UNICEF – Walking By The Storm Troopers’ Side

The triathlon at Anvaya Cove took a backseat this morning as the family went to the UNICEF Run at McKinley Hills.  Although it’s been a month since Halloween, we wore our costumes for the 2K Walk – We’re going to be Superheroes!! 🙂 Matthew was Superman, David was Green Lantern, Josh was Flash, Gracie was supposed to be Wonder Woman but became Spider Tot at the last minute 🙂 while Mommy was Batgirl.  As for me, I’ll always be Spiderman 🙂  I’ve been wearing the same costume for the past 3-4 years every Halloween,  so the UNICEF Run wasn’t going to be any different.

Got to the site around 6:30am.  Spotted my good friend Philip with his family in costumes as well 🙂  Little Philip was Superman while Anj was a cute little fairy 🙂  Also saw Dindo (DATC) and Doray (Doralicious) who took our pictures 🙂  When we arrived, the 5K runners were already sprinting towards the finish at a sub-20 min pace, while the leaders for the 10K were finishing at 34-35 minutes.  Awesome 🙂  

While waiting for the 2K Walk to start, the children played at the inflatables.  I thought it was great that for this race – Kids Rule 🙂  When the 2K Walk was about to start, the day’s highlight came in the form of Jedis and Storm Troopers from the Star Wars saga 🙂  Too bad, being the techno ignoramus that I am, I don’t know how to put photos in blogs but I’m sure you’ll see the pictures in the other blogs.  Their costumes were real authentic complete with light sabers and the Storm Trooper’s actual voice as you hear it in the movies.  Galing talaga  🙂  As you might have guessed, they were a hit with the crowd as they gamely posed for numerous photo-ops.  My children were no exception as their eyes were glued to their heroes from outer space 🙂  As the walk started, my children marched in tandem with the Storm Troopers.  Hence, the title of this post 🙂  

I was glad also that for a change, I was able to keep pace with Mr. Philip for a good while during the race 🙂 I guess my training is doing wonders 🙂  But being the competitive animal that he is, his family soon left the Angs in the dust 🙂  Saw Jay and Doc Joe doing their training runs as we made our way to the turnaround.  Photo-ops here and photo-ops there and then soon, we’re at the finish line.  Finally, for the last race of the year, I finally did a sub-50 with lots of minutes to spare 🙂  

It soon began to drizzle a bit and I felt bad because I promised the kids earlier that they can resume playing at the inflatables.  Oh well, I guess it turned out to be a blessing because upon Coach Rio’s prompting, Gracie and I went to the stage and won Best in Costume as Father and Daughter Spiderman 🙂   

I thought Coach Rio did a great job inserting a 2K Walk at the end of the 5K/10K races.  It provided a chance for the family to bond at the races 🙂  Competitive parents can outdo each other in the 5 or 10K then afterwards, the family can have a leisurely walk and exchange pleasantries with other running families 🙂  So, congratulations Coach Rio for this novel idea and I sure hope it won’t be the last.  Congratulations to all the winners as well.  Yup, it was fun-filled morning at the UNICEF Race – Walking by the Storm Troopers’ side.  

Cheers!!