I never thought I'd be joining another fun run so soon, but yup it happened - I joined my second fun run just around 2 months after my first one. NatGeo Run is one of the well-known fun runs in the country that is being participated by thousands of runners every year.

NatGeo Fun Run traditionally coincides with Earth Day. (📷: takbo.ph)

I was actually a bit worried of the large number of participants in this event (I might get lost, confused, etc.). Good thing the organizers are already well-versed in holding this big event. The program went smoothly, and yes I did not get lost. :p

With Anne at the starting line of the 5K run!

So while I was running, I got to observe the other runners alongside me. There were father-and-daughter tandems, husband and wife, parents with their kid on a crib (the mom was pushing the crib as they ran), and there was even a guy on crutches who participated in the 5K run! 😲

While there were amusing runners, there are some who display bad behavior. I saw this one runner who, after drinking from his paper cup from the water station, threw it on the ground while running! That got me really irritated! I mean the sense of all of this run is to promote Earth Day, and how contradicting it was to have this runner littering the road during the run itself. Fortunately my faith in humanity was restored, as another runner, who was a few steps behind, picked up that cup and threw it on the trashcan on the side of the road. I wish the bib number was visible also at the back, because for sure I would report that runner and tell the organizers to not let that man participate in any of the future runs! 😧

I compared my perfomance with this run from my previous one, and here are the results:

I improved for a few seconds! :D (source: myrunti.me)

It was nice to be part of a fun run again, but I guess I won't be joining another one again soon. I realized I'm spending too much just to participate on the run, and I need to be more strict on my budget from now on. I've had my share of these runs and I guess I can conclude that I am not a fan of how commercialized these fun runs are.

I am just thankful that my knees and shin bones did not hurt that much during and after the run. As of this writing, I already underwent an MRI procedure to check if there was some ligament injury on my knees (that's what the doctor suspected). I googled and found out that some knee injuries are painless so I guess I really need to have my knees checked. My next step now is to set a schedule with a doctor to interpret the MRI results.