The Subic Half Marathon was so much fun! I took a long weekend (Friday-Sunday) the other week, traveling to Subic Bay, a few hours from Manila.
Subic Bay Marathon was like no other one in which I’ve participated in the States. When I arrived, I couldn’t help laughing. Brigades of Filipino men, wearing standardized black shorts and the race promo singlet, were already lined up for the run. Even in the darkness of 4 a.m., I stood out as quite the “unique” runner.
About 90% of the runners were Filipino males, approximately the ages of 22-35, part of the Filipino police force and/or academy. Another 5-7% were females who fell under the same categories. Just a handful of us were foreigners, and the majority of that handful were elite runners, like the two from Kenya who won.
Unfortunately, they did not let spectators past the first kilometer, a huge disappointment to my friends who came to watch. And my mp3 player broke the day before. That made the long distance challenging, as spectators (and music) bring motivation and encouragement to the race. Also water stops were scarce, making me a little dehydrated during the run. Oh, and the 21k half marathon ended up actually measuring about 24k!
My favorite part of the race was the other runners. As we ran, other racers would say, “Good morning, Ma’am.” Greeting them back, I return “good morning” more times than I’ve ever have while running. Several of the men even asked, “Permission to pass, ma’am?” I couldn’t help but smile. Some runners even acted as my own personal spectator, cheering me on, chanting as a brigade, even taking pictures as they ran. They were my encouragers! Thank God for the other runners! About 13k into the race, a couple men saw me after I had rounded the loop for the out-and-back race. They were about 2k behind me. Immediately when they saw me, they stopped in their tracks, whipped out their small pocket camera, and took multiple pictures of me running. I gave them a wave and a smile. My own personal paparazzi!
Enjoy these pictures that my friends took at the finish line. (No, I didn’t get any photos from my personal paparzzi. haha.) Also here are some other beautiful Subic Bay pictures to enjoy, including the pre-race dinner / evening out pictures.
