I try not to miss any Men's Health races as they usually guarantee a good time, with the nice shirts and lots of freebies. There is the Urbanathon series, the Miracle Run series and the Trail Running series, each happening only once in a year.
This race was more significant as it was the first race that I joined that got me hooked into the sport of running. Back then (some two years ago), Janine and I did the 10km while Per and Jeanne stayed on the sideline and acted as our support crew. How things change! Now, both ladies have joined the 5km race and tried their hand at the famous obstacle course too.
And what an obstacle course!! Aside from the trademark 8-foot wall right before the finish line (so close and yet so far!), there were hurdles to climb over, structures to crawl underneath and the hardest challenge (at least for me) - going inside a building and climbing 6 floors, cross to the other side and run down the 6 floors and out of the said building. This happened at our 3km mark and by the time I got out, I was dead tired! And I just finished 30% of the race!
I did some walk breaks at the steep Mckinley Hills as we head out of the area. Outside, we ran into runners from another event - the Botak run series. They had part of the same route we did and rather view it negatively, I liked it even more. It was more festive with more runners, more water stations (as coming from two race organizations) and more familiar faces (saw Neil and Marina).
Got my groove back after a few km and able to run again at a comfortable pace. The final leg was going back into McKinley Hill, running on its grass area to crawl for a few meters, run to the wall, climb over it (with the help of Coach Rio from the other side), jump off (a no-no but who cares) and run to the finish line!
Fantastic! Best of all, for the P450 fee, aside from the singlet and latest Menshealth Nov 2009 issue, we got a breakfast from Kenny Rogers too. A great deal!
Per was happy too and even happier two days later when we found out she finished 19th place out of 191 female 5km racers. Good job!
Per and Jeanne's first Urbanathon. Definitely not their last!
The Killer Wall
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