Ayutthaya Marathon 2018

賽會：Ayutthaya Marathon
地点：Historical Park of Ayutthaya, Thailand
日期：2/12/2018
时间：4.00am
距离：42.195km 
成绩：4:55:14
战鞋：Nike Lunarglide

"Same same but different." 

I learned this phrase in Thailand, which means "similar but with significant differences". 

For me, each and every marathon is "same same but different" too. Same distance, but different experience, different joys and agonies. 

Ayutthaya is the ancient city located about 90km north of Bangkok. It's also easily accessible by train from Don Mueng Airport. Upon arriving at the airport, we just walked through a pedestrian to Don Mueng Railway Station, which is just outside the airport. It's a very small station the passengers have to cross the railway tracks to the opposite side of the platform. 

The fare is unbelievably cheap with only 20 Bath for 3rd class cabin. There is no aircond in the 3rd class cabins, and no designated seat as well. Any well since there were not many passengers, we had no difficulty getting our seats. It's my first train ride in Thailand, and a great experience for me.The opened windows, ceiling fans, huge luggage stacking on the overhead rack and even the smell bring back the nostalgic memories of riding KTM train some 40 years ago.

The journey took about 45 minutes to reach Ayutthaya. There are motorbike-renting shops outside the railway station. We rented a cute pink motorbike for 250 Bath for a day, which had to be returned by 7pm. 

Passengers crossing the railway track to the opposite site of platform.

3rd class cabin.

My "Little Pinky"

The main attractions of Ayutthaya are mainly located at the historical part, so as the starting venue of the marathon. 

The experience of a marathon starts with its bib collection. Even though the number of runners are small, they still using the electronic devices to scan the QR code on our registration slip. Then we had to present the print out which stated our bib number to another counter to collect our bib. In my opinion it's unnecessary process and it really caused the queue longer.

The start venue is in front of tourism centre of Ayutthaya. There are not many hotels in the historical area of Ayutthaya, hence we settled at a budget hotel called The Avail which is located 2km away. Since I had returned the rented pink motorbike, so on Sunday morning I had to walk alone to the starting venue. I hoped to grab a motorbike but no luck, as there's the streets were so quiet at that hour.

The marathon was flagged off at 4am sharp. Along the route we ran through the ruins of ancient temples and palace, local Muslim neighborhood, rivers, lake, parks and padi fields. Some stretch of the roads are very dark, hence a headlamp is advisable. The route is generally flat, except we have to conquer 6 bridges in total. 

At around 6.30am I reached around km-24 where there padi fields on our right. I was so fortunate to witness the huge red-orange sun climbing up slowly from the horizon. It shone on the mist above the padi fields and turned it to gold, as if covered by a layer of fluffy golden blanket. The sunrise was so beautiful I almost in tear watching this amazing beauty of nature.

However, the warm sunrise turned into scorching hot sun after 7.30am. The heat and humidity made the running became very challenging, and I found that my energy draining away from my body together with my sweat.

Anyway I still continued to run as enthusiastically as I could, or at least pretended so as there're many photographers at the final miles. 

I'm not a fast runner but I'm always a happy and grateful runner. And here I am, finishing my 31th marathon with a big smile in The Land of Thousand Smiles.