The 30th Milo Marathon in Naga

AT AROUND 4 am, I was already wide awake, mainly in preparation for my eldest's first Milo Marathon, whose Naga qualifier took place this morning. By around 5, we were already munching through the yummy pandesals at Atlantic, with some helpings of black coffee and a bowl of arroz caldo.

By around 5:50 off went the throng of marathoners of practically all ages, turning Elias Angeles Street all the way to Bagumbayan Norte and Canaman into a sea of green. Variously, I saw a mother and her 5-year old daughter; a 70ish groovily attired granddaddy whose eyes I couldn't see, shielded by a pair of black shades; a corps of nattily dressed cadet and cadette officers from the Universidad de Sta. Isabel (where I parked my bike); and mostly teenagers already walking! gasping for breath just 250 meters from the starting line, obviously there only because their PE teachers required them to.

It was clearly another of those one-day wonders, leaving me seriously wondering if the event now in its 30th edition is really making a dent in promoting a healthy lifestyle among the populace.

Half an hour later, my son Ezekiel ran past by, panting but obviously happy. He flashed the V-sign when he saw me. When I finally tracked him down at Plaza Quezon, he has already downed the cupful of Milo beverage each finisher is entitled to, and handed me a rolled certificate as 5K marathoner. He completed the race at 38:01, surpassing the expectation of somebody who has never ever joined one in his entire life.