The Halloween long weekend finally gave me some chance to have some much needed sleep.  I didn’t go out of town as many people may have done, but I dedicated a day to do some long easy run around Manila.

I started my run at one of the largest parks in Asia, Rizal Park.  Actually, it was more of a stroll as I was really just walking around and playing, for the last few times, Pokémon GO.  I wouldn’t go into details but my recent experience gave me the conviction to end playing this game, at least for now.  But for what it’s worth, the Halloween bonus and the interesting catch made it worthwhile.  And as expected, I spent a little too much time around the park that the sun started setting before I got to my planned location.

Sunset is getting earlier and earlier and when I thought I had enough time to cover a good distance before it got dark, I was wrong.  I was planning to take some nice sunset shots of Manila Bay and the Manila skyline, but sunset arrived just before I reached Manila Yacht Club.  I was running from Rizal Park towards SM Mall of Asia via Roxas Blvd.

Roxas Blvd. was practically empty of traffic so it was quite pleasant to run.  And it seemed like many foreign tourists also took that opportunity to walk along the bay and catch the mesmerizing Manila Bay sunset.  Interestingly, the amount of garbage normally seen on the beach was, like traffic, much less than the usual.  I hope to see the day that we won’t see any garbage on this bay.

After the sun went below the horizon, I went on my way to SM Mall of Asia.  I was hoping to take some night shots, but for some reason I didn’t feel like taking pictures and instead focused on running.  I was planning on doing only 5K around the mall complex, but eventually ended up doing more than 8K!  I wasn’t wearing my Garmin Fenix 2 and was not actively monitoring my run via GPS on my phone so I did not notice I went over my plan.  I would’ve gone much longer had it not drizzled while I was around the area of Solaire!

Looking back, it sure would’ve been nice to spend a long weekend somewhere else, trying something new, but Metro Manila was quite a charm without all the traffic and crowd that it felt like the Holy Week!  But the best part is that it’s business as usual just about everywhere and some malls even had ongoing sales!

Now that the long weekend is over, I’m again looking forward to the next weekend.  I’m glad to have squeezed one last run before October ended.  And now that November is here, let the yuletide season begin!