Despite mixed reactions and support I was getting from the AFP hierarchy for the continued existence of the DND-AFP Gintong Pangarap Marathon Sports Program, as the designated Chairman, I had to push though with the 8th rendition of the Half-Marathon Road Race. The AFP leadership had never designated my replacement as I retired from the active military service one month ago. So, to fill-up the leadership, I had to make some follow-up to the different committees involved in the implementation of the race.
The only complaint that I got from the participants after the race was the lack of water along the route. Two days before the race, I personally reminded my staff to see to it that we must have a lot of water supply along the way as the runners will be passing by these water stations twice before they finish the race. And I know for a fact that at 5:30 AM, the sun is already rising on the horizon. Somebody did not do his assigned task as we had coordinated two days before the race. Anyway, as the Chairman of this Sports Program, I’ll take full responsibility for this grave mistake to the runners/participants. I am very sorry that we gave some problems on this matter to our runners. Hopefully, we did not have any serious problems with our runners. We promise that we will improve some more in our next race.
To all the AFP members and civilian runners (to include runners from other countries), thank you for running this half-marathon event. Despite our mistake, we hope to see you again in our next road race. Good luck and happy running!
My insights about this sports program will be dealt with later in my future posts.
Bald Runner 
Good luck on your marathon and up coming run.Happy Father’s Day!Ingat po kayo lagi!
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Hi Baldrunner. You did everything you could to see that Saturday’s half marathon went as smoothly as possible. Those who know you in the running community understand that.
However, there will always be some people that will possibly complain or bicker about something that happened. Recently, I was reading one of Passion Runner’s posts about complaints about a recent race. Though I don’t know Passion Runner or Coach Rio, I wanted to positively comment how important running is to the community.
Back in 1978, I complained about how bad the organization was regarding the Bay To Breakers 12K race in San Francisco. Eventually, I did something about it by helping coming up with ideas and the human wall that controls the crowd. For several years I was on their race committee. Today, besides running, I help out local runs whenever possible.
The good thing is that you are aware of it and runners (Loonyrunner, RunMd, Passion Runner, Coach Rio, etc.) will be and are supportive of your efforts.
How did you do in the run?
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I would like to thank you for organizing this race. It was a race to remember for me. The route and the humidity of that hours of running were a challenge for runners.
Just some observation, i was hoping that the race will start at 5.30 considering that the sun rises earlier this time but it was started pass 6 and there was no water station anymore on the last 7k, if i’m not mistaken. However, i’ll take this as a challenge to run in that hot condition and less water =)
Thank You!
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magel, thanks & keep on visiting this blog.
wayne, thanks for the suggestion and advise. the designated host for the race did not do his task as agreed, however, corrections will be made in the next race. thanks for the visit.
highaltitude, thanks for the observations. we really admit the mistakes and we had learned good lessons in this race. thanks & keep on running!
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