Sometimes, races come unplanned. That was what happened when I joined the 7 Eleven Run 2016 on January 17. I didn't register for that race because I wanted my January to be race-free while I focus on training for my main events on February. But when I decided to cover the event, one of my runner friends offered me a race bib for the 10k buddy run category. It so happened that his buddy couldn't run that day. And that is how I ended up running 10k during that event. 

The event was a successful one judging from the number of people who joined and enjoyed the event. However, because there were so many participants, it was so crowded during the race itself. I experienced it in my category as I ended up walking almost the first 600 meters of the route because there were just so many people. When the crowd eased up a bit, I started weaving through the runners and finally got to run at my race pace. Although I was in the buddy category, I ended up running alone because I wanted to see if I can make a sub-1 finish. 

Sadly, I did not make it in less than an hour. But I still clocked in a good time. Also, I got a medal and a cotton free-sized 10k finisher shirt for my troubles. 
 
rank: 205th out of 1830 runners, official time: 1:09:27

Overall, it was a well-organized running event. Better than the edition that I joined back in 2014. Since the venue is in Filinvest, Alabang, there was a lot of space in the race village for the participants to line up for freebies and loots. The hydration stations were okay. Although there were many choices for drinks (juice, energy drink, Powerade), there was not a lot of water. At least, that's what I experienced in the 10k route. And I'm not really used to drinking anything else other than water on race day, so it became a bit of a problem for me. Good thing I only ran 10k! Else, I would have been dehydrated for avoiding the drinks stations. Haha. Anyway, it was still a fun event to participate in. Thanks, sir Mhar, for the free race bib. Kudos to the organizers!