After last year it would have been sane for me to set India aside for a while, or forever. Like a relationship that flatly and early reveals itself as not good, and it's your responsibility to take the lesson. But I'm a fool-me-three-times kind of person. I think I always knew if I could, I would. I just enjoyed pretending I might not. A question I wanted to explore spoke louder than ptsd - could I race a 100k 3 weeks after a 50 miler? [Engaging sadism over ego]. Plus, I wanted to see if I could rewrite the whole thing - prove my experience & instincts wrong about India, give it more layers & less judgment.
What makes everything go from intelligent planning & self-preservation to a youthful let's-see, an aloof-whoopsie, are for me, the trace and potential of specific people. I care a little more about who I'm about to experience a piece of the world with, than, let's say, a smart move in "professional" running. I had to convince my coach & my partner that I should go, because they saw, intimately, what it did to me last year. I never fully convinced them.
Followed the US Championships, asked pointed are-yous and watched the list of nameables evolve. The for-sures were already beloved, and the unknowns were exciting. My own popcorn popping political hook on. And no matter the research, it always takes to the last minute to know for sure - quite thrilling for the run-goon. In the first week of September the '24 IAU 100k World Team was named: Allison Mercer, myself, Liz Eder-Northern, Neringa Kaulinaite, Nicole Monette, Polina Hodnette, Charlie Lawrence, Chikara Omine, Geoff Burns, Kris Brown, John Judge & Ryan Miller.
Tunnel Hill happens. I stay openminded, take a few days off, do a few test runs. Feel a piercing down center pubis, tight adductors. Think I'm breaking. Think I won't go. The pain subsides. I do a few workouts. With a peace from a place unawares, I didn't feel rushed, like I had to do something specific or get somewhere specific in order to feel like I could race the 100k. It was just a flat it-is-what-is force of reality. Subtle suggestions of cycling, researching Jonas Buud's double & playfully thinking that perhaps the 50-miler was just a last "long run" leading to.
In the fall KB & I planned an itin, wherein I just piggybacked his choices, which were good ones. We'd organized it so that the first part of the trip would be the fun part, as opposed to waiting after to have earned it. We'd spend 3ish days in Bangkok (where his brother lives) ahead of Bengaluru. Everything was contingent on each of our lives going a specific direction, thus I purchased contingency, which went against my parsimonious, rat-like purchasing behaviors. *Quite against giving airlines "extra" money, even if that "extra" is for basic needs, basic comfort & basic protection.
I crammed all my shit into one overstuffed backpack, of which I take great pride. *See: quite against needing to use any airline resources, even in the instance of being granted 2 free checked bags. This quip brought to you by a strong desire to be simple against a life of collecting/hoarding, and also a strong desire to be able to flee with ease.
Saturday, November 30 - To Seattle to meet KB for our early Int'l flight. Security check line was 2 hrs thick. Singapore Airlines. Sat on the tar for 2 hrs because they couldn't get the "media" online; when landing, 17 hrs later, the pilot goes, "So, when we told you the media was offline, it was actually also all of our safety features." Hot towels served on a silver platter with prongs. Because of the 2 hr delay, we were conscious early to having missed our connection in Singapore to Bangkok; was ultimately put on a later flight, while flying. KB made me play choose-a-movie-for-the-other-and-if-it's-on-the-menu-you-have-to-watch-it, which I didn't particularly enjoy, esp bc he gave me Cars 2. Gave him You've Got Mail. First Sing Air meal: salt-baked chicken (gelatinous, tinned-can like), fried rice, sharp cheddar, triple-chocolate cake. 2nd meal: pasta salad with turkey ham (what even is turkey ham? A product of binders?), roasted & smoked pork shoulder w/ apricot chipotle sauce, veg medley, soft cornmeal, tangy lemon torte pot, red wine. The meals felt like the last dregs of a space trip allotment. Slept in fits. 17 hours - the longest I'd ever flown at a shot.
