This past weekend the Mister and I flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia. A few months ago we decided that we wanted to hit a milestone before this year was out – and that was to run a half-marathon. We found out about the Angkor Wat International Half-Marathon through workmates and decided that it was THE one to do. So we’ve been training for the last month and a half – not the ideal duration to train (probably would have been best to train for at least 3 months) – but the training has been a memorable experience in itself!

We’ve never been to Cambodia and I will write a separate post on our experience in Siem Reap apart from the run. In this post I will focus on the event for all you run-nerds who may be interested in doing this run in the near future :-)

The half-marathon started at 6:30am and we were at the starting line by 6am. The starting line is just outside the ruins of one of the gates of Angkor Wat (meaning the ‘city of monasteries’). It was a sight to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat – an extra bit of inspiration to calm the nerves!

We were told that it was the cooler season in Cambodia – so the forecast was for about 30°C by noon time! Thankfully, it was a nice and cool early morning and though it stayed cool for the next few hours (as the course went through the forest surrounding Angkor Wat), the humidity was quite evident a few kilometres into the run.

This was the half-marathon course:

The course itself is flat all the way (my favourite kind of course!). I didn’t spot any toilets until about the 15km mark, however, there were water stops every 3km. So as you can imagine, there were runners constantly ducking into the bushes to relieve themselves. We even saw a lady run into the bushes and do her business while a wild monkey watched her from a only a few feet away (I don’t think she realised it was there!).

The main highlight of the course was – you guessed it – the scenery and the temple ruins seen along the way:

Including the opportunity to run through the Angkor Thom gate – just maginificent -

Also, there were sweet, lovely, Cambodian children along many parts of the course who were helping collect bottles that runners left behind (for pocket money) and who would stand by the side of the road with their arms outstretched, ready to give you a high five and wish you good luck. I may have high-fived almost one hundred tiny hands!

{The Mister posing with some of the kids who were cheering runners on.}

In all honesty these two factors (scenery and local support) made the kilometres breeze by for most of the run.

The main negative of the course was that there were various parts where you had to share the road with cars, minivans, motorcycles and touk-touks. Having to inhale the smoke they left behind was definitely not healthy, and it was quite a distraction trying to make sure that you didn’t get run over!

As I mentioned, this was my first ever half-marathon. I was really nervous about this run. The farthest I have ever run in 17kms, which is 4.1kms short of your typical half-marathon. Surprisingly though I was feeling okay for the majority of the run and basically ran the first half without stopping. However, once I hit 18km, it was like my whole body decided at the same time that it had had enough! My ankles hurt, my feet were numb and felt like they were going to fall off at the ankles, and my quads and calf muscles started cramping up (which has never happened to me on a run before). My breathing was great, my mind was ready to finish this thing, but my body was just about ready to give up.

So we shuffled for about 2kms. And as you would expect, the adrenaline kicked in with 500mtrs to go til the finish line and we were able to pick up our pace again. Crossing that finish line was AMAZING. We had done it. We were ready to collapse right there and then, but we had done it!

The pain afterwards is something else altogether! We could barely walk for a few hours. Thankfully we had the hindsight to schedule an hour-long massage back at the hotel after the race, then had a huge nap, then spent an hour or so walking around a few temples to try and get the blood flowing again. We also had a delicious Cambodian dinner and then slept for 10-hours straight!

We’re hoping to do another half-marathon in the first half of next year. This time we’re planning on training for at least 3 months and hope to get our fueling strategy before and during the run right. But this first half-marathon was a wonderful, memorable, surreal experience. I’ll never forget it.

Funds raised from the Angkor Wat International Half-Marathon go to supplying limbs to Cambodians who have been injured by the many land mines still in Cambodia, and those who have lost limbs in accidents, as well as supporting work to help prevent HIV/AIDS amongst the Cambodian people. You can donate directly to Hearts of Gold to support these efforts.