.....and yesterday we spent the day visiting the temples here including a horse and buggy ride along the race trail.
The day ended with a visit to the only temple in the complex that you can climb on and we joined a really big crowd--climbing to the top--and watched the sunset.
But today was race day. The complex once had over 5,000 temples during the ancient kingdoms dating back to the 9th century. Over those centuries, wars were fought with China, Thailand and Indian kingdoms and the remaining temples display several different influences.
Today about 2,200 temples remain and form a very small but heavily populated architectural complex that is a World Heritage Site. And we ran through many of them. The race start and finish were at this giant temple:
The race was much tougher than any of us had imagined. We expected the heat and humidity but the course conditions were very tough to run in. Even Devin said he struggled with it. I was doing really well until Mile 10 then I started having lower back pains. The last mile, my back was twisted to the right side where I was almost staggering into oncoming traffic. Alida did the last mile with me and it was the most miserable mile I've ever done but we finished! She insisted I go to the first aid tent because she suspected dehydration (it wasn't) and they ended up doing acupuncture on my back and seemed to fix the problem almost immediately.
Here are just some of the photos I shot during the race:
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