4th marathon, 6th race since I left 7 months ago! I don’t like to count but it helps me to not forget what I have already accomplished. In fact, you can easily go forward and don’t realize what you have done.
It was 4:00 am on August 8th, I was at the starting line. It was raining, my camel bag was licking and my Go Pro didn’t work. Great! I tought you can anticipate what is going to happen and be more confident on yourself after several races. You bet! Anything can happen! Anyway, the races started few minutes later, I would had to deal with it.
It was dark, all 400 runners started to run. Most of people were from China as all instructions had been given in English then in Chinese at the starting line. It was for the first time for me to running at night but there were lights on the way and runners flow was easy to follow. It was quite.
After 5k, I realized that a special runner was in front of me. It was an unusual runner. Why ? He didn’t have a running tee-shirt, instead he had one from a bar from Laos! Unbelievable! No running short also. I reached him and talked to him in English, as I didn’t know where he came from. In one second, he realized that I was French. Our specific accent is so unique that you can tell we are from France directly. Sylvain had just registered, one day before, to this marathon and his girlfriend to the half. As we ran at the same pace, we stayed together, we chatted, and watched all temples around us. Beautiful!
One of the best moment of my race was at 20K when I crossed children in line. They were waiting for runners to cheer us up and clap their hands. I easily got into it and I clapped all children hands, 50 children. What a great energy to keep on running. Even I didn’t have my GoPro, I tried to capture this moment thanks to my phone. Better than nothing!
26k, I felt like Sylvain and I had different pace, he would continue alone but we would meet at the end. From 26 to 31k, route was crossing the one from 21 to 26k, so I met again all children who cheered me up before. After that, it was really hard mentally. I slowed down, stopped at all water stops to drink because my camel bag was not only licking but had a really bad taste. Any small problem become a big one when you run that much kilometers…
At 31k, I was getting better thanks to the sweets I carried with me. I found inside me the strength to end this race. Usually, at this moment, you start to be desperate. Not me! Strange! Even I wanted to end in less than 4 hours and 30 minutes and I felt I couldn’t do it, I didn’t quit. My aim was not stop until the end!
Inside me, I really hoped I met some supporters. Why and how ? I had met, when I arrived in Cambodia, two French girls, Margot and Caroline, who decided to visit Angkor temples the same date as my race. At 35k, they were there with their bike! What a relief, they would follow me until the end. Prefects coachs also because when we were crossing water stops, they gave me all drinks. 7k to go, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1k! I could now see Angkor Wat, a temple built 1000 years ago and I was facing it. Crazy, right?
One last sprint against a Japanese guy to cross the finish line. Done! I was a little bit sad of my time : 4hours and 45 minutes. I was still 43rd out of 150 women, not so bad. I can now look what I have done for La Fondation Motrice and I am really proud of it. If you want to support this charity, visit http://www.alvarum.com/worldwildrunneuze
If you want to participate to this race, it takes place in August. You can also go for the 10k, 21k. Go on Angkor Empire Marathon
website or send me an e-mail to worldwildrunneuze@gmail.com, if you want to have more information.
