Springboard Run: Merely a Pure Concept

Probably the biggest disappointment of 2012 race events, Springboard Run had a promising plan, but never delivered.

A pilot race event by organizer Pure Concept, Springboard Run had the following selling factors:
- A new race location at C5 extension / SM Sucat Paranaque, with a (supposed) route stretching all the way to Shopwise Sucat Road
- A team competition for 16k, which attracted our running team, Team Alpha1, to once again unite and run as a team

A Rare Moment - 10 in Red!

The morning of July 15th, the guys in red assembled. We had a mix of competitive runners and runners who were there just for fun (me included in the latter). Again, I told Daves that I'll just pace with him as he does his heart rate training.

I had some sort of bad premonitions for the race, and I was telling these to Daves as the race progressed - hydration issues and inaccurate race route distance. I was correct, and more...
-  Water was being transferred to cups using a "tabo". Unhygienic as it was, I just shrugged it off. Later during the race, cups ran out, and runners who needed to hydrate due to the heat were forced to drink in these "tabo's". They had no choice! Good thing I brought a water bottle.
- I was excited to run in Sucat road, as this was home turf. To our dismay, the supposed race route never materialized. The route was modified to be just loops in C5 extension.
- There were no marshals in U-turns, no loop cords whatsoever - which meant it was cheaters' territory. :p
- And then the last straw - 16k turned 14.2k! In any race, this is the most unforgivable error for me.

Deemen and Barefootdaves and my savior water bottle

Announcement was made later by the hyper race host that the organizers were having difficulties tallying the time for the team competition. Hence, no winners for the 16k team competition will be announced that day. Surprise, surprise!

Post-race breakfast with the team

July 17: A Change in the Name
From Pure Concept to Running Events, I was annoyed by the organizer name change two days after the race. Official website URL changed from www.pureconcept.ws to www.runningevents.ws. Facebook page changed as well. It was as if they were disowning the name like it was some sort of disease or jinx. Pure Concept or Running Events, or whatever name you decide to change it on in the future, runners are not that stupid! You did not even issue a public apology for your lack of organization. Two weeks have passed and you have not released any official race results. If you think changing your name will give you a clean slate, THINK AGAIN.

Fort Strider's Run: My First 16k

It was a last minute decision to run this race - I didn't even invite my usual running companions to join. The only reason I registered for this event was that it matches the 16k requirement on my marathon training program for September 12. Of course I tagged Eugene along.

Race Pros:

• Registration center at Paranaque - After my practice run at Manila Memorial Park, had a 5-minute drive to Nelson Auto Repair Shop in front of Paranaque Medical Center to register. Yes, you read that right - an auto repair shop that accepts race registration.
• Cheap Registration Fee - 300 pesos only with a free singlet! I didn't like the fit though, so I didn't wear it on the race day.
• Manual barcode timing system but guess what? The results were released at the same day! Big wow!
• Ample water stations (and Pocari Sweat stations too).
• Hyper race marshalls cheering racers on. I love hyper race marshalls!

Now on to the cons:

• Race Route map was released 2 days before the actual race day. When we arrived at the venue, we found out that they scrapped the initial released route and just used the usual Runrio map, modified a bit for 16k.
• Late gunstart with no warm-up. Everyone was surprised when the gun fired to signal the race start without any heads-up whatsover.
• The event name is FS marathon - why the hell are they using the word "marathon" for an event with only 16k as the farthest category?

My legs felt very heavy at the start but after a few kilometers, I felt the leg muscles loosening up. I was really grateful Eugene paced with me until the finish line. We did a steady pace of around 6 minutes per kilometer - just the right pace we're aiming for our upcoming SG marathon. We finished in 1 hour, 34 minutes and 46 seconds.

And since we didn't have our usual running photographers with us, we had to settle on only a few shots from my celphone camera. Here's a pic of the start/finish line before the 16k gunstart:

And here's a post-race picture of me and Eugene from the race village stage:

12 weeks to go before the BIG day. I need more training!