This week I’m traveling to Thailand so I’ll have to figure out how to ensure that I get my runs in every day. I would never want traveling to be the reason that I missed a day of the streak. Although, yesterday’s was quite a challenge. Here’s how it went.
Sept 5, 2012
My flight was at 12:30pm which meant that I had to leave my place by 10:30 to ensure that I get there on time. I take public transportation which is about a 40 minute ride and then you never know how much security will be an issue.
So, I got up early and went for a quick joggling run around my neighborhood. It was raining a little if I remember correctly and I forgot my watch. Still, did 2 miles in just around 15 minutes. Felt pretty good.
I had a diet coke, a 100 Grand Bar, after the run then got my bags and left on my trip.
The plane took off at 1:50 pm (one hour delay) and we were off. I watched 4 movies and listened to about 10 podcasts while on the plane. The movies were all pretty good but I especially liked this one called Safety Not Guaranteed about a guy who creates a time machine.
After 13+ hours, we landed in Seoul Korea and I had to quickly hop on another plane that was leaving 30 minutes later. I made it and was in the air for another 5 hours. The local time was 6PM and I started to get worried about whether I would get to the hotel in time to joggle before midnight. Fortunately, there was a 2 hour time difference.
2 more movies later, we landed in Bangkok and the local time was 9:15 pm. But immigration took an hour and I didn’t leave the airport until 10:15 pm.
September 6, 2012
This was cutting it close.
Rather than chance public transportation (since I didn’t know where I was going) I hopped in a cab and got to the hotel. After checking in, the time was 11:15 pm. That gave me just enough time to go joggling.
It was drizzling outside and I had no idea where I was going. I randomly ran to one of the busiest streets I could find and started joggling along the sidewalk. The sidewalk was made of uneven bricks so joggling was hard. The heat and humidity made breathing tough but I was happy to be joggling.
Admittedly, I was pretty tired. I didn’t really sleep on the plane and was exhausted. But the joggling streak must live on and live on it did. I finished just over 2 miles in about 18 minutes.
When I got back to my hotel room, I answered a few emails, watched some foreign TV. It’s pretty tough to go right to sleep after you’ve been joggling.
But eventually I went to bed, streak still alive.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Bangkok joggling at its best! Try to get some video if you have time, that would be cool to see.
Yikes, safe unsafe guy! Does running… sorry, joggling on a treadmill count for the streak? Maybe you should do that instead of the late-night, foreign-town, must-run run.
Well, it would count although I’ve done this streak exclusively with outdoor runs so I try to avoid it. I did consider a treadmill but the hotel gym closes at 10 pm so that wasn’t an option.
Don’t worry Perry, joggling on those streets at night is no more dangerous than joggling on streets in America at night. Actually, most of SE Asia and Asia in general is much safer than America as far as crime is considered. Some Americans seem to have a hyperinflated and distorted sense of all foreign countries that are not the good ol’ USA, are just “so dangerous.”
I’m with you Joe. I never felt unsafe joggling at night in China or Thailand. I figure if anything bad happened to Americans it would be huge news and I just never hear of anything. I also live in Chicago which can be rather violent. Also, the fact that there aren’t many guns in SE Asia is comforting. Someone would have to beat you up and being a foot taller than almost everyone there would discourage that kind of attack.
Yes, you’re right Perry. I felt the same way in those countries when visiting. They have much lower violent crimes over there, and I knew that from reading about them. They do have pick pocketing and other scams, but violence is not nearly as common as it is in the USA. If you’re a male and confident and big, and you are not flaunting a lot of money or expensive items on you, then you’ll be fine. It drives me crazy when people are uneducated about other countries and tend to generalize them as all dangerous. East Asian countries, especially, are not known for high rates of violent crime. The people there are much different, collectivistic cultural values play a role in their low rates I am sure, along with other factors as well.
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