Running Castles: King of the Road Redeem its Kingship

Me and my wife Nette (running castles) had been participating in Adidas King of the Road for three years in a row now. And we believe that most, if not all, runners who participated in the recently concluded KOTR 2011 would agree that it is the best by far.

As a member of Adination of Runners (AnR UP) who qualified to enjoy a free race kit, we certainly didn't expect to be in international category 16.8K. We were told before that that distance has only limited slots and we were all advised to run the 21K category instead. That is why ANR UP runners were all surprised when our free race kit came days before the event - Its all 16.8K category! Surprise!

The much awaited race day came. We came in early, thanks Zarina for the ride. This gave us a chance to mingle with some running friends from AnR UP, Hang-out Buddies, ChiCem, Six:30, Team Boring, and others. This is one of the great joys we get from running - lots and lots of friends.

Click some pics to enjoy them :D

Its another pacer duty day for me. Nette's initial game plan was to use 1:1 run/walk strategy. However, I managed to talk her out of it and do a 2:1 ratio instead ;). Shes running strong, reeling in most of the runners in front of her during her run cycle. We had an average pace of 7:35 min/K for the first 14K. She's on for a new 16K personal record. However, the 2:1 ratio starts to burn her out at that point and so we decided to reset our Gymboss to a 1:1 ratio in order for her to have a strong finish. We finished with a result of 2:12:29. Nette set a new PR finishing 7 minute faster than her old 16K PR. What a joy she has at the finish line and I am so proud of her. We took our well deserved good looking medal, Kudos to Adidas.

Like we always do, we stayed and enjoy spending time with friends. Took some pictures, had breakfast, and chat about the race the entire morning. Its a great KOTR experience this year.

AnR Up / HeartBreak'eRs

We are hoping that the Adination of Runners would still continue to support runners as it does for the past two years. Its contribution to the running community is more than the KOTR mileage of all runners combined. AnR is one of the reason why there wont be a third running boom in the country simply because the second will sustain its hype and passion.