Last Sunday, March 13, the Run United 1 was held at the SM Mall of Asia grounds. I registered for this race solely because I loved the color of the singlet and the 21k finishers' shirt. Since I got injured during my previous race, I had a mindset that I would prolly go on pasyal pace and that there would be no new PR for me.

The assembly time was at 3am. I got there at 2:50-ish to deposit my bag. I saw some runner friends and had a little chitchat with them before I went off on my own to do some warm-ups, including a pre-race jog. I went to the corral around 3:40 where I saw more runner friends, and I found myself standing beside the 2:15 pacers, where 2:15 pertains to their goal time of finishing the 21k run.

The race started at 4am. I tried my best to stay with the 2:15 pacers. But since their pace is so much faster than my normal, I started having side stitches after about thirty minutes of running. I also started to have problems breathing. I'm asthmatic, by the way. It's something that very few people know about me and now you do, so there. Okay, going back to the race. Since the 2:15 pace group is really fast (for me), I decided to run on my own pace instead. Because I slowed down, the 2:30 group eventually caught up with me, and I saw fellow Triads leading the said group. They asked me to join and I obliged. Then almost halfway through the race, I started feeling pain in my left ITB. So I stayed behind to walk for a bit. When the pain started to become tolerable, I continued running. From that point, the rest of the race was a blur. I tried to go as fast as I could just so I can finish it and get some rest.
doing the Triads hand sign
Photo Credit: Running Jack Lens

While I found the route was boring because it's the usual, I was actually excited about this race because it was my first half-marathon race since July of last year. As Run United events go, there was ample hydration and aid throughout the route. 
with team mates from Team SCR
with team mates from Team Ayala Triads
with the RU pacers: too many mamaws in one photo (myself not included :D)

Despite my not-so-good condition during the race, I still managed to finish strong in my target time which is 2:30-ish. I could have finished at sub-2:30 but I felt lazy when I saw that I had lots of time left at 1km to go. Kudos to Unilab Active Health for a successful event. Race results can be found here. Congratulations to all the finishers! 
 rank: 1209th out of 4588 runners, official time: 2:30:20