The title is a wordplay, for the record. 

I'm not a professional runner. When I do run, I run for recreational purposes. Where I'm at, usually there are at least 4 recreational running activities throughout the year. It depends. Most of the time, it's to raise awareness for a particular cause or disease. The charity organizations make a little money off the registration fees and from the donation boxes they scatter on the site. I personally think events like this are a great way to raise awareness for anything, because at least everyone gets to participate if they want to, and such events never fail to make the paper (or at least some sort of feature on an online blog or news site).

I usually go with my friends for this sort of thing. Me and my friends are somewhat health-conscious. We all work at an office, which means we don't really get a lot of exercise. In a way, we consider participating in running events organized by charity groups as some sort of 'outlet' for a more active lifestyle, even though it's really only true for a day. Oh well, it's the effort that counts, right?