Greetings to all our Heroes of Nature!

Before anything else, I just want to congratulate each and every runner who registered and finished their respective distances last Sunday at the Nature Valley Run 2010. With 11,172 registered participants, we can expect 11,172 trees to be planted and properly maintained at the Ipo Watershed in Norzagaray, Bulacan, thanks to our generous sponsors from General Mills Foods, Inc. and Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bar. For the more than 1500 21K finishers, a big congratulations to you all as well. I hope the long tables with endless supply of Summit Mineral Water and 100 Plus Isotonic Sports Drinks, plus finisher’s freebies, including a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream, RunRio Trilogy finisher’s T-shirt and medal, and a free massage courtesy of David’s Salon after crossing the finish line. I hope that all these treats, on top of the Nature Valley loot bag with Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bar, One-Time Issue Nature Valley Magazine, and a can of Century Tuna for all the runners, was a just reward for such a praise-worthy accomplishment. You are now one step closer to finishing the 32K Afroman distance in the third leg of the RunRio Trilogy in November and that much closer to finishing a full marathon. And to the rest of the 10K, 5K, and 3K runners, whether it was your first attempt to run or conquer a certain distance, or beat your personal record, congratulations for a job well done. I hope that we were able to sufficiently provide for your basic nutrition and hydration needs and personal safety, just as well, and that your finisher’s freebies, with additional Dole products and David’s Salon or Century Tuna souvenir towels for 10K runners, and Century Corned Tuna Pandesal for the first 5000 finishers, also made your day. A special congratulations to all the first-time racers who joined. More than anyone else, the RunRio Trilogy was made especially for you and for the growth of the running community here in our country.

Honestly, I had my doubts about the feasibility of staging another event of this magnitude, but like what I said before about the first leg of the RunRio Trilogy last February, due to the high demand for participation in the second leg, I again decided to open more slots to accommodate as many runners as possible, especially beginners. Thanks to the unwavering support of our friends from the Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation (FBDC), which handles the event area and commercial operations, and Bonifacio Estate Services Corporation (BESC), which handles traffic and safety, outdoor events, and housekeeping, and the more than 1500 manpower for set up, race and water station marshals (those from the Philippine Army, MAPSA, and Taguig City Police, as well as the civilians), David’s Salon cheerers and medal-givers, and finisher’s loot bag and baggage counter personnel, we were able to mount yet another successful event, which would not have been possible without everyone’s full cooperation and all-out support. Special thanks to Mr. Jun Galvez, Ms. Val Ignacio, and Ms. Katherine Fabian of BESC’s Estate Management Group and Mr. James Morano of the Bonifacio Security Services Inc. for accepting my invitation to be our venue partner and for never failing to give their best for the benefit of all our participants. And of course, how can I forget to thank my ever-dependable RunRio Team, who always give their 101 percent during pre-race, race day, and post-race activities. Thanks to Kaye Lopez, Louella Magro, Princess Galura and her team from Event King, Vince Mendoza, Jay Em, Joar Calvadores and the rest of my coaching staff, Merlyn and Atan Teves, and to anyone else I’ve failed to mention. It’s truly been a joy and a privilege to have you all on my team.

To all those who enjoyed and were satisfied with last Sunday’s race, thank you for all your wonderful comments and words of praise. I must admit that based on my personal experience, having the privilege of joining races in Boston, Fresno, San Francisco, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei, our events are pretty much in the same league as theirs, with even better post-race activities available for runners bringing their family and friends along for support.

If I have fallen short of your expectations, I send you my sincerest apologies. We are open to all comments, whether positive or negative, so please let us know how we can serve you better by contacting us on feedback@runrio.com. I read some complaints online about the hassle of having to walk 200 meters for water after crossing the finish line. I know it’s difficult to understand the rationale behind many of the decisions I have to make as a race organizer but rest assured that I always have your best interest in mind. Just to clarify, the reason why the finisher’s tents and water stations were moved away from the finish line was to solve the perpetual problem of clogging after the finish line and long queues for claiming of the finisher’s loot bags. And as many of you saw, we were able to better manage the situation during last Sunday’s event. After all, what’s 200 meters of walking after running a 3K, 5K, 10K, or 21K distance? If you think about it, it’s the perfect way to cool down after all your hard work. I guess the only way to understand how to organize a successful event is to get your hands dirty and organize one. I welcome all of you to volunteer in one of my events so that you can have a more hands-on experience. Hopefully by then, you’ll understand why I do things the way I do. My job is not easy and although I’ve been doing this for three years, I still have a lot of room for improvement. That’s what I try to do in every race and that’s where all my decisions are based.

I’d also like to apologize for a misunderstanding I had with some of the participants who wanted to get the Haagen Dazs ice cream and finisher’s loot bag containing the finisher’s shirt that was reserved for 21K finishers. I meant no offense but I guess, in my attempt to be fair to the 21k finishers, I was quite strict about those who wanted to get their free pint of ice cream and finisher’s t-shirt. In any case, I just want to apologize for the way I may have come across to some of you and hope for your kind understanding regarding the matter.

In behalf of our beneficiaries, UNICEF and the DENR, allow me to once again thank our wonderful event sponsors, Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bar, Century Tuna, Timex, Summit Mineral Water, 100 Plus Isotonic Sports Drink, Dole, David’s Salon, and ConTel; our media partners, Philippine Star, National Geographic Channel, Men’s Health, Runner’s World, Women’s Health, and One Sport Magazines; our venue partner, Bonifacio Global City; and our registration partners, R.O.X. and Timex.

Hope to see you all at the third leg of the RunRio Trilogy in November. We will open registration earlier so if you were one of those who registered late and ran out of singlets and/or race kits, we highly recommend you hit our registration areas as soon as they open. With this recent success of handling over 11,000 runners, we’ve gained enough confidence to handle bigger races and will do our best to accommodate as many runners as possible for the third leg.

I’d also like to invite everyone to the other upcoming RunRio events: The Rexona Run 2010 on August 1 at the SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City and the Summit Mineral Water CamSur Marathon 2010 on September 26 in the beautiful city of Naga, Camarines Sur. Aside from a new and improved race route around the SM Mall of Asia and the first marathon route ever created in Naga, we’ve got more exciting innovations for all of you so stay tuned for further announcements about these races. Once again, thanks to everyone for your continued support and hope to see more of you in my future events.

Sincerely,

Coach Rio