Today I ran my first 5k in Thailand! And not only in Thailand, but right here in Mae Sot.
It was so much fun, and also very much what I expected 🙂
It was the first day we were awake before the community, as we rolled out of bed at 5:00am and were out the door by 5:20am. Kudos to Stephen for coming to cheer me on at such an unruly hour!
The run was about as organized as I would’ve guessed: somewhat marked & somewhat blocked roads with a few semis to avoid. There was a large turnout, but most were students. Thai school students were given bonus points or a grade of some kind if they came to participate, so of the thousand or so participants, about a hundred were over 18.
I was nervous to be one of just a few white people; I saw four in total. I prefer to blend in, particularly in things I’m not great at! In a race, I am there to finish and not to truly compete for speed. But knowing everyone would be watching made me nervous.
This was well-founded. I had three video cameras on me while I registered.
It took over half a kilometer to just get running, so the start was a little rough. All of the students also ran very much like students in a school race: they would dart off running full speed, and then stop to rest, dart off, and stop. I can’t tell you how many times I was running and then nearly tripped over the person in front of me who decided they were ready to rest.
I was also stopped before I actually crossed the finish line: the volunteers came out to meet me and took my bib. There was some confusion as they asked me my age and which race I had run. I think they thought I had run the 11k and was just very fast–in 30 minutes! In reality I was just a mediocre 5k runner. But they stole my bib in the confusion; and when I asked for it back they gave me a different one. I have no idea what went down, and we decided it wasn’t worth seeking out the clarification.
But it was a race, and I do love races! It is so fun to have all the excitement. It feels very communal; as though we’re all in something together [beyond the next few minutes of running].
