I hope all of you are doing absolutely amazing!! This month has been a whirlwind of new experiences and successes! There are ups and downs in all experiences but the ups overwhelmingly outweigh the downs; that I am grateful for.
One major experiences and successes wrapped in one, was the completion of my first 10 k.
Boy, was that a journey! Originally when I heard 10 k, I was thinking "NOOOO WAYYY I AM NOT A RUNNER"; I may have also laughed at Mamie when she told me about it lol. I then decided, "what better place to do my first run than Thailand?!". This would be a major achievement for me.
I began training. I started walking, jogging and then running daily. Its definitely harder than you would think to train in this country, mainly because of the amount of dogs that are everywhere, all the time. I would try to run around my village but, it is impossible, here comes that EVIL pack of dogs that love to chase me. I was then confined to running laps at the school. I preferred running until I felt the need to stop so i couldn't really track distance on my own but at the school i knew exactly how many laps I had ran this caused a major psychological problem for me. Another volunteer suggested that countdown to my goal instead of counting up to my goal of laps. This helped tremendously. (Thank Sapan)
I had moments where i felt completely defeated. Mostly due to a groin injury and the Peace Corps doctor telling me I was not allowed to work out for 3 months. I gave myself more like 1 month to heal and got back into training. This made it worse at times. Some days, I would start running and the pain was just too much. These days really got to me. I gave myself a week off again. And decided to push through the pain. ( I KNOW I KNOW) I set a goal for myself and I was gonna complete that durn 10 K no matter what! Honestly, I was limping around, quite often in some pain, but when I ran I felt nothing so I kept it moving.
Once I got into a nice little routine I started feeling great! Excited about the progress even with the occasional set backs! I also changed my diet. I noticed when I ate certain things in the evening I felt wayyy better in the morning when it was time to run.
Weeks went by and finally we reached RACE WEEK! Yee found us this amazing house with a pool and some pretty yummy food. It was a nice way to prep for the race on Sunday. We were also celebrating Yees Bday this weekend with some tiger fun. Saturday we went registered, picked up our race numbers and shirts. At this time, I found out that the race course included inclines and lots of windy roads! This added to my nerves haha because I had been practicing on the flat track at the school but I was still excited ready to get this thing done!
Then headed over to the tiger temple. (pics below) We tried to keep it low activity and relaxed in preparation for our 3 am wake up the next morning.
Sunday morning came, we were up and ready by 4 am! Excited! (yee and I heading over to runnn and nay and I walking in ready! )
There were about 10 other volunteers participating in the race and our cheerleaders/photographers Mayumi Rosie, Ryan and Jeanette! We arrived at the race with time to spare. We used the bathroom, kept our bags, and began stretching; because thats what runners do right? haha
Heres a few of us finishing out the race!
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Boy, was that a journey! Originally when I heard 10 k, I was thinking "NOOOO WAYYY I AM NOT A RUNNER"; I may have also laughed at Mamie when she told me about it lol. I then decided, "what better place to do my first run than Thailand?!". This would be a major achievement for me.
I began training. I started walking, jogging and then running daily. Its definitely harder than you would think to train in this country, mainly because of the amount of dogs that are everywhere, all the time. I would try to run around my village but, it is impossible, here comes that EVIL pack of dogs that love to chase me. I was then confined to running laps at the school. I preferred running until I felt the need to stop so i couldn't really track distance on my own but at the school i knew exactly how many laps I had ran this caused a major psychological problem for me. Another volunteer suggested that countdown to my goal instead of counting up to my goal of laps. This helped tremendously. (Thank Sapan)
I had moments where i felt completely defeated. Mostly due to a groin injury and the Peace Corps doctor telling me I was not allowed to work out for 3 months. I gave myself more like 1 month to heal and got back into training. This made it worse at times. Some days, I would start running and the pain was just too much. These days really got to me. I gave myself a week off again. And decided to push through the pain. ( I KNOW I KNOW) I set a goal for myself and I was gonna complete that durn 10 K no matter what! Honestly, I was limping around, quite often in some pain, but when I ran I felt nothing so I kept it moving.
Once I got into a nice little routine I started feeling great! Excited about the progress even with the occasional set backs! I also changed my diet. I noticed when I ate certain things in the evening I felt wayyy better in the morning when it was time to run.
** working out with these cuties definitely helped**
Sunday morning came, we were up and ready by 4 am! Excited! (yee and I heading over to runnn and nay and I walking in ready! )
(clearly a posed pic haha)
and of course we couldnt run with out the photo shoot
And then it began! I wasnt sure how this would work; would all the fast runners fly by? would we all be mushed together!? haha I just didnt know! But surprisingly, even with 1500 people, non of that happened. It was a really great experience! I had my 'sister' ( we had matching hair styles, Im sure everyone assumed we were siblings lol it is not the first time haha) nay running with me keeping me moving and regulating my breathing lol the whole time until the last K she was like, "come on sash we are just gonna sprint this one out" and then she counted down... Her legs began to move much faster lol I was said, "go ahead haha my legs arent gonna make it" I was definitely grateful. ( thanks Nay).
Heres a few of us finishing out the race!
Do i look like i was dying?! because I was! haha
WE DID IT!!!!
This was truly a great experience! I thank mamie for roping me in and all of my friends for keeping motivated throughout this journey. I would love to do this again but I promised myself and other PC staff that I would have a seat to allow proper healing. I do not want to deal with this pain any longer!
PICTURE TIMMMEEE!! These are pictures from our time in Kanchanburi Thailand! and the last in bkk at this delicious sushi buffet for yees bday
