Our three favorite activities; running, climbing and lying in bed eating pizza.
We ran a 54k trail ultra marathon!
A few fun tidbits about the race:
- It took us 12 hours and a bit, started at 6 am finished at 6 pm
- It got up to 38 degrees C (100 F)
- We passed a woman at one point on a steep sunny climb with an umbrella. She was almost like a mirage.
- Sometimes I was so hot I felt cold
- We climbed and painfully descended 2,855 meters of elevation
- Lakena was a beast on these hills and we chugged up behind her like little ants in a line.
- On the downhills I had to go at a snails pace (my knee was sore), with old ladies speeding past.
- The three of us ladies finished in the top 15 for women!
- Eating was hard
- Fresh pineapple pieces at aid stations, dipped in salt – these were sweet and fresh relief.
- Glorious surprise hydration station halfway up a hot hill had iced cold 100 plus – usually sickly sweet this went down like holy water.
- We got up at 2:30 am to eat sweet potatoes Louis prepped to get some carbs in. They were delicious but our bodies were confused.
- At the most soul crushing aid station where we thought we had 14km left but we actually had 18 km (the run was 54km not 50km) there was the most delicious hot sweet black tea.
- Cup noodles was a dangerous temptation at the stations – looked sooooo good but was like Russian roulette for your belly.
- Our oat, peanut butter and date bars were so hard to eat. Every time you took a little bite all of the water in your mouth would be sucked into the peanut butter.
- The views were stunning whenever we spared a moment to take them in.
- We crossed little streams on foot and big streams over swinging bridges.
- Little winding trails through dense jungle with intermittent tapped rubber trees.
- Small paths would open up to big hot roads and take us sharply back through farmers’ pineapple fields and backyards.
- The people were fantastic!
- We saw so many people struggling to take another step up hill, passed out in the shade, indulging in sweet aid station treats – so many human moments!
- Everyone was kind and all the locals were out for the day, selling a few cold drinks and enjoying the sweaty show.
- There were puppies too, don’t worry.
To train we got out of Phnom Penh to do some spectacular (and also dirty, hot and exhausting) 20k+ runs.
- lots of ferries
- post-run khmer iced coffees
- early mornings
- smiling kiddos
- looking ridiculous all geared up in the middle of nowhere
- aggressive dogs and packs of puppies
- running through funerals
- dehydration
- spending Saturday afternoons in bed napping
dusty roads around the city
so much exhaustion!
Gabi had a paper accepted into an AI and Climate Change workshop :O
Climbing trips in Kampot in Cambodia and Batu Caves in Malaysia.
The croissant and pain au chocolate in Kampot were the stuff of dreams.
we also snuck a run and swim in
In KL, the food was amazing.
& the rock was beautiful!
Big camping trip to Kirirom with a hill-filled 28k, many iced coffees, all of the beautiful stars. Our van broke down on the way back to the city. Many van pushes, volunteer passerby mechanics and gummy candies later we hitched a ride back to Phnom Penh on a karaoke party bus.
what gabi buys at a roadside stall without supervision
Kisa started a new job & got to go to Bangkok for work. Tasty food and a huge park to run in!
My colleagues bring in Cambodian fruit snacks to try most days (I am so lucky!). super duper unripe fruit like mango that they dip in a mystery salt/spicy combo – very sour and crunchy. Purplish milk fruits which get worms when the rain comes (but where are the worms now, they just appear???) and steamed sweet potatoes that are in a bowl like apples (word on the street is there are sweeter tiny potatoes out there)
We learned how to co-exist with our little kitten. She still occasionally bites us.
More time in Phnom Penh meant new friends, more tuktuk rides, beautiful dusty evenings, rooftop yoga and pool dips, sundays in french cafes.
We competed in a climbing competition in Phnom Penh
We also absolutely over did it. We both got sick three times and Kisa got a parasite… when we weren’t adventuring we were passing out at 8 o’clock and eating large pizzas on the cool floor of our room watching YouTube videos.
We got engaged!!! Gabi proposed on a dirty sidewalk outside of a delicious Mexican restaurant – and we were both subsequently rewarded with yummy Mexican food.
