My Adidas King of the Road 2009 Experience
Last Sunday, together with some friends, my boyfriend and I ran at the Adidas King of the Road 2009. I thought we would be getting some royal treatment for Php500 (our most expensive run to date), and the reputation of the organizer (hello, Adidas), but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I have been to only three runs (one as an audience), but of all the three, the Adidas King of the Road was the worst. The Condura Run for Home was ok—the spirit was light and lively, the cause was made pretty obvious, and the run was a bit more organized. Globe’s Run for Home, so far, is the best run I’ve attended. I’m not saying this because I was connected with them back when I ran, but because I was not hassled in anyway. The race packet distribution was quick, the registration was hassle-free, and the race itself was awesome—Champion Chips were distributed (for a mere Php300 race fee), there were drink stations every kilometer or so (approximately), and the race results were highly detailed.
With Adidas King of the Road, I expected (maybe this is where I was wrong), to at least drink water without having to worry whether or not it is clean and potable, and I expected to be able to run without hassle, knowing what kilometer we were onto. Don’t get me started on the pre-race, too. Claiming the race kits was a total hassle (read a fellow Blogger’s take on the claiming day mess here).
Maybe I really just set my expectations too high, or maybe I didn’t do my homework—-while running, my friend told me that every year, it’s the same situation. She’s been to five Adidas KOTR runs, so I asked her, as I was rather baffled, why she keeps on attending every year. Her answer was simple: she likes the colorful singlets. Singlets or no singlets, Adidas and the organizers could have improved on the race’s bad aspects, considering that Adidas KOTR has been in Manila for a long time now. Oh well, it was still a nice enough experience, but I guess I would just have to wait til next year to see if they would improve.
Anyway, below are some photos from the event. I hope you enjoyed KOTR. 
