Hello Hive friends! I hope your week has been good. Mine has been fully productive as I get to do a lot of home chores while work hasn’t begun. Yesterday afternoon, I had the chance to just sit down on our veranda as I am already done cooking food and cleaning up. My son’s still having his afternoon nap. As I just sat there looking at my usual scenery, I heard the ringing of the church bell from a distance.
This reminded me of those wonderful fun runs/ fun walks I have joined here in our barangay. All the proceeds will go to the building of a new belfry.
I recall the first time I joined a fun run/walk here in Barangay Mantalongon in Dalaguete, Cebu. It wasn’t long since I moved back here with my son when my mother talked to me about a Fun Run/Fun Walk in our barangay. It was for the building of a new church belfry. My brother and I decided to join as I want to help the church even in the smallest way I can. Moreover, I wanted to walk around Mantalongon again after moving back home.
We actually started the Fun Run/Fun Walk at around 5 in the morning. There were several people I knew who were there as well. The event was spearheaded by the parish priest, Father Fernando “Borj” Sotto. All of the participants wore the given neon green t-shirt. We also received a reusable water bottle. It was still quite early and a bit cold but I felt the excitement of the participants.
The church was our starting point and we passed by the public market, passed by our house, and then the real walk and run began. We were going uphill and since I don’t really have regular exercise, it became a bit of a challenge for me. The road was already made of concrete but it’s the uphill walk that made my lungs gasp for more air.
However, the challenging walk was compensated by the beautiful landscape that slowly revealed itself as the sun gradually brightened the sky. I felt like I just want to walk and not run as I want to enjoy the view of the surrounding nature.
Walking didn’t feel so bad when I saw how beautiful nature is. I can say that even if the population here in Mantalongon has grown, there are still many areas where nature’s beauty remains a marvelous sight to behold. As the sun gradually brought light to the world, we, the participants of the fun run, were also greeted by an even more beautiful landscape. The silhouette of the trees and mountains have slowly vanished and this was replaced by the natural colors of the landscape. I mean, with this view, who would feel too tired to run or walk, right? Most of us chose to walk and to take a lot of photos of the surroundings. We were in great awe of the wonderful sight. Passing by vegetable farms of the locals, I watched the variety of plants that I can't really identify by name. Doing this uphill walk has made my breathing quite challenging but I noticed many of us may be panting but smiling while looking around. As we were minutes away from the end of our 6-kilometer walk/run, I managed to take photos of the grazing cows with nature as their background. It felt peaceful, seeing this view. Life seemed simple and beautiful. The sky kept changing and I decided to take another shot from a different angle capturing those cottony clouds from a distance. My walk became slower as I paused every now and then to rest under the serene sky. My brother went far ahead as my eyes kept being glued to whatever catches my eye. I kept hoping my phone would be able to capture the beauty that I see, even if it's just the grass growing on random places. I managed to catch up with him and still kept looking around me if I could see more beautiful areas to take snapshots of. After several minutes more, we finally reached our final stop at the entrance of Osmeña Peak. The sunlight was already a bit painful to the skin so we had our zumba facing away from the sun to cool down. Overall, it was a challenging walk/run, my first time to do this in 6 kilometers. I didn't really notice that it was 6K as I kept stopping to marvel at the landscape. We took photos with many friends and acquaintances who joined the activity afterwards. It was a physically exhausting but mentally and spiritually fulfilling experience. Being able to see nature and being able to help raise funds for the church were both meaningful and memorable experiences.💚 This is my entry for the Amazing Nature Contest: Free Topic in the @amazingnature community. 💚💚💚 Note: All photos in this blog are all personally taken using my phone. I used Paint 3D for the text in the photos.
