A Runner's Dig(r)essssst

Let me just start this off by admitting how frustrated and angry I am with this blog site. Everything I had written over the course of the last couple hours...LOST just like that! GRRR!!!
Okay, shake it off. So this one is gonna be short and sweet, unlike the last marathon and half marathon I ran.
So let me sum it up like this: Run, eat, sleep, Run, eat, sleep, enter 2nd Masters, write 20-page papers in boring APA Style each week, REPEAT. AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN!
So, Social Butterfly no more, my friends. This woman has ambitions and is not just quite sure what they are or where they will uncover themselves, but she has them and they are taking her places. But hopefully those places are not back to those which I have spent the last month running in...

Go Team Berkeley!

So with that, I start my rant about my running life. The good news: Bangkok Marathon is over and that is a clump of over 4 hrs. I will never see again, until two weeks later when I had deja vu running a half marathon in the EXACT SAME LOCATION! Friends, let me just reiterate that if you give me an iPod and some gum, I can run for you. It may not be fast like a Kenyan, but remember, in my dreams, I am a Kenyan. No, seriously. Don't sign yourself up for what I encountered. Had it not been for Josh and our wonderful friends Mike and Pam, who were visiting from GB that weekend, I would have said the F* bomb and left the course. You know how they say Thai prisons are bad? Well, imagine that, and then imagine a stretch of highway in the dark, no spectators, just marathon workers sleeping/passed out in the backs of their trucks alongside the medians. At any rate, at least Darrick, Brian and I got to don some funky PINK tees on Valentine's Day after the marathon to show off that we had more guts than anybody to do this thing they call a marathon. The only cool people were the Thai guys, giving me thumbs up because I was one of those only girls bearing the breezeless 85 degree heat at 3 a.m. on a 22+ Km stretch of spectator-less highway.

So I figure I need a break, a break from running (til I run a half the following weekend) and from my coursework. Yeah, I am crazy for running and even crazier for sucking it up to join a 2nd Masters Degree program in Ed. Leadership so I can become a principal someday when I put away my running shoes. There's no way I could handle both! Or maybe one becomes the lesser of the two evils. The jury is still out on that. So what's a girl to do, you ask?
HEAD TO PATTAYA FOR GIRLS' WEEKEND...DUH!

Do they really need a sign? If you don't know where you are, then you
are in sever need of help in Pattaya. Just ask one of the Russians. They'll help 'ya!

So here we go, 4 girls from Berkeley, my girly crew, off to Koh Larn, a beachy place off the coast of Pattaya, otherwise known as Little Russia. Seriously, I now know I don't ever have to go to Moscow. I can get my fill right on Walking Street and on the Koh Larn beaches.

They even knew Virgilalligator was coming for a quick visit!

All Smiles on the back of a motor bike in Koh Larn!

Sometimes all you need is a little beach fun with the girls, right? 

Don't forget to bring your smiles with you
to the beach!

Okay, regroup. Back at it. The following weekend I think I had a terrible episode of Déjà vu as I was smack right back on another empty highway, dark, no spectators. Freddy Krueger, you can make your appearance anytime! I ran the 1^st Annual International Thailand ½ Marathon. Little did I know it’d be just as boring and pointless as the last race, and another 2 hours I would not be getting back, EVA! This is becoming all too normal, I am afraid.

All major Super Heros represented, including Wonder Woman.

At least the Super Heroes were out in full force anyway. WONDER WOMAN HAS ARRIVED!

 

And I know that Darrick came just to get himself another medal. Eat your heart out Brian. We got MEDALS, Nah, nah, na-nah, NAH! In all reality, you didn’t miss much, my friend.

And for Josh, well, he did the responsible thing by taking pictures to pass the time instead of hurrying over to a local 7-Eleven to pick up a beer.

Rama VIII Bridge: Start and Finish of 1st Annual Thailand International
1/2 Marathon Bangkok

And we continue on a positive note and give credit to some great news published in The Big Chilli, a popular expat magazine. And you thought all I did was sip mai tais on a beach in between races. You might be partly correct. But seriously, in my other time, I do teach IT at an international school, and we have really done some amazing work, collaborating with students in classrooms throughout the United States through our ePals initiative. You should check out the nice write up. Go to the Big Chilli’s school report area on their site, and on the right, click where it says, “Read Our eMag” and ‘flip’ over to pp. 32-33 to see the spread.

See, I work hard for the Baht!

Check out Kaila's site for women traveling in SE Asia!

After hard work, one must indulge in some more fun, so I was delighted to take part in celebrating a friend’s launch of her new web site, The Blonde Traveler. The event was hosted at Viva Aviv on the beautiful Chao Praya River. I did NOT follow suit in costume as a blonde, but I promise next time I will! There was even an appearance by the Thai Elvis, and I learned I can still LIMBO!

Good times at The Blonde Traveler launch party

See, I am not all that old. I can still arch, even in heels! 

So that just aboutwraps up the last couple months. I think I may have just created more work for myself, but…here’s a little glimpse at what’s to come!

More projects on the horizon!