Ancient City Run Report - Curfew hit Gold Rush Q. How do you make holy water? A. Boil the hell out of it. Lot of water was boiled at the run on Sunday, 25 May, as it was hot like hell. I was at T21 at 0515 to pick up co runners. Cord Marc and few young runners expecting to hit gold at the Ancient city were already here. We were roaring to go, as a newly married runner was still in the bed. Few frantic phone calls from KA-3EN about missing people such as Anth. We left bit late, and made a distress call to the officer-at -site, Manfred to arrange bibs us. Perhaps you dont know - Mark, Marc, Rebecca, Keith, Sam, Nathalie, Robert, Damien and 15 more were running to find gold...hidden in the city..shhh.. coup..shhhhh.. Since the start of the curfew hours last week, most restaurants in Bangkok are closing for the day by 2030 to let their staff reach home before 2200 hrs. Learning from this 3-days old practice of early closing hours, the run organisers started the run 5 mins before time, to ensure everyone reaches home by 10am. I had not even attached my bib when the hooter (no dirty minds, I am referring to the whistle to start the run) went off. Manfred was helping me with bibs and was at least 300m from the start point. Dejected with certain loss of podium finish he almost refused to participate in the run. Lure of finding the gold prevailed, and he joined the run. Anth was also late, and without a bib, his bib was with Monika and Karen who were running with sensor to locate gold in one hand, and Anths bib in another. Elders say the children should be encouraged to follow healthy practices at very young age. The organisers must be thinking the same as they flagged off the 3k run, I think, ahead of the 10k run. This ensured a proper warm up for all with a 500m brisk walk to walk past the walkers, love birds jogging holding hands, and a family of 4 blocking the road width while holding hands to avoid getting lost. People coming from India (or China) knew how to deal with such overwhelming walkers - push them or run over them. i left India many years ago and was totally out of practice. Run became easier after 1st mile as I got used to pushing the walkers aside. Water stations were a beauty - few cups on one meter long table, and at least 10 people standing and sipping water as if they were socialising in a pub. Used cups were thrown on the running/walking track. Toilets were well placed, but no one knew where they are. My Nike app said 3miles, but I was already at 6.5k mark as per the organisers. Here i met Guy with Mrs. who was attempting her first 10k - we had a cup of coffee (cold coffee). Just 3k to go. Rangsarn, joins me, blaming the heat. By this time Cecilia, Darshan were ahead of us. We walked the last 2 km, discussing Thai politics and Pistorius. At the finish, we drank milk. Met many Bangkok Runners boasting to have run their shortest/fastest 10k - stupid Garmin showed 8.4k. I guess curfew fears made organisers cut short the distance as well. Karen and Monika were on the podium, they ran in the under 18 years category (women are always 20 years younger because their age is age - 20 yrs). I heard Ragan cut short her run to be present at the finish point to offer us cold towels, so cold that they were stuck together as most man-woman would in very cold wether. Mark had to smack them on the floor to break their love bond. Oh, yes, Karen got a medal, a cup, (which Monika also did) and a special prize - a watermelon. See the group photo post run. PS. By the way gold was beneath the exhibit no 69. Mary quietly took it, Rebecca waster time at 89, and Rangsarn and I wasted time at 113. Roger tried his best to get Mary talk about it (at 9km) but she wouldnt tell. Later on way to back to Bangkok, she agreed to show to us if we buy her Full English at Robin Hood.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 16:29:18 +0000