Today's races were about breaking records. For the run itself, there were two: 200,000 participants, and 10,000 free shoes for young aspiring runners in public elementary schools all over the Philippines. Having said those, I think those are enough to conclude that it was a success.
I recognize that those records are really amazing, but I was referring to much greater feats. Everywhere I looked, there were parents congratulating their kids for many sorts of achievements. Among that I heard of were a little boy finishing a sprint race minus a few seconds off his fastest, pre-teen girls pledging to sign up together for the next one but for a farther distance, and another little boy finishing his first 3-km run. Most of the participants were minors, but the sense of achievement did not spare the young-at-heart--I heard a couple of middle-aged marathoners exchanging personal PR's made today. It was inspiring. (Kudos Milo and RunRio for publishing deadlines for each race category's timing system--everybody just needed a little incentive, and this one really worked.)
But by far, the best thing that I saw today did not have anything to do with everybody's numbers. The two adjacent parking lots in front of the IMAX area was a sea of green singlets, but there was a more beautiful sight other than that. As I continued to walk around and the cheerleading competition was going on, a group of young boys, probably fourth graders, running towards their other classmates. They all had two things in common--they were all sweaty, and they were all wearing green and white running shoes.
Today was a good day.
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