racing

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently ran a half marathon. On December 5th my friend Kara and I ran a half marathon around Angkor Wat and the other temple ruins in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is about 200 miles from Phnom Penh. We headed up there on a Saturday and finalized our registration, receiving our extremely large t-shirts and bib tags. Then, we spent the night with a friend who lives and works in Siem Reap, ate huge plates of spaghetti, and turned in early for the night. We had to leave for the race at about 5am in order to get to the starting location before the gun went off. After months of training, we were excited for the race to be over! Here is a picture of Kara and I pre-race.

The course was absolutely beautiful! This was my second half marathon, and the scenery for this one was much more fun than my first race. The course wound around temple ruins, through trees and past lakes. Whole villages of people came out to see the runners, and the children lined up for high-fives as we ran past. There were plenty of runners who used the opportunity to capture candid shots near the temples while I kept my eyes on the finish line and counted down the kilometers to the end. I will admit that I was in MUCH better condition for the last half marathon that I ran about a year and a half ago, but I finished with a time of 1:58:42 which I was happy with. Some friends had come up for the weekend to cheer me on as well, and they met me at the finish line with water. It was so awesome that they came all that way just to watch me run!

I will admit that I was feeling a bit like death after the race. I was dirty. I had blisters. My legs were stiff. I was tired. But, I made it!

And, after a shower, Mexican food, ice cream, and a nap, I was feeling much better. Kara and I even wandered into town in the evening for some great street food.
a plate of fried rice with soup-$1.25

a chicken skewer with salad-$0.75

a sense of accomplishment at completing a half marathon-priceless