Race Report: 10kms at Angkor Wat

The five towers of Angkor Wat rising to the sky.

Joy here…At 4am we awoke to the darkness of a Siem Reap night, the frogs and crickets chirping outside our hotel door, but the birds not singing yet.  The temperature was, in a word, perfect.  It was warm, but with a coolish breeze, and as we got ready for our breakfast with the other pre-dawn runners staying at our hotel the excitement of the upcoming running race through the UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat was palatable.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious temple in the world, and its construction was completed in the early 12th Century, but still so very little is known about the Khmer empire of the day.  Some of the best information about life under the Khmer rulers is gleaned from Chinese written sources of the day; other information can be interpreted through the kilometres of stone carvings that detail life and religion that meant something to the builders that scholars today can only make their best academic guesses at.

Me and The Man in our tuk tuk on our way to the race.

So as we hopped into our tuk tuk - an open air seat towed by a motorcycle that is the main mode of transportation for the many tourists in and around Siem Reap, the closest city to the many Khmer temples, of which Angkor Wat is the crown jewel - and headed out to the temple site where our race was to be held, we were thrilled to be part of this mass of people - over 7,000 runners - all getting to experience running through a once-in-a-life-time setting, still shrouded in mystery and religious aura.

The roads were lined with other tuk tuks carrying eager runners, each with their number pinned to their shirt, and we could see a never-ending line of headlights spreading the 5kms from the town to the temple site.

Runners gathering as the sun rises.

We were only running 10kms, and we were terribly unprepared and undertrained for our run, but as we drew ever-closer to the site, the glistening waters of the moat appearing out of the darkness and reflecting our headlights back to us, we didn't care at all about how well or poorly we might run.  Instead, we started to get caught up in the vibe.

We arrived at Angkor Wat with the thousands of other runners and their supporters, and we watched the sun rise up over the temple before half-heartedly swinging our legs and trying to warm up.  I, of course, had to spend nearly 30 minutes in a line up to use the bathroom.

With my bladder finally emptied, we made our way over to the start line and jostled our way close to the front.

Ready…set…go!!!

My running coach (who must be super duper annoyed at me lately for my lackadaisical attitude towards training these days), had told me in advance that his main intention was for me to run this race conservatively and get faster as it went on.  He said he didn't care if I had to walk at the start, I wasn't allowed to go too fast.  So as the gun went off and the shouts and cheers roared all around us as the runners headed out away from Angkor Wat towards and through the entrance of Angkor Thom, the ancient king's city and by Bayon, the glorious temple carved with amazing and contemplative faces, I aimed to keep my pace no quicker than a conservative 6min/km.

Runners entering the ancient city of
Angkor Thom.

It was harder than you might think.

Even though I'm undoubtedly out of shape and unused to running.  I was getting caught up in the moment.  People were running all around me, and before I knew it, I was running at 5:51min/km.  I did my best to stay no faster than that and watched as The Man ran away from me, finding his own pace and rhythm as I tried to stay slow and steady (he would eventually finish 3 minutes ahead of me).

I had forgotten the wonderful sense of community that you can experience in the middle of a running race.  People surround you, and they all have a similar goal to run their best, to achieve something, to prove something to themselves or to someone else, and a sense of happiness and camaraderie emerges as people cheer each other on, pat each other on the back and generally send out goodwill to the world.

People around me inspire me in a running race.  I see the old people out there running at their own pace as the tropical sun beats down on us, and I smile.  I see the kids running with their parents, and I think of what a gift fitness is for a parent to give a child.  I ran by a man whose lower leg had been blown off by one of the land mines that still plagues the Cambodian countryside, and I almost cried.  And all of this I was feeling as the stone work of a lost civilization rose up around me, inspiring me further.  As humans we have such capacity for greatness - creativity, physical feats, endurance, artistry, compassion - but it is so easy to crush and trample those things under the more powerful forces of greed and animosity.

If seeing that doesn't inspire you,
then nothing will!

So as I ran, I let the good vibes wash through me.  These endorphins (sometimes considered the runners' high) made me enjoy my run.  I still kept my pace as slow as I could until the turn around point by Bayon.

Then I felt strong, despite a bit of a weird shoulder cramp, but I wasn't sure how much faster I should push it.

I mean, I was flush on the success of holding back for the first 5kms, but then I wasn't sure how much I should speed up for the second 5kms.  I knew that I shouldn't just run like gusto, otherwise I'd find myself running out of gas and walking in no time.  So I built my speed up to 5:44min/km and decided to keep it there for a while, figuring that I could speed up a bit more closer to the finish line.

By the time I ran past the 6km marker, I looked at my watch and knew that even if I ran the remaining 4kms at a 6min/km pace, I would still finish in less than 1 hour of running, I was satisfied.  Even though I didn't have high hopes for this race, I still had the notion in the back of my mind that I wanted to run in less than an hour.

The 5km turn around point at Bayon.

Feeling that my goal was within reach, I ran by one of the volunteers, grabbed the bottle of water he held out to me, and dumped it over myself.  I was already sweaty, and at each water station, I drank some and doused myself with some, remembering my last half marathon 2 years ago that I ran in Singapore under similar temperature conditions.

Action shot of me in motion at
around the 6km point in the race
when I started to know I'd finish
in less than an hour (my
conservative goal for this race)

As I neared the 8km marker, I started to think that I should pick up my pace and run the last 2kms as fast as I could.  But pacing is an odd thing to moderate sometimes.  I seem to have only two speeds:  fast and slow.  "Slow" I can last for hours and hours, and "fast" I only have about 50m before I collapse.  So I wasn't sure exactly what to do, and in over-thinking, I ended up going rather conservatively.  Only when I turned the corner to see the finish-line just around the corner from me did I really open up and run; I was almost sprinting, and felt like I could have run like that forever.  I felt strong and fast, and I was annoyed that the finish line was so soon, because I wanted to just keep on running and running into the morning sunlight with the cheers and excitement all around me and the temple of Angkor Wat rising behind my back as I ran on into infinity.

But, of course, I stopped.

I got my finisher's medal and my post-race banana.  I belatedly remembered to turn off my watch timer so that I could check my running data afterwards.

And even though this is my slowest 10km race (and only my 3rd ever), it is my first running race in just over 3 years, and so I feel a sense of accomplishment in finishing it within the time that I set for myself.

More than that, I feel the excitement of racing, and I've re-remembered the fun and enjoyment that I get out of racing, so I'm going to sit down with my computer and find some other races in 2014 to sign up for.

Because, baby, I'm back!

That's me sprinting to the finish line!

Over and out,
Joy

Race Stats:
I ran a total of 10km in 57:21 with an average pace of 5:45min/km, placing 40 out of 865 women competitors.  Most importantly, I ran the first 5km in 29:11, which means I ran the second 5km in 28:10, faster than the first 5km.  I also know that I had more juice in my legs at the end, because in the final 70m or so, I was running a 3:45min/km pace and my max speed at the end was 2:42min/km; so that tells me that I could have/should have run that second 5kms much faster.  So there's always next time! :)