The 2007 Bangkok Marathon

I decided a while back that I needed some kind of incentive to get me fit. Working the hours that we do and spending most of the day standing up and running around after a bunch of hyperactive 7 year olds doesn’t do much for your motivation, so I decided to try and get ready for one of Bangkok's biggest sporting events. Every year around 50,000 people take part in either the full length marathon or the slightly more sensible quarter marathon. As this year is commemorating the King’s 80th birthday, it promised to be a big one.

I started running 3-4 times a week in July but my training ground to a halt about 6 weeks before the marathon as I tore a ligament in my knee. Somehow stupidly, I managed to do this by turning and walking into a chair that I had left in the middle of the classroom. So much for me shouting at my kids all the time to keep their chairs under there desks, practice what you preach and all that.
Anyway, after a very frustrating month of limping and failed attempts to get going, I finally managed to start running again about 2 weeks before the marathon.

The marathon started in front of the Grand Palace at 6.45 on a Sunday morning. I suppose this was to try and let the pollution settle and in the hope of it being a little cooler. Me and a couple of friends started together but had soon lost each other amongst the crowds. People had said to me beforehand that running the marathon would be easier than running on my own, that the adrenalin from running with so many other people would keep me going. This was definitely true at the start where it was quite incredible to see a mass of yellow bouncing up and down in front of you as far as the eye could see. By the end however, after running on raised highways with the sun on us, the novelty had worn off. If it hadn’t been for the little Thai guy who ran next to me most of the way and gave me loads of encouragement then I would’ve gone a lot slower.

We were all pretty much wrecks at the end of the run, where we were met by those who had stayed in bed before getting a taxi to the finish line to get some pics (not mentioning any names...). The annoying thing was, that the person who looked freshest was the one who had just run 26 miles (42 kilometres) in a rather brisk 3.45 hours.

Although it was exhausting I was really pleased to have been able to run and am now looking for more mini marathons to do here. Not sure how beneficial it is to run in all this pollution though, seem to have a permanent cough.