At long last, the fun of Halloween was brought back to runners with a Halloween night run, thanks to Adobo Run.  This would be my VFF Sprint’s first race, and one of the most fun!

Like how Santa Claus had been assimilated into the modern Filipino Christmas, Halloween isn’t really part of traditional Filipino custom, but globalization did make it more acceptable, and recently it had become the norm to celebrate it just before the more traditional All Saints’ Day (or “Undas” as we call it in Tagalog) every first day of November when we Filipinos commemorate our beloved ones who had passed away, usually by visiting their graves and offering prayers.

The word Halloween represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even (“evening”), that is, the night before All Hallows Day.  Up through the early 20th century, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, eliding the “v” and shortening the word. – Wikipedia

Halloween was easily adopted into Filipino tradition because we love parties and we love kids—don’t kids look cute in their costumes while doing their “trick or treat?”  And who doesn’t love costume parties?  Of course all these events stimulate business activities so it’s no wonder it is a lot of people’s favorite season before Christmas!

This year, a night run set on a Halloween weekend makes its grand return with Adobo Magazine’s Adobo Run.  Of course being a Halloween run it combined running with a costume party!

I’m Back!

Being away from racing for so long I was really happy to be back with my favorite race distance, 10K.  And because the race wasn’t really as crowded as typical “pop” races it reminded me of my early races (which I missed so dearly!) where you can start way behind and still manage to push your way out from the crowd.

As a comeback 10K race it was very tempting to give it an all out effort, but unfortunately my tight schedule didn’t allow me to train for it, and being in a festive Halloween mood with the hills of McKinley as route, might as well savor the moment and enjoy!  There’s always another race to prepare for, but a Halloween run comes only once a year!  (Oh well, I guess my 50:02 self-timed finish would be acceptable :P)

Trick or Treat?

Here are some of my thoughts of the race:

Trick: Traffic wasn’t managed early enough so vehicles were still on the race’s lanes on certain points as we started; hydration was sufficient but personally I think the stations were a bit too far; promised lootbags weren’t delivered, only the first 1,000 runners to claim it were able to get it.

Treat: GPS-distance a bit over the specified distance (10K is about 90m longer based on my GF405); challenging route; unique finisher’s medal for the 10K; excellent post race activities.

Party, Party!

Adobo Run had one of the best post race activities I’ve seen with a lot of interesting booths, product samplers, games, and even a concert.  And what’s a party without drinks?  Honestly, I think there’s more alcoholic drinks here than water!

Summary

That Halloween rocked and I really had a blast!  Thank you Adobo Run for bringing back the joys of a Halloween run (and my free kit)!  Yes there were a few minor mishaps but honestly I had so much fun that it didn’t matter.  I’m curious though with what the lootbag contained as I didn’t claim mine outright (and instead looked for water) but a surprise finisher’s medal surely made up for it.  Kudos for a great event and I hope this won’t be the last!