Hat Yai 42.2

There I was, race number pinned to my singlet with a wedge of watermelon in my right hand, running a Thai highway in pre-dawn darkness. I took small bites of the ripe flesh and spat melon seeds onto the side of the road.


Last weekend I ran the Hat Yai marathon in Southern Thailand. Hat Yai is an interesting mix of cultures and religions. Close to the Malaysian border, I noticed monks, mosques and churches as I walked the streets. (Oh, and I had a "tower room" on the seventh floor of the VL Hotel so I could check out the action from above the streets too.) Many women wore headscarves. There were Halal street food vendors and young people sitting in song-tao's with thick bibles on their laps. Interestingly, to conclude the official pre-race welcome in English, the announcer said, "Good luck to everyone and may God bless you." I thought, "Yep, I'll take that blessing!"


The race started at 3:30am!! The positive of starting in the middle of the night is that we ran in relatively decent weather: 27 degrees with about 80% humidity! There was a different atmosphere running down the highway with no streetlights... kinda cool but slightly dangerous too!


I was hoping that one of the pre-race stalls might sell GU or some kind of gel for race day nutrition. No such luck! For the first half of the race there was water at the aid stations. Finally, we came to a station with something that looked like sports drink but tasted more like a kid's drink. Coming back I noticed the empty bottles and realised I wasn't drinking a new flavour of gatorade but red cordial! Water, red cordial and watermelon. Well, when in Asia...


I noticed that this marathon had very few women participating. (Probably less than 10% females?) I was the only white chick so I stood out. But maybe by skin colour was not the only reason I was noticed... In the long 'out and back' section, I figured it was a good opportunity to encourage other runners. For example, when the lead pack came past I kept running but cleared my throat, threw my right hand up in the air and screamed, "Woo hoooooo! Good job guys! Ye-ah!" My hollering was met by... silence!  Oh well. I was not to be deterred. I ran and clapped and waved and encouraged people and gave other marathoners the thumbs up sign. As the day broke many at least returned a weary smile and that was enough for me.


I finished in under 4 hours, finding some strength to pick up the pace for the final 500m. Hat Yai has given me motivation to keep training and to try to better my time in my next marathon in 5 weeks time.

 Finishers' medal & bib number.

View from the 'tower room'.