The running scene in Thailand

Go North wrote:

SG_DadCoach wrote:The people and culture are much nicer than in Bangkok... food is cheap and really good. So much so that I was seriously considering retiring there, and spending part of the time helping to set up a support structure for runners who want to train seriously (both local thais and overseas). Those increasing months of bad air quality has put paid to those plans for the moment...

I would suggest Chiang Rai. Similar to what Chiang Mai was 30 years ago. Another option is Luang Prabang in Laos. Loei is also nice and parts of Phitsanuloke that are in the mountains. Everywhere will have some haze during the burning season.

In northern Thailand, downtown areas of larger cities have much better air quality than the rural outskirts do. Middle-class city people hardly burn anything, but farmers will burn all of their crop residues while poor rural people will burn things all the time for all sorts of reasons (repelling mosquitoes, cooking, trash disposal, local superstitions, anything you can think of). If you check live air quality maps online, you can see that other parts of northern Thailand are often actually worse off than Chiang Mai.

I know a few African runners training in the Loei / Phitsanulok area.

Southern Thailand probably has the best air quality year-round except when the Indonesian haze occasionally comes in during the summer.

Thai runs wrote:

Is Tony Ah Thit Payne part Karen or Burmese? Ah Thit is not a Thai name. A Thai name would look like Aditya or Aathit.

Yeah, he's a Thai not of Burmese descent. The transliteration is very different for this name. I would expect to see it written as Arthit in English but would have to see the original Thai to be sure and even then the spelling can be quite different.

As a side note, Thais don't give citizenship to Burmese that easily. Look at one of the boys that was rescued from the cave. The one boy that could speak some English. He is not Thai. He is actually from Burma but is of hill tribe extraction from the Shan state. The Thais should grant him Thai citizenship for his actions..........but they won't!

Thai runs wrote:

Flying Faster wrote:

Kieran Tuntivate, who represented Thailand at this years Asian Games, took 47th place in the NCAA D1 XC Championship that were held today near Madison, Wisconsin. His time over the 10,000m course was 30:06.1. I believe that he could easily break the Thai National records in the 3000m, 5000m, & 10000m events this Spring.

If so, he's going to give Sanchai Namkhet and Boonthung Srisung a run for their money.

Kieran Tuntivate destroyed Boonthung at the Asian Games 10000m run this past August in Jakarta. Kieran ran 30:29.04 to Boonthung's 32:24.72. Boonthung's best days are behind him. He'll be 38 this May and hasn't set a track PR in 11 years. He did run Houston in 2016 and set a PR of 2:24 there.

As for Sanchai Namkhet his bests are listed below. Kieran has surpassed all of those marks and this Spring he will go even lower.

3000m - 8:36.90 (Chonburi 2013)

5000m - 14:40.59 (Singapore 2015)

10,000m - 30:35.54 (Naypiydaw 2013)

3000m steeplechase - 9:25.66 (Vientiane 2012)

Here's a recent interview with Tony Payne.

https://runculture.org/2018/10/31/blog-38-an-interview-with-recent-thainational-record-holder-tony-payne-from-sundays-frankfurt-marathon/

Great, thanks for the tips, guys. I'll give it a go. It sounds like it'd be a really fun experience.

ming ding xiong wrote:

Great, thanks for the tips, guys. I'll give it a go. It sounds like it'd be a really fun experience.

The Bangkok Half Marathon on 16 December is a pretty good event. It will have a very early start. Have FUN!

Hi all, I ran the 10.5k at the Bangkok International Half today and I wanted to leave a post sharing my experiences. It was hot, about 26 C for the 4 am start, and we ran in the dark on a highway. The race was fun and well-organized. Descriptions of the mass running scene in this thread are accurate. Running has really taken off here since my last trip here. There were also a handful of Kenyans up front in the half running what looked to be about 65 minutes.

It was a cool experience to mix a race into a vacation. Thanks to everyone for your tips and advice.

Thx for checking in. Like other posters have noted, it's interesting to hear of running scenes from around the world. I did lots of road races in and around Bangkok in 2002, 03, & 04. Did Bangkok Marathon twice. Least 'exotic' race I've ever done. Started at 4am in the dark, headed out to a major freeway which was closed to traffic, and other than the finish, was a pretty dismal affair. Enjoyed the mini marathons more tho they tend to be grossly mismeasured (usually way short). Hot & humid year round for sure. Runners are a hardy lot tho and the traffic, heat, logistics...were simply small nuisances that you deal with.

Dec 29 begins my 53rd visit to the Land of Smiles. If anyone is there for the first time and is interested in a run or two, drop a reply here.

Happy to guide you around some running routes in the Sukhumvit area.

Do Ladyboys run?

Thai expert wrote:

Dec 29 begins my 53rd visit to the Land of Smiles. If anyone is there for the first time and is interested in a run or two, drop a reply here.

Happy to guide you around some running routes in the Sukhumvit area.

Sounds fun. I'll be out of town by then. Any routes you recommend besides the obvious parks?

I like also the Thai tobacco company grounds.

It’s at the very end of Soi 4 Nana. Also there you can connect with the elevated sidewalk to take you to Lumpini Park.