Pledge Run
July 25, 2004

This year’s pledge run had 5 participants. Mike Alimurung and Christian Pobre joined the 42-km marathon. Marge Melendez and Sonny Bautista ran the 10km, and Agnes Martinez ran the 5km. All runners completed their runs, and together they raised more than P150,000 in cash and P50,000 in kind. A congratulatory dinner was held on July 28 at the Banana Leaf and Curry house in Greenbelt to celebrate the success of the event.

Marathon – brief summary
By Mike Alimurung

Hello friends,

On behalf of Christian and myself, I would like to say thank you for all your support and confidence in us. With your help, be it as a pledger, race-day supporter, donor, cheerer, etc., we were able to complete the 42-km marathon in 4hrs and 54mins, 6 mins under the 5hr cutoff. It was a difficult race, but we managed to finish!

We were able to raise some 150k or so for the Bukas Sarili Foundation and its beneficiaries.

Thank you all! You have helped me accomplish one of my dreams and helped so many patients along the way!

Christian and I had started the run about 30 secs behind as the race began 5 mins early (we were on the way to the starting line when it began). Nevertheless, we soon found our way in the midst of the pack as we did our first 10 km in 1hr and 1min, about 6min/km (from Quirino grandstand, down Roxas to Coastal mall and then back towards Buendia). At the 20km mark (we ran the 2nd 10km in 1hr and 10mins, we had entered the fort via the Buendia-Kalyaan flyover), Christian had gone ahead as I started to slow (mental fatigue). By the 25km mark (from the fort towards the gym in bonifacio, left past the golf course towards c-5 then back), I had experienced cramps on both legs. Thankfully, Romy and JD had appeared to provide food, gatorade, and bike support.

Christian reached the 31km mark (Jollibee at Bonifacio) some 10 minutes ahead of me and was delighted by the presence of our supporters, Joh, Raffa, John Q, Anne, Anson, Mike J, Che, and Marga L, who provided food and drink. I too was thoroughly excited when I came by them, as it was so encouraging. Soon after, Romy and JD went ahead to support Christian while Ray came by to provide me some support (Buendia stretch back to Roxas Blvd). It was also great to see Kendrick pass by in his car to cheer us along Buendia.

Later in the race, Christian too got cramps (Roxas Blvd) and slowed down a bit. To my surprise and his, I had finally caught up with him in the last 4kms and we jogged-walked the rest of the way to finish line, where we were greeted by Sarah, Bunky, Joy, and Candy (Quirino grandstand).