‘Ever since we arrived in Cambodia, I was always aware that the Angkor Wat half marathon was one of the premier sporting events in the country. Finally in our 6th year in the Kingdom, I decided to give it a go.
The biggest problem I had was the fact that I despise running. To combat this, I decided to explore by running and never went down the same road twice (see last picture). This brings me to my hatred of explore-running in Cambodia – dogs. Solution, run with a rock in your hand. The second worst part about running in Cambodia is the heat. I often went for a spontaneous training run as soon as it start raining – about the only bearable time. The best place to train for running was barefoot along beaches. A quick dip every couple of km is essential.
In the end, the race itself was a mere fraction of the time commitment required for preparation. My goal, being a complete race newbie, was to get below 2 hours. It ended up being a perfect day and I ran as well as I ever have. Final time – 1:59:47 woohoo!
-steve-‘
