the 240
2:30pm Saturday February 6, 2010
Silom, Bangkok
What the heck was I doing walking around downtown with nothing other than a cap, T-shirt, running shorts, shoes.... and a plastic trophy?
My best explanation is that I was trying to keep it simple. I left the guesthouse just after 7am to jog to the park. I jogged to the park for the 240 minute charity run/ walk. Everything I had was in the storage room of the hotel: phone, credit card, flip flops, deodorant and the promise that there was "definitely no room for a second night's stay because we are fully booked."
It was a hot, humid day. (Sorry. You know that already. It's Bangkok.) I ran the circuit around the park for a couple of hours until I decided that even though I admired the speed and endurance of the few guys who had lapped me, I didn't particularly want squelching shoes, blisters the size of soccer balls or to be so sweat-soaked that I could have been mistaken for having wet my pants. So I walked a lap. Ran a few. Walked another lap. Ran some more. At the end of my weekend run I picked up a plastic trophy for completing the third largest number of laps around Lumpini Park out of all the half-hearted competitors who were stupid enough to step out of the air-con that morning.
I got back to the hotel and received a hand-written note from the team I'd travelled with the day before. The note informed me they'd be at the food court across the road for another 17 minutes. We had just enough time for a g'day & goodbye. Then I figured that while I was out I might as well try to find another guesthouse. The first place was full and the second place was too seedy to even think about entering, but the plastic trophy was a good talking point at every stop. After about 40 minutes, I found a backpackers and fished out 230B cash (i.e. US$6.93) from the tiny pocket in my running shorts to pay the full amount for one night's stay. No worries.
Maybe that's why I like running. It simplifies things for me. Shorts, a cap and a plastic trophy... enough : )
Silom, Bangkok
What the heck was I doing walking around downtown with nothing other than a cap, T-shirt, running shorts, shoes.... and a plastic trophy?
My best explanation is that I was trying to keep it simple. I left the guesthouse just after 7am to jog to the park. I jogged to the park for the 240 minute charity run/ walk. Everything I had was in the storage room of the hotel: phone, credit card, flip flops, deodorant and the promise that there was "definitely no room for a second night's stay because we are fully booked."
It was a hot, humid day. (Sorry. You know that already. It's Bangkok.) I ran the circuit around the park for a couple of hours until I decided that even though I admired the speed and endurance of the few guys who had lapped me, I didn't particularly want squelching shoes, blisters the size of soccer balls or to be so sweat-soaked that I could have been mistaken for having wet my pants. So I walked a lap. Ran a few. Walked another lap. Ran some more. At the end of my weekend run I picked up a plastic trophy for completing the third largest number of laps around Lumpini Park out of all the half-hearted competitors who were stupid enough to step out of the air-con that morning.
I got back to the hotel and received a hand-written note from the team I'd travelled with the day before. The note informed me they'd be at the food court across the road for another 17 minutes. We had just enough time for a g'day & goodbye. Then I figured that while I was out I might as well try to find another guesthouse. The first place was full and the second place was too seedy to even think about entering, but the plastic trophy was a good talking point at every stop. After about 40 minutes, I found a backpackers and fished out 230B cash (i.e. US$6.93) from the tiny pocket in my running shorts to pay the full amount for one night's stay. No worries.
Maybe that's why I like running. It simplifies things for me. Shorts, a cap and a plastic trophy... enough : )
posted by pip @ 6:21 pm
2 Comments:
At 12:59 pm ,
Lisa said...
Great story Pip. So even the best walk at times...
At 11:31 am ,
pip said...
Thanks Lisa!
I guess the best do walk sometimes. (I've heard the first hand testimony from Cambodia's best distance runner about when he was sponsored to do a marathon in Japan but he found it so cold he couldn't finish in his usual sub-2.5 hours... instead he walked, shivered, cursed the sky & crossed the line half-frozen with a time of 4.5 hours+)
Keep running! Walk when you need to!
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