musings&mem'ries: Kailee and the Columbia Trail Masters Run

Ever since trail running came to Thailand my daughter and I decided that the street marathon had lost its luster. Running on concrete in the midst of a highway and sucking in polluted air into our lungs wasn't our description of a "fun run."

We already did the NorthFace 100 in 2012 and 2013, which were both trail runs done out in the countryside and we decided that the Columbia Trail Masters Run at Khao Mai Kaew in the province of Chon Buri would be our next challenge. Hotel accommodations were booked 5 months earlier and registration for the run was done as well.

One thing that we discovered was that there was a 3.5K category which was dubbed the "family run" and we decided that this would be a great chance to introduce my 6-year old granddaughter - Kailee, to the sport.

The photos will tell the rest of the story.

Breakfast at the motorway rest area on the way to Kao Mai Kaew

The stage at the race venue

with her running partner. at this point we didnt have

the slightest idea what would transpire in the next few

hours that would totally change our game plan.

Making sure that tito JJ gets the right size

getting registered

in the depths of the sea or on mountain trails

these guys don't leave my side

The Philippine Trail Running team

Yeah, she's registered and eager to run.
just 6 days shy of her 6th birthday, which
falls on June 22.

after getting our race kits we check in at the Horseshoe

Point Resort, as they were expecting us...

... and to our delight we discover that it is also

a riding academy for equestrian sports.

that's the north side view

an indoor riding arena for riding events that I knew

were only found in European countries

There was this kid who was practicing in the outdoor track

a few hours after checking in Kailee started coughing

and breathing heavily. she actually was on ventolin

when we left Bangkok, but we noted that it was

getting worse. so we brought her to the Pattaya

Memorial Hospital to be nebulized.

after a quick checkup by a lady doctor she was

nebulized and we were charged 1,530 Baht.

from the hospital we head to the Central Festival mall

for lunch at 3:30 in the afternoon... she's famished.

she feels better and we take a rest while mama

went to get some stuff to take back to the hotel

That night we mount our bibs and check our other

gear for the run. at about 8:00 Kailee get's up

suddenly from bed and runs to the bathroom and vomits

the undigested food that she ate 4- 5 hours earlier.

I knew there and then that our game plan for the race

would take a drastic turn and that she would be unfit

to run. how do you explain that to a very eager and

motivated tyke? it also starts raining so hard for more

than 2 hours and i knew that tomorrow would be a
challenging day for us.

i chose not to tell her yet, but i prayed that

God would make things better. the following day dawned

and we head to the starting line to warm up.

baby Gray was there too

this runner gets on with the stretching exercises

without anyone telling her what to do.

that's it babe, you gotta stretch coz you'll be

strapped to lolo's back for the race. at this point

she has no idea what was in my mind about the run.

"hey Kailee, are you ready to run?"

at the starting line

she was the only girl in her age bracket and i bet in
her mind she was saying "i'm gonna beat all of you guys!"

at the blast of the starting horn she's out in

a flash and i had to haul her in little by little

to the point of raising her up on my back. she was
kicking like a spirited pony even while on her perch...
and that's when i find the time to tell her that she
has to do the race on my back because it would be
hard on her lungs.