Running from Shadows

Where have I been?! Other stuff has called: a curtain pole and baton needed putting up; room redecoration; Christmas 2016 arrived; stuff; things; busy-ness . . . Now I’m back, unfit, but recovered from injury (groan) . . . On with what I said I’d do: report on the Global Limits Ancient Khmer Path 2016!

Late-November 2016 (UK: cold, wet, freezing, dark; south-east Asia: the complete opposite)

This year I was flying out to Cambodia far fitter than the previous year with 2016’s autumnal food poisoning (which happened close to the race in 2015) having struck a few weeks beforehand and cleared my system. Continue reading →

Two weeks ago (2 December) and on the second attempt following my 2015 DNF I finally reached the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat after 140 miles of running in 6 days across the wilds of Cambodia in the Global Limits footrace The Ancient Khmer Path. It was far from easy (are these races ever that?!), but what a race and what a finish!

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Three multi-day ultra events: the Marathon des Sables (MdS) (2012); the Sahara Race (Jordan) (2014); and the Ancient Khmer Path (Cambodia) (2015).

Two DNFs (Did Not Finish), being the latter two races . . . why?

Once I recovered earlier this year it was a question worth looking at closely  because in March I entered for a second attempt at the AKP.

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Despite the early, dark start I felt recovered enough to try and redeem myself on this last day: Stage 6 of just 10 miles through numerous temples almost a thousand years old to finish at the World Heritage Site Angor Wat temple complex: I hadn’t run since Stage 3 so had a very unfair advantage to all the other runners! Continue reading →

One of the great things about the GlobalLimits race was its inclusive nature, with strong bonds formed within just a few days (even for those, like me, who had DNF’d). Everybody was mucking in to help each other and laughs were a-plenty. Race Director Stefan was at pains on the morning of each following stage to emphasise that for those of us who were DNF and so out of the rankings it was still perfectly fine if we wanted to continue on that stage to enjoy the scenery and surroundings. It was little things like this that made this GlobalLimits event so much more than a race.

Moo Wong (Korea) and Anne (USA) were happy to continue unranked and plough on through Stage 4 having DNF’d Stage 3. Kim and I were in no fit state. Continue reading →

DNF.

The three letters that are marked alongside a competitor’s name when he or she . . .

Did Not Finish. Continue reading →

There’s a great simplicity in these types of races: get up, eat, pack, stand at the start line, run, stop, eat, sleep . . . and marvel at all the different lives and the world around you. Little time had passed since my alarm and here we were ready to run again in that time between full darkness and full light, possibly the coolest time it would ever be: the sky was giving off amazing hues of blues as the sun woke up and sped over the horizon and across the tree tops. Continue reading →