Urbanathlon was one of the “fun” races we’ve been in (we jokingly refer to as “cross-training”) because this was one of the few races that we didn’t really look at the time—we just enjoyed ourselves going through the obstacles.  We registered as a group, although we didn’t really need to, but that made it more fun for us because we ran as a group for most of the race (although we broke in two sometime in the race) which was a first for us since when we run regular races it’s us against ourselves.

This was my first run through UP Diliman and now I know why a lot of joggers and runners like it there: fresh air.  All my previous races before were in Fort Bonifacio which is one of the best running locations in Metro Manila but since it’s a highly urbanized area there’s considerably less trees there than in UP.  This was also the first race I’ve done that I didn’t have to breathe through my mouth at any point in the race attesting to the much cleaner air there, and the relaxed pace we were.  My teammates and I were actually just talking for a significant length of the race!

There were some changes to the obstacles from the last time I checked Urbanathlon’s site, it was actually more intimidating online than in actuality, but you can’t really say “it’s a piece of cake” since the race length is almost 10K.

Running over grass was quite pleasant, although it was a bit slippery.  The twisting route eventually lead to walking on some narrow planks (too bad no pictures there) and then to the 4-foot high hurdles.

The second lap consisted mostly of running around and on the third lap you get to do all those obstacle courses again.

Running over the back of parked pickups was fun!  This was on the last lap after the hurdles.  You just got to salute the owners for having the guts to lend their wheels and letting us jump all over them.  After zigzagging through more cars, the final obstacle awaits you…

You really have to compliment Men’s Health when it comes to events like these because they really get a lot of sponsors thus giving away lots of prizes.  I personally haven’t joined any major race with free breakfast (tuna and egg sandwich, and chocolate drink) and with lots of booths!  The Snickers booth gave away free Snickers (the smallest Snickers bars I’ve seen) and the Alaska booth gave breakfast cereals (for immediate consumption in cups with milk of course).  One of my teammate actually won a Timex watch (lucky guy) from a game in their booth (by correctly guessing the number of watches inside a container).  The winners of the race took home loads of gift pack from sponsors and medals and the major ones even got cash!  There were, aside from individual and team category, age group winners for men and women.

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