So, last weekend my legs felt like they were missing running, this morning I wondered about my sanity getting up to run!
I met up with an old Cambodia friend who was in town for the weekend last night for dinner and a few drinks, and for once it managed to stay at only a few! Although I still didn’t end up getting home and to bed until midnight; I was horrified when I saw the time knowing that my alarm was going to go off at four.
Four hours sleep would have been nice, it ended up being much less! My next door neighbour and her friends came home somewhere between 2.30 and 3 and started having a party in her room. OK, so that’s probably not quite true but with how thin the walls are it sounded like the music was blasting and the conversation was loud. I should have gone and knocked on her door and told her (to use the language she speaks to the neighbours the other side of her with) to “shut the fuck up!” but I didn’t!
Arriving at the run site there were hundreds of people around, and lots of police with riot type gear! I’m not sure who the V.I.P was but who ever it was came with a police convoy and lots of bodyguards! I was feeling quite dazed and confused when I heard someone shout my name, looking up I saw Sayun, the main organiser from ’Jog and Joy’. He shouted me over and we got chatting, he told me he has done a dvd of video and pictures for me of the Umphang weekend – how sweet. Then he led me over to the shirt collection point, took me to the front of the table and told the girls “this is Julie, this is Julie!”.
I feel like the other weekend in Umphang has taken me into a little running family, it’s really nice. Out of hundreds of people Sayun spotted me, and took the time to talk to me, even though he was clearly very busy. Then, as I was running the return stretch, I heard someone shout my name, I looked up to see, on the outward stretch, ”my inspiration” smiling and waving at me. Then at the end of the race, as I was looking completely spaced out I’m sure, one of the ladies that had been away came and said hello, and would they see me next weekend on the Sangklaburi weekend. It was really nice to feel part of something 
The race itself though was a bit of a night mare. It was in a gorgeous park, an area of Bangkok that, if I get one of the jobs I’ve applied for, I’ll be living in. It was the perfect run for me to do a time trial, 10km, completely flat, no pollution (or at least no direct car fumes), I SHOULD have flown around the course. Not so!
The heat and humidity were the highest I’ve run in, mix that with three hours sleep and a few drinks last night and the combination really isn’t good. Not only did I not manage to run the whole thing but I actually had to stop on a few occasions to regain my balance as I was so dizzy and light headed I thought I’d fall over!
I was dissapointed, but not surprised. I crossed the line at 1 hour and 2 mins – that’s about the same time as I did my first race in. It makes me think that if I’d been on the same form as I was in Umphang I should have smashed 50mins easily. Oh well…….there’s always next week……..
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