Sunday, December 1 - At the Singapore airport KB got fresh-pressed orange juice from a vending, got to watch the fruit get massaged; a tour of the cactus garden. A top floor signature noodle Bee Hoon soup sit down. 1h50m flight on Thai Air > Bangkok. Though the flight was short & we were soup-full, we could not pass on the Thai Air meal, for the novelty, and because of the nice older gentleman steward's joyful lilting description of the meal. Arrived in Bangkok @ 11 pm. KB's bags arrived (1 filled with beer, 1 soldier down). His brother, Matt, who had run the Bangkok Marathon at 2 am that morning (of which Kipchoge competed in the 10k) & fresh off beers with friends, met us at the airport to courier us to his home. They use Grab in Bang; 45 min ride. His home is part of a complex of quartered dwellings inherited through family lines, the origin of which was given as a gift from the King to the original family member, and all of which cannot be sold out. His, a 2-story house whose front entrance was encircled by potted garden and long vine, a Centaur MaKina by the door. Cold tiles & long lacquered floors, the walls painted in perhaps purposeful patchy pastel, of blues, marigold & terracotta. Joists, a pull-down screen & projector, a balcony at each end whose floor baked in Bang-heat & would burn your feet as you hung your laundry to dry. Courteously given my own room, while the brothers slept together, a blow up at the foot of the bed & I envisioning their possible youth & raising. Fell asleep around 2 am on 12/2, after 2 days of traveling.
Monday, December 2 - Up by 7, KB & I on the same sched with a brief stint of sleep. Ground beans by Intelligentsia. Ran to the Suan Chitlada subdistrict/Chitralada Royal Villa, for its multi-block moat & pedestrian lane. The 4 sq km complex is comprised of the royal court, government offices, the Chitralada & Dusit Palaces, 13 royal residences, the Vimanmek Mansion (c. 1900) made of teak wood, and guarded by men with guns & Monitor lizards bobbing & doing handstands in the moat water.
Our first true Thai meal - a favorite of Matt's - at Ratchawat Big Su Beef Noodle on Thanon Nakhon Chaisi Rd. in Dusit. It was busy, but we were ushered to an open table at the back, low, metal, with small metal stools. Ordered beef noodle soup with braised beef, beef balls, sinewy tendon. To adorn: cups of dried spices, green chiles, white sugar. It was perfect.
A car to the Sleeping Buddha/Phraborom Maharatchawang area to see the Chao Phraya. From the river, short pulsing dead-end alleys, of timid cats uninterested in the coo & beckon, vendors, cast iron indents filled with batter from a kettle for khanom krok, skewered Moo Bing Kao Nieow. Battled the urge & action to photograph everything, to not make the subject feel like an object, like a thing I felt I could claim simply because it was new and of novelty to me. What do you do with that? Ask permission I presume. But, I feel like asking kills the magic in the candid.
KB really likes vending machines; found one serving Thai iced tea in an alley. Strangely, it took 15 minutes to curate (6/10). Wat Arun Ratchawaram loomed hazy at the end of dead ends. We meandered many such trying to locate the ferry across the motherly water to Wat Arun. Found it. A short ride at 25c/pp, the brown water choppy. To enter Wat Arun, women must be fully covered. Entrance = $6/pp.
WAT ARUN, or Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan, the "Temple of Dawn," is a Buddhist temple seated on Thonburi on the west bank. Named after the Hindu God Aruna, the charioteer of Surya (the sun god). Apparently, he was born prematurely and partially developed because his mother Vinata was jealous of another's 1000 long-bodied serpent sons who'd recently birthed, so she broke one of her eggs open early and out came a halved Aruna. Aruna cursed his mother because of such, and in so cursing, rose to the skies & was bestowed charioteer. Anyways, the temple has existed since at least the 17th c, the prang & temple buildings are decorated in shells of Mauritia Mauritania & bits of porcelain previously used as ballast by boats coming to Bang from China. The main prang is interpreted as a stupa-like pagoda encrusted with colored faience & is considered to have 3 symbolic levels: Traiphum, indicating all realms of existence, middle for Tavatimsa, the Tusita heaven where all desires are gratified, and the top denoting Devaphum & its 6 heavens within 7 realms of happiness. The main throb is topped by a 7-pronged trident (Trident of Shiva). Steep steps & circling. Women in tradt'l Thai-ware with paper umbrellas.
