Last week I took part in the International Angkor Wat half-marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Truth be told, I actually did a 10k run. I had signed up for the half, but 6 weeks ago I was finding the training incredibly tough. My 15k run was just miserable. I also managed to strain my calf which meant I was off running for at least 5 weeks. So with all that in mind I downgraded myself to the 10k.

I went over with my wonderful sister-in-law, Ollie, who did do the half-marathon. Very impressive, since she just did the Trailwalker 2 weeks previously!

It is the most beautiful run I have done – it starts in front of Angkor Wat itself and goes through the ancient city of Angkor Thom, past the Bayon temple, famous for the ‘towers of faces’. The course is mostly shaded (a blessing as it heats up fast) and is flat all the way. Really, the nicest running course you could hope for.

You can see all this in this video, which gives you some idea of my experience:

My calf strain injury managed to heal by the day before the race which was a huge relief and it was a fairly comfortable run.

For all that I almost didn’t manage to complete the course within the cut-off time of 1 hour 30 mins. I crossed the line at 1 hour 28 mins!! Something to do with the stoppage in training in the lead up, my knee getting sore (I stupidly stopped my strength training as well as my running – not something I will do again) but mostly because I spent quite a lot of time taking photos and videos of the temples free of tour groups in the pretty morning light.

I highly recommend this international run. It’s pretty and it’s an easy course – a great package!

My next challenge aside from a return to the Beat the Banana with T. will be to actually manage a half-marathon. I’m thinking the Great Wall run. It will be a big jump. Double the distance and a much, much tougher course. But, I like a challenge!!!