MEN’S HEALTH URBANATHLON 2013, PHILIPPINES: Blogger’s Dinner

On the last day of July I had the good fortune of attending the Blogger’s Dinner for the 2013 Men’s Health Urbanathlon. My attendance is courtesy of an email invite from Kulit Runner.

The venue of the dinner was the 100 Miles Cafe, fast becoming a favorite among runners of all distances. It is located at the  Bonifacio Global City, specifically in the area where Pier One used to be.  The food at the cafe was good, particularly  the pasta which was delicious and had some health undertones.

But it wasn’t the food that I attended the event for. It was to know more about the upcoming Men’s Health Urbanathlon which was to be staged on September 29 at the Mall of Asia. On display at the dinner were the singlets, bibs and some of the freebies for the event which included  a 21km finisher cap and a Men’s Health bandana.

A running coach talked about the various obstacles that the Urbanathletes would be facing come September 29. These ranged from tires, traffic barricades, monkey bars, 12-foot high rope, scaffolding maze and a 50-foot net. 

A bonus from attending the Blogger’s Dinner was that all bloggers present were given a free registration to any of the 3 distances (5 km, 10 km or 21 km) of  the Urbanathlon. In addition, the bloggers received a copy of the August 2013 issue of Men’s Health (with a Milo pack), a can of Century bangus tapa, a hydration bottle from Bridgestone, and a couple of freebies from Schick. 

The   dinner was also a chance for me to touch base with some of the local running bloggers Including  Jazzrunner and Running Diva. The latter was kind enough to introduce me to Jet Paiso (http://jetpaiso.blogspot.com/) and Doc Jose "Toto" Mina (http://rundmd8.wordpress.com/).

I got to share a table with a duo of young dynamic bloggers: Jham Mariano (http://communityblogph.blogspot.com/) and Nel De Leon ( http://pasahera.com/).  Jham is the founder of the Sigue Correr running group. He is also a Bicolano, hailing from the fabled storm island province of Catanduanes. When oragons meet, passionate sharing of stories ensues and the both of us focused on how we could have a marathon or ultra in Catanduanes. Thanks to Jham’s interaction with his uncle and relatives in his home province, we might soon have one in the near future. I assured him, of course, that the Bicolano Penguin, with fellow 83nean runners, would be joining this island running adventure in the event it happens.

The Blogger’s Dinner ended with a group picture of all bloggers present. It feels empowering to be part of an active bunch of individuals all gunning to spread the gospel of running in Metro Manila and the rest of the islands of the Philippine archipelago.

Group photo courtesy of photo-op