Run for a Cause

Run for a Cause

by John Paul Mandap

The first marathon run dated back 490 B.C. and was participated in by Pheidippides, a Greek messenger.  The run started from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens, Greece to announce that the Persians have lost the battle at Marathon.  Pheidippides sadly died after running straight without resting or stopping even once.  On 1896, several hundreds of years after the run of Pheidippides, the first official marathon run was held by the first modern Olympic games in Athens, Greece with a distance of a whopping 40,000 meters.  Coincidentally, the winner, Spiridon Louis, is a Greek too.

Since then, many runners have tried running a marathon.  Many have failed, but there also many who have succeeded in finishing the marathon.  Not only physical strength is required to finish a marathon but also pure heart and complete determination.  One should not forget that he/she joined a marathon run to finish it.  One can just give up in the middle of the marathon.  Believe it or not, some even give up because of boredom in the middle of the marathon run.

I know that finishing a complete marathon run is very hard but at the same time really exciting.  Maybe this is the reason why many love to run.  Currently, I don’t have the strength or the capability to finish a marathon so I joined a fun run named TakBOx: Trance 2013.  

I have hit two birds in one stone when I learned the objective of TakBOx: Trance 2013.  The fun run wasn’t just a normal event, it was a fundraising event whose proceeds will be given to Culiat Elementary School to help them build their laboratories in order to help the students.  So, I am going to make my first run and help the students of Culiat Elementary school when I joined TakBOx: Trance 2013.

I woke up very early on December 8, 2013 which was the day of the event.  I must admit that I was excited to experience the feeling of a first-time runner.  I got to Ateneo de Manila University before five a.m. and went to the venue of  the start of the race.  There I saw the registration booth very alive even though it was very early in the morning.  I then got my racing bib and saw other runners warming up before their race started.

I had no idea that I would need to wait quite a long time before the five kilometer run starts.  The 16 kilometer run started at six a.m., the ten kilometer run started at almost 6:30 a.m., the five kilometer run started at almost seven a.m., and the three kilometer run started at almost 7:30 a.m.  I got a little frustrated because I waited for almost two hours before my race started.

Five minutes before I started running, I got a little excited so I asked one of the runners named Zayed Tan, a BS Life Science student, on why he joined TakBOx: Trance 2013.  He said that he wanted to help the students of Culiat Elementary School.  He also said that his run was also going to be his first run.

When the gun fired, I immediately started running.  I was surprised on how fast the other runners but I didn’t mind them afterwards.  I was only concentrated on finishing my five-kilometer run.  I ran the first two without resting and getting tired that much so I thought I did pretty well.  In the middle of my run, there were two “transformation” booths that we, the runners, are faced with a challenge that we need to complete.  Failing to do so will result to a penalty.  The challenge we faced on the first booth was to jump on the holes of several rubber tires.  The second challenge was a mini maze.  After running more or less two kilometers, I started to get tired so I walked.  I also noticed some of the runners also walked.  While I was running, I saw a marshall, Joshua Punzalan, who is also coincidentally my classmate.  He said “kaya mo yan!”, “You can do This!” in english, when he saw me.  Well, he gave me some strength to be able to run more.

After the race, everyone was surely very tired waiting for the awarding ceremony and for the announcement of the raffle winners.  Those who were in the five-kilometer and in the three-kilometer were entitled to win a 5,000 Php gift certificate for Gold’s Gym.  Those who were in the ten-kilometer and 16-kilometer race were entitled to win a ticket for two to any destination on the Philippines by Air Asia.  The lucky winner of the tickets had a racing bib number 277.

During freshman year in Ateneo, we are taught that each one of us should be a “man for others.”  It is really easy say and teach what it is like being a “man for others” is like, but when we think about it, it is not as easy as it seems to do.  So when I joined TakBox: Trance 2013, I was glad to see many Ateneans so that they can help Culiat Elementary School develop.  I can see that these these Ateneans are trying to do their best to be a “man for others.”  Zayed Tan even said that he also joined TakBox: Trance 2013 to help Culiat Elementary School even though he was not that ready to run.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=256344361190561&set=
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It is really nice seeing others help but running  for five kilometers made me exhausted making me realize that I have underestimated running.  But still, running in this event was still a pretty good experience to me and I am looking forward to my next run.  I really hope that the proceeds of TakBOx: Trance 2013 will really go to the development of Culiat Elementary School.