(Nike) We Run as (Adidas) Kings of the Road

The eternal rivalry between big brands Nike and Adidas - even in race events they're both trying to outdo each other. Nike We Run Manila was scheduled October 15, 2011 - a late afternoon Saturday race; Adidas King of the Road follows one week after, October 23, 2011 as a normal early Sunday morning race. Both are international events, with legs in other Asian cities. Both also have (outrageous) race kit claiming events. The most peculiar commonality though is that both races have the same organizer - Runrio.

RACE KIT CLAIMING EVENTS:

Both WE Run and KOTR had 3-day race claiming events in BGC area, with two days overlapping. Imagine the surge of people queuing up on the claiming locations after work hours.

First stop: KOTR at the NBC Tent, October 10, 2011. I and two TA1 teammates Daves and Rolly met-up and had a sumptuous dinner at Itallianis (and yogurt at Hobbes) before getting our hands on our KOTR race kits.

Cibo delizioso! Pre-birthday celebration of Rolly:Normal hair, afro hair, long hair, no hair (LOL!) - with Coach Rio:
Next stop: Nike We Run Manila race kit claiming in front of Nike Park BGC, October 13, 2011. Met up with Daves and claimed our (better-looking) race kits/bags.
With Pinoyfitness folks Ms. Mars and Jeff:
Compare: Nike and Adidas race tops. I posted this in Facebook and Nike was the clear winner.
RACE DAY:

October 15, 2011 - Nike We Run Manila. 8000 runners queued up at the starting line. Imagine that. No waves whatsoever. At 5pm gunstart, everyone started the long walk and attempted to squeeze through other runners (and walkers). It took me more than two minutes before reaching the start arc! That's how congested the area was.
Me and Earl - the only picture I have for this event - taken minutes before gunstart.
The race for me, was a disaster. 8000 runners for a single race category was simply too much to handle in BGC. I still managed to clock in at 1 hour 2 minutes, but I know I could have done better given better running space (and if race participants knew about running etiquette).

The fun part: post-race! TA1's got talent! Videoke at Red Box with the team is pure bliss! Haha! Best song of the night: Martin and Rocky's rendition of Careless Whisper. Such a classic!
October 23, 2011 - Adidas King of the Road. With different race categories offered - 10k, 16k and 21k, this one's obviously better-managed. I was really looking forward to this 21k event, but unfortunately, I caught a bad case of flu days before. Friends advised me not to run anymore, but I just couldn't resist to get my hands on that three-striped medal.

Strategy: Take 1000 mg of Alaxan 1 hour before the race to make my body numb. It worked! I still managed to finish in 2 hours and 13 minutes, though I really hated parts of the race when I had to deal with runny nose, my breathing definitely was affected.

Here's me running in my takbo.ph singlet! Got thinner after just a few days of being sick. :(
I wore my KOTR singlet after the race. Here's me and the rest of the TA1 KOTR runners after a hearty breakfast meal at Kabisera.
AND THE WINNER IS: Adidas KOTR! Sorry Nike, but there are a lot of improvement areas you need to focus on next year. KOTR has learned a lot from the previous years, and the KOTR medal this year is one of the best in my medal collection, so I am quite biased. :p