile.
At the finish line, we were treated with refillable brewed coffee, get as much as you want Gatorade, bread rolls and smiling faces. The race organizers were very generous. We also got a finisher's shirt, a very nice Nike Dri-Fit running shirt, a proper finisher's certificate with your name, distance finished and official finish time, and last but not the least, a finisher's medal!
The big races I joined so far were memorable because they were achievements or milestones but this one felt different. This felt warm, happy, comfortable, homey.
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