THE RACE

Asia » Cambodia » North » Angkor
December 2nd 2012

Published: January 29th 2013

Bright and early before the sun was even close to rising we were up, dressed and ready to go. In the pitch black morning we shoved our faces with granola bars and bananas to prepare ourselves for our race. We weren’t the only early birds, there were a handful of other folks dressed to impress.Several of them were friends we had made the following day: Arlene, a lovely Irish gal running the half marathon and three Americans working with Pricenton in Asia who were running the 10k.

Piling into two tuk tuks we headed out to Angkor Wat. I have to say for my first race ever I couldn’t have picked a cooler location. Tuk tuks were swarming the area, hundreds of them bringing their racers into the area. We chose to get there early so that we could appreciate the sunset. Despite the nerves fluttering around in my belly the beauty of the sunset was really the most spectacular thing I had seen in ages.

After admiring the sunset we headed to the porta potties were we stood in line for a lifetime in a half, nearly missing the start of our race. Out of the five of us, four of us were doing the 10k and the fifth was braving the half. She had already taken off just a bit before us, the rest of us found our places in the masses and got ready to go.

Butterflies in my stomach is an understatement. But I must admit that it wasn’t nearly as bad as how I feel moments before a futbol game. I don’t know if there is less pressure because I’m going against just myself instead of another team or because I had no idea what a good time was so I was just on a mission to run the whole thing instead of focusing on beating a time. Whatever the reason it was nice to not have the feeling that I might vomit at any second.

The “Ready, Set, Go” blasted through the early air and off we went. Slow at first as we were all packed together like the cows I see walking along the streets in my village and then when everything opened up we were really off. I had my ear buds in and I was ready to cruise. About 15minutes later my Blackberry died and I was left holding said Blackberry without any music coming out of it. I was on my own at first, a bit fearful to join my friends who were just a smidge in front of me for two reasons. 1.) I get ridiculously competitive and want to beat everyone and being with a friend may go either way where I either want to beat them or it allows me to keep a steady pace and 2.) My friend may want to talk and talking for 6 miles WHILE running seemed a bit horrifying.

I chose to stay a bit behind for a while, but when our one friend Liz took off I went up and joined Erica about a mile before the half way mark. No surprise she wanted to talk and talk we did. For four plus miles I ran alongside her, someone who had been running for years and she claims I never slowed her down. And for four plus miles I not just ran beside her, but we talked the entire time! I was so excited by this revelation, the idea that I could talk and run at the same time. I had done it before but never for this long and as it turns out talking and running makes the time fly by!

It was amazing to be running around Angkor Wat. The sun had started to come up, but lucky for us most of the race was ran under the trees leaving only tiny breaks were the sun would smack us in the face with its heat. At one point I had the horrors of my left foot going numb. I have no idea if this is normal, but wearing my brand new sneakers made me mad that I was feeling this way. Erica asked if I wanted to stop and fix my shoe, I refused, I wasn’t going to stop not with just 2 mile to go. So I pushed through and not much longer later the numbness went away.

And then we were nearly there, the end was in site. We passed through one of the arches and saw the crowds on the side of the path cheering. We even passed two other volunteers who were snapping photos of each of us. We passed the mile marker and a few minutes later there was the division between the 10k race and the half marathon. Being steared in the proper direction we took our 10 k path, turning the corner and seeing the Finish line. Erica and I smiled at each other and prematurely congratulated ourselves and decided to sprint across the finish line which is exactly what we did. Passing through we embraced each other in the corniest of fashions that really only suited us. We had made it, I had made it and not that I was completely shocked that I could run a 10k completely I was still so thrilled to have it come true. We had done it in 1hour and 15 minutes. I have no idea if this is a decent time, we were about smack dab in the middle of the group so it can’t be that bad, but what do I really know I should google that information.

We found Liz, who had smoked us by 15 minutes or so and Meechee who was our photographer for the morning. Banana’s and water were consumed as we waited for Duffy to cross the finish line. For the two of us, this was our first big race so when she crossed the finish line we hugged and congratulated each other for accomplishing something that neither of us had even thought to do a year ago. It is fair to say it was a magical moment for the two of us.

Last but certainly not least was Dress who was running the half marathon. Cheering on everyone, we waited for her to pass through searching for the American bandana we were all wearing. She rounded the bend and passed right on by with us all shouting our heads off cheering her on.

And so it was, my first 10k race was under my belt. Is there really any way to one up a 10k race at Angkor Wat? I don’t know but I’m sure going to try!

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