After the worst nights sleep, hearing my alarm go off at 4:30am was not wanted. However, just under 2 hours later, I would be running my second 10km race, exactly three months after I ran my first. The MuangThai Korat Marathon was being held right in the centre of the city. Diana, Georgia, Lee, and myself decided to run the 10km, whilst Grace took on the half marathon.
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| Running 10km with Georgia, Diana, and Lee and we smashed it! |
Compared the Olympic Day, this event seemed far more structured. I was hopeful that the route was going to be quiet and car-free, and that it was accurately measured out...but...more on that in a bit. The event was hosted by a company called Smile I believe, and everywhere was decked out in pink. Diana and I headed over to the start line to find Georgia and Lee, luckily we were able to cut into the start line with them but were told that we need to register before the start of the race. Of course, you would assume that you need to write your name or signature at some station, but no...it was just some random girl with a red pen who literally just ticked our numbers and let us on our way. Thankfully, the weather decided to pull itself together after what has been a dreadful few weeks of rain and (Thailand's version of) cold. It was a clear with a nice cool breeze, I knew that the sun would hit us close to the end of the race, so I wanted to get going as soon as possible.
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| I DID IT! |
For the people who read this and are familiar with Korat, the route started at Yamo Monument and went right around the entire square before heading towards the Golf Club, Bung Talua lake, and the racecourse before making the U-turn back before heading into the military base. After about 2km in, I started to panic as I could see the signals flashing that a train was approaching, I didn't want that to stop me so I quickly raced across the tracks and avoided being caught up in the crowd of 'walkers'. To annoy me even further, I had just ran past the 5km mark (although my running app was on 5.6km...) but the turning point was nowhere in sight. We approached the long stretch of road with a steady incline, and it just felt like that road was never going to end. Thankfully, I saw Diana ahead of me running the other direction so I knew it wasn't too far away. At the 6.4km kilometre mark, I finally made the U-turn and headed back towards the start. At the this point, the sun had fully risen and the heat started to hit. Regardless though, I was in a very comfortable stride and overall it was by far the best run I have done. I sprinted across the finish line at a time of 1:03:52 and a distance of 11.3km which I was really pleased with. I smashed my last 10km time by over 4 minutes. As I was trying to catch my breath, a few organisers from the event came over and surveyed me; their final question was "What improvements can we make in the future?" which I answered very explicitly "Measure the track better..!". The good thing was that it didn't feel like I ran an extra 1.5km essentially but if you're advertising a 10km, then you should probably stick to that. At the end of the race, my friends and I all gathered to congratulate each other. My friend Diana placed 2nd overall in her category for the 10k (Females 16-29) and Georgia 5th, as well as raising money for the British Heart Foundation (amazing job guys!). Grace joined us after she finished her half (looking like she'd just been on a casual jog I might add!) and then we waited a few hours for the girls to be presented with their trophies. Overall, a fantastic morning and despite not eating or hardly sleeping, I think it went rather well!
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| My kids really do run me ragged, but I love teaching them! |
As much as I enjoyed that run and prepped myself in the gym, I had also been doing my fair share of running around the class and exercising with my kids. For those of you who work with young learners, we all know how exhausting they can be to work with. I think first and foremost they see me as more of a climbing frame than a teacher. They love to climb on me, jump on me, and weirdly poke my stomach and my butt...very odd but a very common thing in Thailand. Perhaps what exhausted (and shocked!) me the most was on last Friday afternoon where the kids of Assumption celebrated National Youth Day. This celebration saw many songs and dances being performed by the students. Beyond my favourite was the performance by my Primary 1 students, who were dressed up as cowboys and (I think?) were mimicking some musician or music video. It was hilarious but I saw far too much gyrating for 6 year olds than I ever wanted to see...
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| My Primary 1 boys. |
After that, I sat with my kids and watched the rest of the performances. However, they saw that as an opportunity to climb all over me, play with my glasses, take pictures (which of course I don't complain about because its adorable), but by the end of it, it really does knacker me out. One of my favourite students, Alex, is now called "my son" because he is always attached to my hip if I'm ever teaching his class or if he's ever around me. His father is British so he can understand English a lot more than most of his peers which is nice. He's just overall a great kid, as are most of my students in fact.
I am LOVING teaching this age group, but having that comparison from teaching Secondary, I'm realising more and more on a Friday afternoon has much they can run me ragged after one week. Fortunately, this week marks the last week of the semester so I can have a break for a few weeks.
Crazy to think really that after the upcoming break, I only have one semester left before my current contract expires...how time has FLOWN.
