Canapaya Mini Marathon: My 10.5K race experience in Thailand

*This is the article that I wrote for Indianhead Track Club newsletter*

When someone talks about Thailand, the first thing that comes to mind would be Thai food – Pad Thai, Tom Yum, or green curry. Most people know Thailand by its delicious food and beautiful beaches (and, of course, inexpensive cost of living). As a person from Thailand who has lived in and traveled to many countries, this is how I promote Thailand.

Recently, running has become a “trendy” activity among Thais. The number of race participants has grown significantly in the past couple of years. There are many races that you can sign up for on almost every weekend. Most people run a race because their friends are running and, yes, to take selfies and post the pictures on social media showing that they live a “healthy and active” lifestyle.

This winter my husband and I went back to visit our families and friends in Bangkok, Thailand, the city where both of us are from. I knew it would be difficult to maintain my workout/running routine while traveling. So, I decided to sign up for a 10.5K race in Bangkok. I am better at keeping my workout routine if I have a goal to work toward. (Note: Bangkok is also famous for its longest half-marathon in the world – 17 miles - because the race organizer set up a wrong U-turn.)

I have only been running races in the US and thought that any race anywhere would be the same. I was wrong. Instead of using a credit card to sign up online like I used to do here, I had to fill out a form on the race organizer’s website and transfer the money to their bank account (no Paypal). Everything was still in the paper & pencil format. They also told me to “fax” the receipt to the race organizer to confirm that I had paid for the race. Thanks to the iPhone camera, electronic mail (or e-mail) and the Internet, I took a picture of the receipt and emailed it to them.

The race that I signed up for was considered a “small” race with about 1,500 participants. When you live in a city of 10 million people, that was nothing. However, I still found it crowded. The race entry fee was about 8 dollars and I got a free running t-shirt, a finisher medal, and post-race food and drink (what a deal!).

At the start line, everyone around me was stretching, chatting, and, of course, taking selfies/pictures with their friends. Some took pictures until the last minute before we took off. Everyone was called “honored runner” (in Thai), which I found really strange.

To avoid heat and humidity, the race started at 6am (!?!?) and it was already 75 degrees. After the first two miles, the temperature rose to 85 degrees. Coming from the Fall/Winter temperature in Eau Claire, it was quite a shock to me. I ran slower than my normal pace because I was dehydrated. The race was an out and back route where you run across Chao Phraya river, which is the most important river that flows through Bangkok. It was so beautiful that I had to stop to take pictures of the river on the bridge.

There was no water between mile 3 and 5. My water bottle was empty since mile 2 and I was struggling. I had to slow down and walk up the bridge. At mile 4, a course marshal was excitedly handing out something to runners and my first thought was “that has to be water!!” I ran straight to him with a big smile. He smiled back, said “good job!”, and put something in my hand.

That thing was a rubber band…

Why would you need a rubber band in the middle of the race? Why wasn’t it water? Why did other people take it? Why didn’t the guy next to me seem to bother that there was no water? Why? Millions of questions went through my head as I slowed down again hoping to see a water stop. Until now I still don’t know what the rubber band was for. If you happen to know the answer, please email me at sydney.chinchana@gmail.com.  

There were water stations at mile 5 and 6 (near the finish line). I crossed the finish line and took the finisher medal with the rubber band in my other hand. It was 90 degrees when I finished. In 2 weeks, I went from running in a single-digit weather to 90 degree weather.

The best part of the race was the post-race food and drink. Because alcoholic beverage was strongly discouraged in Thailand, there was no post-race beer (bummer). However, they had “zero alcohol” beer?!?! (what’s the point?). As for the food, I have been to other races in the US where they have banana, muffin, bread, or hot dog. There, the post-race food was AMAZING. You could get anything from rice porridge, omelet with rice, noodle soup, BBQ pork with rice, hot soy milk with fried dough, and other traditional Thai breakfast. It was the all-you-can-eat style so you could go back as many times as you wanted. For 8 dollars, I got a medal, running shirt, race entry (and a rubber band), and all-you-can-eat Thai breakfast. It seemed to me that people were more serious about getting the post-race food than running the race.

In summary, it was a new experience running in Bangkok. It was also somewhat a reverse culture shock to me. Being born in one culture (Eastern) and living in another culture (Western), I get to see and learn the differences between two cultures, which I consider it a life benefit. This is a story about my experience running a race in the other part of the world. The good thing about running or any kind of sport is there is no language barrier. If you are a runner, you are a runner. You speak the same “running” language (with some imperial to metric conversion, or vice versa). Thanks to the Indianhead Track Club for helping me to be a better runner and the opportunity to share my experience with other members. And, yes, I am still wondering about that rubber band at mile 4.

Sydney