Thailand Power of Ten Update -26 Oct
On the mend
Andy arrived back to where we were staying. The Hospital was crazy busy so he left Pete there to be seen. We discussed different options as we somehow have to get onto the road to begin the run. We have a solution. Today we will begin with a short 15km run out, just to get going. Make a marker and then get a lift back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will drive out and start on the same spot. This way with Pete sick, at least we can get going. If he is really bad, we will take the absolute basics plus some money and just keep going north until he can catch up with us later. It’s not going to be easy but its all we have available to us.
Andy went back to the hospital to see how Pete was doing – an hour later they arrived back with a bag of pills and none the wiser to what was wrong with Pete. We bundled him into his room with instructions. Sleep, sleep and more and don’t stick your head out, we will bring you what you need. Andy and I then moved our gear all into one room to save costs as we are on a shoestring budget and then headed down stairs to hit the road.
Welcome to the roads of Thailand
Heat, heat and more heat!
We hit the road.
It was such a relief just to be able to run, to forget all that was happening around us. It also gave me a bit of time to test out my leg and get rid of that mental demon that I have had to deal with after the past few weeks not being able to continue training with my calf strain.
It was a cautious walk run, walk run until I felt all was fine and then the escape… the floating away into one’s own dream world as you just run and run and run – a place that us ultra runners are the most comfortable in.
Then suddenly out of nowhere, here comes a scooter down the pavement on the wrong side of the road – crashing out of my mental slumber I am thrown into reality of life on the road. The weird thing is that the traffic is very orderly but things just happen out of nowhere; not every now and then, often.
It feels that suddenly someone just gets an urge to stop, reverse, turn, park all at once in the middle of everything and this then causes appendages of traffic to squirt out in every direction- and guess what, you might find yourself innocently in the middle of everything.
Other than that, the running is a pleasure. Calf in order 15 km done, we headed back to check on Pete.
On we go
I knocked on room 3207 not knowing what I was going find.
“Sneak” craned his neck out of the door- looking better, a little grey and spluttered as he talked.
“So how are you dude?” – I asked,
“Okay” was the reply, “but I didn’t sleep much with the coughing all night.” We decided to all go to breakfast have a chat and work out what to do next. Andy came up with a good idea, we would drive out to yesterday’s run marker, drive another 30 km then find a place to stay. Mark this and drive back to the hotel and get Pete sorted and he could then catch up. Great news was when Pete said, “Guys I am cool to drive with you to the spot, drop you and then I will drive on and find a spot to crash.” We all needed a bit of positive news. So it’s now a scramble, pack, get phone data, charge everything, water, food and let’s get this show on the road.