Having attended 3rd straight year now, I can say
that the Fit and Fun race is truly one of my highly-anticipated race
events.
Pros
- Very affordable (subsidized) race kit
- Distance is just right so no need for intense training preps
- Gun-start time is just right
- Loot bag is great!
Cons
- Requires a running buddy
- Staging area is too small to accommodate the crowd
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| with my running buddy, Sir Leo |
I was lucky enough to win a slot in the raffle for a
subsidized race fee. From the original 1,500/pair rate for 10k distance, I only paid 250/pair!
The Fit and Fun Buddy Run has a 5k and 10k distance. Those are very casual-runner friendly
distances. This year’s route is a bit
harder than the previous as it involved Kalayaan flyover. Not all runners get to train for hills. But the experience should make them aim
better at it.
I arrived, just-in-time for the event, and the parking lot I
know was 3 blocks away! The Fit And Fun
Run starts at an unusual location in BGC, unlike most of the other runs in that
area. Anyway, that meant no pre-run
stretches, but the 3 blocks became my warm-up.
I didn’t find my running buddy when I got there, and I got to stand up
for about a minute after starting just so I he can see me. Fortunately, he did - Mr. Leo, my 2014 running buddy!
On the first two kilometers, we were doing fine, dodging the
crowd just to get a good space. It was
up to the Kalayaan flyover that my buddy slowed down to pace himself. He was not used to hills. We made it fine and after a water break, we
were back to running.
On the way back up the bridge, we slowed down, and even
walked a little. It was a steep climb
and I can imagine how hard it is for him to run it. From there, we went to a jogging pace. We were still overtaking other runners even
at the pace.
We finished at 1:09 (less the wait I did at the startup) –
still a good time considering my buddy wasn’t used to running hills. Official time was 1:12.
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| A lotta loot! |
At the finish line, we were excited for the loot bag. It was solid and had a good weight on
them. This was the highlight of the run
for most runners (as I heard from one of my running buddies). Loot was filled with usable and premium
goodies (beats any of the “Rio ” runs for a
whole year!)
To end this, it was a pretty good and enjoyable run with
friends. Even with the low-mileage,
no-pressure maintenance runs that I do lately, its enough to finish the
Fit-and-Fun run. So I guess I’ll run
again, next year. :)
