Personally, I really wouldn’t. Sports drinks Cambodia.

Just so you realise I am still paying attention to runners’ needs, you may find the following product to be most educational. It has the advantage of candour in its brand identity I suppose.

You can follow all my Cambodian Adventures here, if you are bored, and like to travel vocariously. If you have a life, you really don’t need to bother.  I’ll be home soon anyway.  It’s up to you 🙂

Cambodia Calling

A great many people do though.  I just couldn’t bring myself to drink a bottle of sweat however beautifully it was packaged.  Plenty of people do though.  I know this, because in the absence of my camera I have been compelled to Google ‘Pocari Sweat’ for this post, and discovered this distribution chart of this Japanese Sports Drink.  Seems they are sweating all over the world.

Pocari Sweat was launched here in Cambodia as recently as 1st December 2015 apparently.  Gosh.  Well, they must have had a humour-defying marketing campaign to get it so ubiquitously available as it appears to be.  Or maybe it is actually just delicious?  I don’t know, I’ve never tried it, and nor is it on my bucket list to do so.

Unintelligible to me, is that I alone amongst my fellow native English speaking volunteers here in Phnom Penh, seem to find this product…

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So over that…. got bigger dreams now.

No need to worry about me any more. I have embraced celebrity culture in Cambodia instead. Check me out hobnobbing with Phnom Penh’s answer to David Beckham! Fickle Moi? Possibly, but hey, we all need our coping strategies. It’ll still be a mega love-in if I get to follow in the footsteps of Jees or Pash once I’m back in the UK! 🙂 Oh, and you do know you can check out all my Cambodian Adventures on my other blog Cambodia Calling right?  If you want to eavesdrop on my TEFLing exploits feel free.

Cambodia Calling

Don’t get me wrong, I think Jessica Ennis and Paul Sinton-Hewitt (or Jees and Pash as I like to call them) are pretty awesome, it’s just that now I’ve got bigger fish to fry.  I’m over them. I have decided not to become embittered by ‘what might have been‘ but rather to celebrate the awesomeness that surrounds me here.  This morning dear reader, I have been dancing amongst the stars and I mean that LITERALLY people, not just metaphorically.  – Though the ‘stars’ are in the sense of ‘celebrities’ not ‘celestial bodies’ so try not to get confused.  Look, just keep up will you, it’s not all that complicated if you just show a bit of patience and concentrate, all will be clear!

This morning, I decided a trip out to the Olympic Stadium was in order.  Background is I’ve been feeling a bit grumpy knickers lately. …

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First world problems…

Sometimes life seems unfair. I shall try to get over it.

I feel personally slighted.

I have not felt homesick whilst in Cambodia.  Not really.  I do miss some things obviously: Friends (people, not the TV programme) / Radio 4 and Radio 4 extra /  BBC news/ parkrun/ Sheffield countryside….  Facebook has helped me keep in touch with friends more than in previous trips away, and although I don’t particularly like Phnom Penh because it is dirty, noisy and overwhelming  – it is also exciting, challenging and full of something new every single day.   Even on a ‘bad day’ (and let’s face it, you can have those in the UK too) it is worth any temporary lows for the overall experience.

Yesterday though, I had a full on, stomach lurching ‘I seriously can’t believe I missed that‘ moment.

Here’s why.

My local parkrun.

Jessica Ennis AND Paul Sinton-Hewitt at Sheffield Hallam parkrun and NOT me.  Gutted.

Look what I missed.  Icons.  Icons in action.

Kill me now.*  (only not really)

Oh, and if you want to know what I’m up to in Cambodia, you can always check it out here on Cambodia Calling.  You’re welcome.  🙂

Cambodia Calling

I feel personally slighted.

I have not felt homesick whilst in Cambodia.  Not really.  I do miss some things obviously: Friends (people, not the TV programme) / Radio 4 and Radio 4 extra /  BBC news/ parkrun/ Sheffield countryside….  Facebook has helped me keep in touch with friends more than in previous trips away, and although I don’t particularly like Phnom Penh because it is dirty, noisy and overwhelming  – it is also exciting, challenging and full of something new every single day.   Even on a ‘bad day’ (and let’s face it, you can have those in the UK too) it is worth any temporary lows for the overall experience.

Yesterday though, I had a full on, stomach lurching ‘I seriouslycan’t believe I missed that‘ moment.

Here’s why.

My local parkrun.

Jessica Ennis AND Paul Sinton-Hewitt at Sheffield Hallam parkrun and NOT me.  Gutted.

Look what I…

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Marathon Madness – New Year’s Eve reflections

I really hope this current wave of pessimism about my training options is temporary, and my next post will be a wave of cheery positivity. However, it is truthful and it states where I’m at. Down, but not yet out. Not looking on track for London, but not entirely out of the question just yet….

Cambodia Calling

I honestly don’t know if I’m being unnecessarily defeatist, spineless and self-pitying (can’t believe I’m saying that like it’s a bad thing, must learn to be less judgemental with my use of language), or just undertaking a pragmatic and practical reality check in relation to evaluating where I’m at with my marathon training efforts.  In any event, I’m definitely out of self-belief right now, which is a shame, as I understand that whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t you are most probably right…  Further more, apparently if you believe you can run a marathon you are half way there. Which if true would be fantastic news, as I’d only have to run a half and I’ve already done that, so that would be basically job done!

