Brooks 15k Run - FAIL !

It started out so well...

I got my very nice Brooks XXL sized singlet on Saturday at RUNNR Store, BGC with my race kits. The finisher medal that I saw on “Brooks Run Happy” Facebook page was quite interesting – instead of the usual tin/metal material, they used wood instead with a nice smiling face on it. Finisher medals are for all finishers and not just for the longest distance.

Parking was quite easy at BGC as I parked my car about 100-200 meters away from where the race would commence. Enough time for me to get there in time and to do a little stretching. The tents, starting lines, etc were all laid out nicely while the 15km runners (me included) await the gun to be fired for our 5:30am race.

But then...the gun didn’t fire. Minutes passed and still the Emcees were talking away. The runners were doing their own countdown (5...4..3..2...1..0) and still no official go signal. More minutes passed. The Emcees were still yakking away but the sun was coming up. Runners were getting restless. What is happening? Some 15 minutes have passed and still more yakking from Emcees! Can’t really blame the hosts as maybe that was instructed to them by the organizers but it was just irritating. What the hell was going on? Why can’t we start?? Did they forget about us? Didn’t they know how hard it was to run 15km with the sun draining you? I was ready to just go up front and talk to someone or just run on the road whether or not the race had or hadn’t officially started! Then the Booing started. Lots and lots of booing!!!! And still.... nada, nothing! The Emcees were (finally?) noticing and asked the runners if they were all ready to run to which we all replied “Boooo!”. Man, that was terrible!

After what seemed forever, the race finally started amid a small display of confetti. Pathetic!

There were no sports drinks in this race. No long tables at their water stations. Rather, it was just one to two water containers on one small table, with three attendants filling up cups as runners go to them and wait for their water. Good thing I wasn’t aiming for a fast race so didn’t mind waiting for it. There was one water station on top of Kalayaan Bridge than ran out of plastic cups and that was when we were just at 3-4kms!

Thankfully that was an isolated incident and rest of the race went off without any problems. The organizers put more water stations at the latter parts of the course, which was good too.

At the finish line (course measured 14.5kms according to my Garmin), I got my loot bag, which was a loot bag inside another loot bag with a lot of ad flyers and brochures. What the! There were two hand sanitizers but that’s about it. Sigh!

Oh well, at least the medals and singlets were nice. Still... it was a disappointing race for Brooks Running Shoes! Boo!