Chiang Mai 2019

After a string of second place finishes I am just so pleased to receive this big "Winner" banner, especially amidst a splendid award ceremony with such fine photo ops.

I managed to overtake a 50-year-old German guy leading the age group at the 4k mark and add 50-second to my winning cushion. 

This is my 5th time doing the Chiang Mai event which always starts as just an excuse for a low-cost, runner's reunion in northern Thailand.  While the trip starts out as a leisurely winter escape, when the starting gun goes off, I have always raced with full intensity.  

This year all kinds of aches and pains leading up the race forced me to hold back a bit at the start.  It turns out that a jam-packed starting line with hundreds of runners crowded in front of me meant that I had no choice but to start slowly -- 4:06 for my first kilometer (compared to 3:37 at last month's Toda 10k).  

The slow start means that I pass other runners throughout the whole race and means that I feel strong and comfortable.  I felt fast, so much faster than the agony of hanging on during the middle of recent races like Toda.  

As far as my time is concerned, well, I guess the slow start means that as good as I felt, I never really get up to goal 10k speed. Conditions were certainly ideal. But it is difficult to even gauge my performance exactly since the organizers are more interested in staging an elegant run around the walls of the Old City than a precisely measured 10,000 meter race.  I was perfectly fine with this -- in fact I was absolutely delighted when I saw the finish line and knew I won the age group and could stop running, no matter that my GPS watch indicated I had only run 9.4 kilometers (in 36:25). 

The 7-year old daughter at the family-run guesthouse where I stayed was the person most impressed with my being the "winner".  She was particularly charmed when I gave her my very precious "Winner 3,000 baht" banner  (which admittedly was not such a generous gesture since this bulky cardboard placard was too big to carry home....)

Meanwhile I envy my running mates with their more reasonable competitive outlook and team spirit who are picture here finishing the race together -->