Running and Kayaking

I’ve been keeping up with my training for the Catalina Marathon next month but it has been a challenge finding a place for long runs. The first time, I tried running along the river, thinking there might be some kind of a path, but found myself largely avoiding traffic and choking on exhaust. After the run I felt like I had smoke a pack of cigarettes which seemed to kind of defeat the purpose of running in the first place. For the next couple of runs, I headed up to the sprawling grounds of Chiang Mai University. This was much better and had the added benefit of putting me right over the wall from the zoo during the morning feeding rounds. There is something kind of viscerally gripping about being all alone at dawn and hearing a tiger roaring just on the other side of a line of trees. Then, breakthrough, the kids and I headed up to the Huey Tueng Tao Reservoir North of town. The lake was nice and looked like it would be great place to run. The lake was ringed with little resorts. We lunched at one on a little bamboo platform over the water, fished for some fickle fish and played a few hands of Uno. We decided to start keeping score which makes the Uno a little more interesting. Maya "the Master" is, of course, way out in front. Zak has "a system" so he is, of course, losing. At one end of the lake was large gold Buddha statue standing palms out. From where we sat, we could just see his head poking through over the trees. For my last couple of long runs I took the motorcycle up to the Reservoir which, in addition to the road around the lake, has a great running path leading to and from the reservoir. When Mary arrived we went for a run around the reservoir and picked up the company of a little black and white dog with one of those funnel collars that kept it from chewing on stitches or whatever. He started running with a litter mate but the funnel kept him from noticing that his brother had turned back and he ended up following us half-way around the lake until he was spanked by some other dogs after straying onto their turf.

I’m always big on new experiences but reluctant to go with the established tours/tourist type of outing. So, rather than sign up for the Ping River Cruise, we headed down to a kayak rental place on the River behind the Fa Ham Wat. We were able to rent two kayaks for 240 baht (about $7). We paddled upstream to ensure an easier trip back but the river was fairly slow and shallow. We passed larger and larger houses and met a couple of river tour boats but this time of year the river did not seem to be navigable to much larger vessels. Maya did great and Zak has become a very strong paddler. We put out on the floating docks and I was pulling the kayaks out of the river when I heard a large splash behind me and turned to see Maya coming up out of the café-au-lait water, between the two floating docks, her two plastic shoes floating by her side. She quickly scrambled out, no harm done.

After kayaking, we hit the Hopf Coffee House for a little homework. It’s nice for us because Zachary can rent computer time to get his reports typed up, they’ve got wifi for me that I can use while I help Maya with her homework. The only problem is that it is a little too nice. The only locals here are working behind the counter. Oh well, we can afford a little indulgence for the sake of homework.