Bangkok Standard Chartered 10K

Most people that are reading this blog know that running is not my favorite thing. But I have come to like it in Thailand for a few reasons. One is that my close friend here, Emily, ran cross country in high school and has completed many half marathons and one full marathon. She likes running and made it her goal in the beginning of the semester to get me to like it as well. She has persuaded me to go running with her most days and eventually I began to look forward to our nightly jogs. Another reason is that there is a great park next to our apartments that has a nice 1k loop. It is always "bumpin'" (as I like to say) in the evenings with lots of Thai people running, walking, chatting, playing badminton, and even playing ping pong. 

Photo I snapped of the sunset while running one evening. 

Exercise is an important part of modern Thai culture and people-watching at the park is a fun way for me to see what's going on with the rest of my community. At the park, we always try to run at 5pm or a little bit after 6pm because every single night at 6 the "King's Anthem" comes over a loud speaker and everyone stops and listens respectfully to the song dedicated to the beloved King. This song plays in most every public place in Thailand at 6pm and before all movie showings. But it really messes up your flow if you're in the middle of a run and must come to a halting stop! But anyway, I've started to enjoy running here and thought there was no better way to show my love for running and Bangkok than to participate in the 2013 Standard Chartered 10k race downtown.

Emily and I at the starting line!

If you look closely you can see the huge mass of people running in the race. 

Running over a bridge downtown was one of the coolest things I've done in Thailand. The roads were shut down and it was very surreal to be jogging across the river while the sun came up with thousands of other people. 

We did it! (Emily and I after the race)