After, waiting for a ferry to the end of the river line to one of Matt's favorite riverside bars - Jack's; the Sky Bar's golden orb in view. Off the ferry in Bang Rak, graffiti of soaking body & cartoon stone, of peeling curtain.
Jack's was pure. A round of Singha 630mls & a bucket of ice, which Matt said is necessary for hydration. Ordered: stir fried chicken morning glory, Larb Moo (spicy pork mince with mint leaf), chicken wings. After several rounds of Singhas, tried a Leo (did not enjoy as much as the Singha; some call it swill). Lady-owner had a bird on her shoulder who would crow uniquely. The bathroom opened up to a grill of skewers, and the toilet was so close to the wall that I had to side-saddle (as most all toilets in Bangkok appeared to be organized). From Jack's, a bag of Singhas purchased & shared in a tuk tuk ride back to Matt's, where we sampled KB's packed IPA selection.
Later that evening - to a hidden bar on the river. To get to it was meandering, desolate, suspect flashlight conversations, a secret alley, through a random door. Live music feat. Incubus. More Singhas. A jovial walk home wherein we planned to have a car take us to Khao Kheow Zoo in Bang Phra about 70 miles away to see Moo Deng.
Tuesday, December 3 - Up every hour. Might have been jet lag, might have been the 13 Singhas, might have been the morning glory. KB & I did 3E, 20m T, 4x 1/1 around the moat. Enjoyed the side by side; same travel, same sched, same food, same being squeezed by the heat. The w/o itself felt bad. Could have been the mid-80 deg temps, the jet lag, the 13 Singhas, the morning glory. After, and left to our own while Matt worked, we walked to a cafe for Thai iced teas with foam heads, then to the Si Ratchawat Market, a traditional wet & one of the oldest. The market is in the belly of a concrete ground floor, decaying, with channels down the walkways for runoff tainted with blood. Bags of discarded fragrant fish parts at the corners. Baskets of beheaded fresh fish beside dried carcass', produce, bowls of exposed picklings, dried goods, fried Gai Tod, Moo Deng merch.
Extending down Nakhon Chaisi Rd, more vendors & narrow noodle shops. With post-taxing-run fatigue it was not easy to choose where to eat, led by a tainted compass towards populated, pictures, the look of the interior of pots. Eventually pointed at a picture, ate some beef & more morning glory. KB got a bushel of longans, a coconut, a dish of mango sticky rice to go. After a siesta, we went to Mikkeller right at opening, which felt like a hug you've been craving. At the back of this lush expanse of yard & string lights, a What's Pouring of Bean Geek, Liquid Confidence, Siamese Dream & Camoufleur.
A 30-tap pour list featuring:
- Mikkeller's Siamese Dream (hoppy lager 4.7% *tried, "smooth"
- Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper (Belgium strong dark ale 10.9%)
- Mikkeller's 'Blanche De' (wheat beer 5%)
- Creature Comforts' Pineapple & Lemon Tritonia (Gose; German style tart wheat ale w/ coriander, fruit & nature essence 4.5%)
- Mikkeller's Ich Bin Raspberry (Berliner weisse 3.7%) *tried, "dry, secondary fruit flavors"
- Lervig's Super Blanc (wheat beer 4.7%)
- Phantom Brewing's P is for Peacharine (DIPA 8%) *tried, "that's breakfast" & "dangerous"
- 8 Wired's Manu (lager 4.5%)
- Warpigs' Amandio (imperial stout 12%)
- Tool's Liquid Confidence (imperial stout with chile 12%)
- Hacklberg's Festbier (5.5%)
- Mikkeller's HvaSaa!? (Belgium strong dark ale 6.8%)
- Verdant Brewing's Under the Same Sky (DIPA 8.4%) *tried, enjoyed
- Warpigs' Cry for Help Rick (porter 7.4%)
- Phantom Brewing's Guess You Guy Are't Ready For That Yet (hazy IPA 6%)
- Mikkeller's Bean Geek (session porter 5.5%)
- Mikkeller's Hopped Up (Berliner Weisse 2.8%)
- Hacklberg's Jacobi Weissbier (Hefeweisen 5.5%)
- Strawberry Sunday (5%)
- Mikkeller's i'Burst (IPA 5.5%)
- Mikkeller's Beer Geek Fudgesicle Ba Rye Whiskey (Imperial Oatmeal Stout w/ cocoa (11.9%)
- Lervig's Super DIPA (8.5%) *tried, enjoyed
- A N/A John Doe
- Omnipollo's Fatamorgana (DIPA 8%)
- Grimm's Camoufleur (Saison 6.5%)
- Omnipollo's Kyrkan (Pilsner 5.2%
- Verdant x Fidens' 10 Years (DIPA 8%) *tried, "thykk"
- La Cattiva Bianco, Rosso & Vino Ancestral
After a first pour we toured the temp-controlled back shed's bottle shop ($35+). The room smelled like an old wood chest & dropped me into sense-memories. KB schooled me on the artist of Mikkeller - Keith Shore. His 2 main characters, soul mates & label mascots, "Henry & Sally." They let us buy a petite glass off them; bubble wrapped. Then, in a multi-DIPA rush, walked 30-40 minutes to meet Matt & his friends at Saengchai Phochana on Sukhumvit Rd - a famous Khao Tom shop over half a century old & a local's favorite for late night.
