So, Thailand’s Amazing Marathon 2023 was this morning. Forty kilometers for the runners, but only thirty meters for me. Why? My homestay in Bangkok was around the corner. Don’t believe me? Check out my Forrest Gump moment in the official promo photo (which is unofficially being posted by me). I’m the one with the white hair and pink hoodie, sorta easy to pick out in a crowd.
The race started at 2:30 AM to beat the heat, but it was still mighty hot. The adrenaline was palpable. I mean, where do these folks get the drive to run? I can barely finish a twenty-minute yoga video.
It isn’t the shoes that gives them drive. One guy didn’t have any on when he crossed the finish line. I saw at least three marathoners wearing flip flops. Some runners were wearing crazy costumes. One man crossed the finish line with a cockatoo on his shoulder.
Along with the amazing talent –or should I say drive, determination, talent, perseverance, any of those words you’d see on posters in your high school counselor’s office– there were some touchy-feely moments at the Amazing Thailand Marathon 2023. One runner was blind, tethered to his guide. An elderly lady collapsed just feet from the finish line. A runner stopped to help her up. One marathoner placed her “finish-line meal” in an alms basket of a local monk (Monks start wandering the streets at sunrise in Bangkok for their morning meal).
The race ended about eight, the streets cleaned and back to normal by nine. Well, whatever normal is for Bangkok.
