Almost a 10K

A Wat in Hua Hin

I'm feeling pretty damn good today. I got up at 6:40am and put on my new Nike running outfit I purchased when in Phuket. As Nike and Adidas are made here they are cheaper than in the States. Which means that they are way cheaper than in the UK. So I admit, I spent a bit of money at the outlet stores on running stuff. And some none running Adidas tops too, totaling er..7 tops and one pair of capri's. I was thrilled, one of the best shopping days in a long time, including before traveling.

I rarely buy workout 'outfits' just grabbing what's on sale or the like. But with my new out look on fitness, I have a new desire for sports wear. I don't need to match labels or anything, in fact I think I'd rather not, but having a matching top and bottom was quite nice. Short grey capris with a modern floral flash of pinky-tangerine at the hem and a top, in same pinky-tangerine, that compresses the girls more than my sports bras but not uncomfortably so. I felt good.

Ah, our trusty 7 eleven, and the sun rising.

I felt I had a good lay of the land here in Chiang Rai, we have plodded these streets for two days and it's not that big of a place. I headed south on a familar street and took it to what I consider the edge of town. Then headed east in to the morning sun. It was a hazy morning and looked very pretty but my photos don't do it justice.

The stunning clock tower (is a round-about). This is gold as gold can be.  Last night we walked past and they were lighting it up in changing colours from blue to purple to red and yellow and green. It was spectacular.

There are plenty of stray dogs in Thailand and I was nervous running past them at first ,but they completely ignore you, lazying away the hours in the sun. So i was shocked and a little scared this morning when running past a german shepard and another little thing that they started following and barkng at me. And you know what? They werent strays. These had owners, owners I was pissed at. I'm not a dog lover, nore am I scared of them, but chasing and barking at me is not freaking cool!!

After that incident my run was calm, I ran past the monument we hadn't seen yet so I stopped for a couple of minutes, took off my shoes and photographed the temple and monument. This was at mile 2.65 and i paused Sally.

The temple in the middle of the road.

All that glistens is not gold.  Or is it?

Onward on my loop, I ran now with the sun on my back. I use the sun a lot to determine if I'm going the right direction. Thank goodness it always does the same thing, though mid day help me not one bit.

My loop took me 3.7miles but that wasn't enough. The temperature was lovely at 77f/25c with a nice breeze so I did a pit stop and drank the bottle of water I had placed at the front door, stashed my camera under my shoes (no shoes allowed in the house) and decided that I was going to do the 6 miles I had in mind as I started. My first ever 6 mile run. New territory for me.

An out and back would mean that I had no choice and I wouldn't have to battle my brain to complete the whole thing. As it turned out, I felt really good and probably didn't need that mileage insurance of the there-and-back. I almost took a wrong turn but in the end I ran 6.15 miles in 1:02:57

My splits:
9:52
10:05
10:14
10:38
10:25
10:03
1:40
Average pace 10:13 Score!!

I'm pleased with these splits. Though no, they are not negative, they are quite consistent.  I focused on pushing my last mile to make it negative, but i hit some traffic along the way so only managed a slight negative direction.

Shopping at the market was fun and confusing.  This is just around the corner from where we are staying, and we have cooking facilities so have cooked for the first time since starting our trip. 

I'm really quite thrilled with my run. I really enjoyed it. I felt the same at mile 6 as I did at mile 3. I have been slacking with my core and strength training in general but hope that I can change that.

I'm really looking forward to doing longer runs, not necessarily here in Asia but when I'm home in the easy temperatures of the UK. I still can't get my head around that I will soon be living back in the UK. It's strange to have been away so long and I feel like I have changed a lot in my time away. I certainly see a lot of things differently. It's an exciting time.