The ingredients are prepped & cooking is done in one of the shophouses on the street, while an adjacent indoor shophouse is used for dining. It's family-style Thai-Chinese comfort food and "the menu is extensive and not in the best shape - one of those menus you don't really want to put your full palm down onto," with verbiage & prices taped over & re-scrawled. The owner, standing beside countless celebrities, is shown in photographs from floor to ceiling on the shophouse walls.
Matt was there at the back of the shop at a low metal table with low metal stools (always at the back, always low, always metal), with his 2 sweet, intelligent friends: this guy with '00's side swept bangs that he'd flick with adjustments of his neck, a goulash of places lived, a possible Frenchman with the embassy in Thailand, in white collar, slacks & work backpack. His girlfriend, oval-faced, decisive, pretty & pretty-voiced. When we'd arrived, there were plates of half-eaten food about; ordered more, a full range:
- Tom Moo Kiem Chai: Signature Soup with minced pork, Chinese-style pickled mustard greens & preserves of salty plums that added a pungently sour & salty fruit taste.
- Pla Gao Tod Gratiem Prik Thai: Brown marbled group, deep fried & topped with garlic, black pepper & prik
- Fried soft crab w/ curry powder
- Duck's blood & breast
- Chinese chives w/ crispy pork
- many others I can't recall + Singhas
From Phochana to Woodball Karaoke Bar. Woodball is narrow & multi-storied. The main bar on the bottom floor, a bench seat beneath the window facing the bar with screens above it, lady-tenders, a steep spiral staircase that climbs 3 floors to the bathroom & private rooms. Little bowls of crunchy snacks. Ordered a martini, then Singhas. I was very softly buzzing, slightly uncomfortable & fully free. The song choices were of reverie, nostalgia & a nice range of octaves. Once, I said aloud, "I'm harmonizing," and KB shot back that that's probably not what I should call it.
Wednesday, December 4 - Up by 7 with stomach unease, a light headache. Took the day off running. A short walk down the street for breakfast curries which we ordered with point and nods - a spicy chicken & a green, with a sweet, dried sausage on the side. I was operating half-mast, dipping spoons of rice into the curry, which was sacrilegious to an observing local who encouraged the proper etiquette of ladling the curry onto the rice.
To a coffee cart that sold like 87 different concoctions. Got some lg. nescafes with condensed milk. All of these flavors: curries, sausage, coffee, condensed milk sitting on a trembling gut whose bedrock was likely duck blood.
Took a car to the airport for our late morning flight to Bengaluru, India. Had some time to kill at the Bangkok airport. Picked up some menthol snorters, an orange & espresso iced coffee, 2 palatial royal Thai milk teas from Pang Cha, with milk caviar & decadent foam & multi-sized gelatins. Slap that onto the aforementioned flavors in my stomach & you got one incredible carbo-load for the 100k.
Things I did not try & should next if there is one: tom yum goong, moo ping, khanom krok, fried quail eggs, pan fried squid eggs, thai fried insects, multi-course dinner cruise on an antique wooden rice barge, pak khlong talat, soi nana & teens of thailand.
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