So, the situation is this.  Since I’ve been in Cambodia I have been completely unable to go out running on…

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Olympians in the making?

So, this is the attempt at cross training. It wasn’t really exercise, but it was quite an experience. This is the alternative reality of early morning exercise in Phnom Penh. Enjoy. Oh, and Happy Christmas if you are tuning in today. Hope you got your Christmas parkrun is as is now the new festive tradition for parkrunners everywhere. Ho ho ho, bah humbug etc. Lx

Cambodia Calling

Almost definitely I’d say.  I mean, we went to the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, so that must count for something right?

As my regular reader will know, following my massively competent running performance and networking operations at Phnom Penh Sports Club, I had been given a tip-off by a local woman that if you want a fitness excursion, then the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh is the place to be.  There was the little matter of getting there for 5.00 a.m., but hey ho, you have to try these things.  From what I could gather there would be a smorgasboard of activity classes you could choose from, so arrival time wasn’t absolutely critical, but best to be there well before 6.00 a.m..  In the event, three of us committed to going along this morning, agreeing to a 5.30 a.m. rendezvous at my street corner, near the shop with…

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Running by osmosis – a marathon not a sprint…

So, it’s been a while. I’m on an adventure in Cambodia, you can check out my blog for that if you wish, that’s where this post went up originally. I’m finally settled in Phnom Penh where I’m to be based for the next three months, and just starting to try and work out how on earth I’m going to get my running training in. The runes so far are not looking good, but I’m still up for giving it my best shot. If you, dear reader have pearls of wisdom to share, please cast my way. All help needed, and heeded where possible. I thank you. Lx

Cambodia Calling

I expect you’ve been wondering how my marathon training is going eh?  Well, essentially like this:

That is a post workout photo not a pre workout one by the way, though frankly the differences in the before and after shots are relatively slight.  Who knew training for a marathon could be this hard?  Initially I figured that it wouldn’t be enough of a challenge for me to train for a marathon in the UK, so it would be way better for me to come and live in Phnom Penh for a few months and have the extra challenge of doing lots of running around where it is really hot instead.  Turns out, training for a marathon, or even doing any running at all in Cambodia’s capital city is nigh on impossible  Or at least it seems to me to be so anyway.  The only upside of being super-stressed about how…

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On the run in Cambodia…

So, for those of you that don’t yet know, I’m heading off to Cambodia in a few weeks’ time, and will be there for almost four months – hence the massive complications about how to train for the London Marathon. Eek. I have however been researching options, and also keeping a low profile blog that will be all about what I get up to in Cambodia (feeling inadequate and confused mainly, much like life in Sheffield but with more humidity and fewer Smilies). The blog hasn’t really got a voice yet (sorry if that’s pretentious) but if you are interested it can be found at https://cambodiacallingsite.wordpress.com/ it will be more general than just running stuff so I appreciate may not appeal to my running buddies. However, I thought this post was worth sharing with other runners out there because it tells us that:

‘To run is to be totally free, to think & to build up your strengths, both mentally & physically,’ (yeah, well, you knew that) but it adds: ‘whilst making you more interesting and attractive to others!‘

If Running in Cambodia can do this for me, I am going to be laughing all the way round our great city of London come April 2017!

I’m reblogging this post from Cambodia Calling to Running Scared, partly just to see what happens with the technology.   I think there is a limit to what my loyal reader will tolerate blogging wise. I was going to pause my running blog whilst I was away, but now I’m not so sure.  My regular reader might be fretting about whether or not I’m keeping up with my training what with all the distractions of the big city lights in Phnom Penh.  Perhaps I should be cross fertilising with posts between the two?  Who knew that I’d need a venn diagram for the overlap between my ‘running’ exploits and my new life in Cambodia. Eek. Don’t get your hopes up, I’m only going for a few months….

Oh the plus side, as friends have told me previously, because I’ll be keeping a blog it will save you from actually having to talk to me at all over the coming weeks.  Always a boon I’m told.  I think the phrase used was ‘that’s brilliant, because if you write it all down, I won’t ever have to talk to you again to find out what you’ve been up to!’   Friends are great when they are candid aren’t they?  How we laughed.  One of us with more hollow hysteria than the other…

Cambodia Calling

To run is to be totally free, to think & to build up your strengths, both mentally & physically, whilst making you more interesting & attractive to others!!

Can you be an armchair runner?  I believe so, I’ve found an outfit to wear whilst I browse the internet looking for running options to help me train for the London Marathon whilst living and working in Phnom Penh.

What do you think?  It’s described as ‘adult bear sleeping bag‘:

Soooooooooo, what has my armchair research yielded?

Well, not all that promising to be fair.  There’s the Phnom Pen Hash House Harriers, but they are ‘drinkers with a running problem‘ and that’s not my thing, though I’ll probably go along once at least just to see.  They meet ‘every Sunday 2:00 PM at the Phnom Penh Railway station.  Truck departs from the railway station at…

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