April 21, 2017 - For Dr. A!

Today's run was sponsored by Dr. A! Thanks so much for continuing to help fund the Ty Taylor Memorial Campship Endowment. We're getting so close to fully funding the endowment, I appreciate your help! Soon, YMCA Camp Miller will be able to send a deserving camper to camp for free every year in honor of an amazing man.

There was a request for a specific run from Dr. A after her generous donation to the Ty Taylor Memorial Campship - a run in the heat, or a run in the rain. Well, Dr. A, you get heat. You also get an international destination run, given the fact that you're the most well-traveled person I know!

Although I abandoned my running group in Delhi, and was away in Bangkok for the weekend, you can see that our temps were about the same. Of course, I had the luxury of almost two extra hours of sleep, but c'est la vie. So, Dr. A, here's your hot one.

As I write this year's posts, I'm ruminating on the fact that not only do I want to capture the experience of a run, but I'm also looking back on 8 years in India and 15 in Asia. On the first day of June, we'll say goodbye to #thisplace and head onward to Ghana. Surely new adventures await, but the awesome task of saying goodbye to what has become home looms.

In Bangkok for the weekend, knowing I had to dedicate a run, all other considerations (laziness, the pool, breakfast) were outweighed as I laced up, filled my Camelbak and headed out the door for a longish run. The route was easy. In 2015, Bangkok become something of a second (third?) home to our family as Kate moved into an apartment waiting for our son Amos to be born. I grew to know the streets. In reality, Bangkok has been a destination for us for years. Thailand is a go-to vacation spot, Bangkok, the closest spot for "big city-therapy." It's comfortable. It's predictable. It's always interesting.

So, Saturday morning, I took off from my hotel on Soi 11 and plied the early morning streets of Bangkok.

Up and over a pedestrian bridge across the lifeline of Bangkok, the Sukhimvit. Even at 7:45am, the famous Bangkok traffic was beginning. Today's route would take me across the busiest parts of town to the back alleys, the vast parks and the canals that make the city famous.

Skirting the edge of Chuvit Garden, I headed toward Benjakitti Park. The trip from Soi 10 alley takes you across this charming bridge to the park. No traffic, no noise, the city slipped away.

In all of my city running, I've always been amazed by just how quickly cities can dissolve to quietude and peaceful back alleys. I appreciate the opportunity to get to know this about them. I also was thinking about how confident I felt about today's route. It was known to me. I've done it before and I was able to just run. It got me thinking about how much I'll miss Bangkok after we leave. Benjakitti is a cool park in the center of the city. A large lake and running/biking paths all around.

It's an oasis of sorts, of course in the full sun, it was brutally hot. I tried my best to run in the shady spots.

Even at 8am, the sidewalks and streets of the city were busy.

Bangkok is a city that lives and breathes on its streets and as I ran past the various ice cream, chicken on a stick, pad thai vendors and other shops that were busy setting up, I was saddened to think about an article I had just read forecasting the demise of its street culture. It would seem that Bangkok is "cleaning up" its sidewalks and sidewalk woks in an attempt to "improve hygiene."

Pondering, I head to Lumphini Park. As I've written before, Lumphini Park was the  temporary home of anti-government protesters. Today though, all reminders of the conflict were gone as the park was replaced with joggers, tai-chi practitioners and a lovely man playing "When I'm Gone" on a harmonica connected to an amp as hids companion on the bench laughed and an old lady danced away.

When I'm Gone, indeed. The universe has a way of connecting to you when you're on a run. Luckily, I know that I have one more Bangkok trip in me before I head off and away to a new continent. For now, I'll keep my baht, I'll pack my shoes and I'll have at least one more run in my favorite urban playground. Pictures.

The thing about getting too nostalgic, of course, is the fact that one never knows what's going to happen in the future. Although it was 14 years ago that I left Northern Virginia for my around-the-world adventures, it wasn't long ago that Dr. A was sitting in my living room in New Delhi. The world works in mysterious ways.

RUN STATS:
Distance - 6.86 miles
Time - Around 70 minutes?

For Lacey!

Today's run was for Lacey. She stepped up and I stepped out. You can help too, just click and donate!

It's easy to find reasons to not run. Especially when you're in Bangkok.

...

I'm in Bangkok for a teacher's conference. I'm learning a lot during the day and spending the nights catching up with friends that have spread out around the globe. It's been a lot of fun, but it can be distracting from my running program. I lifted off from Indira Gandhi International Airport at 5:35 am on Thursday. Believing Thursday was a wash, I spent the afternoon at the pool, doing some reading about reading. As I walked past the gym, I was suddenly inspired to hit the treadmill. A quick elevator trip of 28 floors up and 28 floors down and my workout desire stopped cold. I had already made up my mind that I wouldn't dedicate a treadmill run to Lacey, but her advanced math and science background would have helped as an additional motivator. I had been planning a four mile run, and I was ready. The treadmill though, was only prepared for me to work out in kilometers. After an embarrassing amount of mental wrangling, I was able to push start. Thursday, it turned out, was not a wash.

Friday was. There was no way I was running Friday morning. Sorry Lacey. I know that you'd understand how a trip to Mikkeller might inhibit a morning's workout.

I resolved to not let it happen two days in a row. So last night, I was bound and determined to run this morning. Undeterred by my friends' unwillingness to join me, I called for a 6:30 wake up call. The incredulous tone of operator's voice when he repeated the time for the wake up call almost made me second-guess myself, but I said, "Yes," and drifted off to sleep.

The unintended theme of today's run was one mile for each hour of sleep from the night before. I'll let you do the math on that one dear readers. The hotel is not too far from Lumphini Park, which seemed like a good destination for a run. The first leg of the run went down the street where every stray dog in Bangkok seems to live. Luckily, the Thai street dogs seem to adopt the "Mai Pen Rai" attitude of their compatriots and there was no doggie drama. The next leg was a little less than a mile along Rama IV Road, a major Bangkok street that cuts through the Central Business District. The city was just waking up, so not too much was happening this early in the morning. I did stop to snap a pic of this huge wat and the nice clean streets.

As I got closer and closer to Lumphini Park, I started noticing Thai Army outposts and my vague awareness of what was happening in the park slowly started to become more and more concrete. Lumphini Park has become the temporary home of anti-government protesters. There were people everywhere, with high levels of organization. Tent cities, water distribution, toilets, showers and more were helping to keep the peace in the park. There were plenty of early-morning risers walking and jogging along the paths in this rare green space in the urban sprawl of one of Asia's largest cities. Distracted by the throngs and the business of the place, I ended up adding a bit more to the run than I intended to. As I was leaving the park, an old Thai gentleman was on the stage singing a song, warming up the crowd. People seemed to love it and I would have loved to have taken a short video, but I was hesitant to take photos in the park.

I headed back to the hotel, showered, breakfasted and got back to work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Thanks for the motivation to keep me running!

This run belongs to Lacey! Thanks for helping out!

I'm dedicating runs to raise money for a campship in memory of my friend Ty Taylor at YMCA Camp Miller. Click here or here to donate. Please make sure you choose the Ty Taylor Campship option. And please let me know if you've made a donation so I can thank you!

RUN STATS:
Distance - 4.7 miles
Time - About 36 minutes
Soundtrack - Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary