PARANAQUE CITY – Amidst a very busy day for the running community, alumni of Centro Escolar University successfully staged the Escolarrun Escolarians at the Aseana City last February 17 (Sunday). The compact and cozy fun run brought together the school’s alumni while raising funds for their scholarship fund.
This also marks the first time that I will get to participate in an event organized by Pep Squad Events and Marketing, another group slowly carving their name in the running industry. Sadly, I was not able to wake up at the right time thus making me almost an hour late and miss the gun start for only the second time in three years of serious running.
By then, some of the faster five and three-kilometer runners were already winding up their races. I just decided to run the course as a relaxed workout.
Arriving late also meant kissing the handsome finishers’ medal goodbye as only the first 100 to cross based on gun time will be eligible. According to some runners, the 10-kilometer race started about 30 minutes late than the announced 5:00 AM start.
A bit of friendly advice especially for new runners, do not attempt what I did – run with no stretching and no pre-workout solid food. Still, I managed to finish the 10-kilometer course with no discomfort in about an hour based on my watch, a time that could have easily earned a medal had I not been tardy.
Up to the last minute, runners were in the dark as to the race route since no updates were posted on websites and social media. I had a race route in mind and it was correct.
Since the adjoining roads were being utilized for the many simultaneous fun runs that day, the simple race course was limited to a straight stretch of southbound lane of Macapagal Boulevard, similar to a recent fun run there. However, since the runners cannot enter the Coastal Road, 10-kilometer runners had to make an extra loop.
Being only a 10-kilometer race, distance markers were not that important for me. The race gets passing marks for plentiful hydration and marshals who were still hyper in attending to the remaining field, many of whom were already forced to walk.
After running in a recent event with over 10,000 participants, fun runs like the Escolarrun are a welcome respite from the big ticket events. In fun runs like this, expect a lot of the people to know each other and the camaraderie among everyone is easily felt as finishers bonded by snacking on free bananas, boiled eggs, popcorn and coffee at the registration booth for another coming Pep Squad fun run, the Raze Against Raze 2 on March 17.
Fun runs like this are also a big opportunity for average runners to suddenly feel like the elites. Most of the elites were scattered in the other fun runs that offered bigger prizes.
CEU needs alumni support to continue producing champion athletes.
In the end, the biggest winners were no less than the students of CEU. For sure, the scholarship money raised will go a long in helping these youths finish their education, the key to a better life for them and their families.
Among the major recipients of scholarships are the varsity athletes. The CEU Scorpions are a powerhouse in the National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (NAASCU) where they are perennial contenders for the overall championship.
As of this writing, the Scorpions have won this school year’s championship in Juniors and Women’s Basketball and Hiphop Dancing while placing runner-up in Seniors Basketball and Cheerleading. The Scorpions are also in good position to capture or do well in the ongoing events of Volleyball, Athletics, Swimming, Badminton, Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Billiards.
To ensure more good performances like this, alumni donations to the varsity teams are very important. This will enable the school to recruit the best available talents and develop them while giving them a good college education.
It is time to give back to the school that his given one a lot of things to be thankful for.
We would like to thank Jerico Villamonte of Pep Squad Events and Marketing for his valuable assistance.
