Weblog for Andrew Biggs

Four more days and counting down

Posted in Daily Diary by Andrew Biggs on the November 19th, 2008

How is your life these days? Mine is fine. I have a new laptop PC for my work. It’s so tiny and weighs a quarter of my old, clunky one I’ve had for four years now. And I am working on a new TV show we hope to have ready for 2009.

But the truth is, I’m feeling a little nervous about the Bangkok Marathon which is coming up this Sunday. After a whole year of training, of ups and downs, of blisters and sore feet, I am finally doing what I promised I would do at the beginning of the year. I am running 42 km with my friend Annie, who works at the BBC here in Bangkok. We have been meeting very early Sunday mornings at Rama 9 Park and doing our long runs together. And now, finally, the big day is coming this Sunday.

I understand there are more than 40,000 people who are going to run this Sunday, but the vast majority are doing the 10 km. I am Runner number 3872 and one of the last ones to register … does that mean there are nearly 4,000 people running the full marathon? The race starts at 2 am … which means no sleep between Saturday and Sunday. I guess I will get in around 8 am, but I have to say I am doing it for the experience and my one goal is to FINISH. It has nothing to do with the time. I might have to walk. I might have to crawl. I may even have to roll … but I just gotta finish.

I have learnt so many things during this training. I have learnt how wonderful the human body is — normally we concentrate on our faults and stuff, but when you do long runs you gain a new respect for your body. I have learnt how to think positively, and to believe in myself, not to believe in negative thoughts.

Oh, and did I tell you? I have become a running bore, too. I used to only talk about learning English, but now all I can talk about are my feet, knees, hips and carbo-loading. Never mind. It’ll be all over by Sunday. The marathon, I mean. I hope to still be here Monday!

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LA, Thailand Open, … and running

Posted in Daily Diary by Andrew Biggs on the October 31st, 2008

Something strange has happened to my blog. I seem to be writing entries but they disappear. Of course, there is nothing strange about the blog — it’s ME who’s the strange one. I wonder when I will get used to this PC of mine???

In the past two months I have been the United States, I have emceed the Thailand Open, and now I am back in Bangkok preparing a few new TV shows for Channel 3. I am still training for the Bangkok Marathon. Last Sunday I ran 30 km non-stop. It took me four hours, but I did it. I have never run so far in all my life. How did I feel at the end of it? I thought I was going to collapse but I actually felt really good! It is amazing what we can do when we set our minds to something.

This weekend I am teaching and then I disappear upcountry to do another 30 km run. So if you live outside of Bangkok and see this strange man running on the side of the road — don’t run him over. Just smile and wave. I will try to wave back, if I am not too tired.

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Whose side am I on?

Posted in Daily Diary by Andrew Biggs on the September 5th, 2008

“Whose side are you on?” the taxi driver asked me last night.

It was 9.30 pm. I had just finished teaching and I was tired. As we drove down Sukhumvit Road, the taxi driver asked me the question. At first I didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Whose side are you on — the government’s or the PAD’s?” (The PAD is the People’s Alliance for Democracy or the ??�????????????????????????????????????)

“Why do I have to be on one side? Can I be in the middle?”

The taxi driver looked a little threatening. “Because if you don’t take a side, you are nothing.”

“I see,” I said, looking out the window, and wondering to myself: “Should I get out here, and find another taxi driver who won’t threaten me like this?”

“Well, I’m a farang,” I said. “I don’t get involved with Thai politics.”

“Yes you do,” he said. “I have seen you talking about Thai politics on TV. So who do you support — Samak or Sonthi?”

I was sick of this guy by this stage. “Listen to me,” I said nicely but firmly. “Why do you want Thailand split in two? Whatever happened to consensus, to talking things out, to finding solutions instead of dividing the country in two? Is that what you want with the country?”

“The PAD should be jailed,” he said. Ah, so now I knew (as if I didn’t know before) which side he was on.

“So? Whose side are you on?” Mr Belligerent Taxi Driver asked me again.

“I’m on the side of His Majesty the King,” I answered.

That, of course, confused him. But even better — it shut him up.

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Nakhon Sri Thammarat

Posted in Daily Diary by Andrew Biggs on the September 3rd, 2008

I just returned from a trip to Nakhon Sri Thammarat. Wow, it’s been about six years since I was there the last time. That was before the whole Jatukham Ramathep craze exploded across Thailand, and everybody was rushing to the city to buy or bless their amulets. Things have calmed down a little since then, and now Nakhon Sri Thammarat is the city it used to be, long and skinny, hugging the coastline of southern Thailand. As I told 600 students last Saturday, “This is a very skinny city and full of Dharma … which is kind of the opposite of me!”

I was in NST to give a speech for the Government Savings Bank. I had a very delicious dinner there at a restaurant … at the end of the dinner I accidentally dropped my mobile phone into the khlong behind our table! How stupid was I??? Somebody fished it out of the khlong and rushed it to a mobile phone technician but alas, the guy said it was broken forever. When I flew back last Saturday I bought myself a new mobile phone, which made me a little angry coz the other one I’d only had for six months.

On Sunday my old mobile phone was completely dry and guess what … it started working again!!! Now I have two mobile phones — and wonderful memories of Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Next time I go to dinner I’ll sit on the other side of the khlong …

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Only 22 km to go!

Posted in Daily Diary by Andrew Biggs on the July 8th, 2008

Earlier this year I said I was going to run a marathon in 2008. Do you remember? That was back in January. Well I started off with good intentions??… until I fell over early one morning and hurt myself. I was bruised all over, including my ego. I stopped running for two months.??????

Then, quietly, about six or seven weeks ago, I started running again. Slowly I built up my time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes??… to an hour.

Then last month I started really training hard. Four times a week I would run, and one of those runs would be very long. From 10 km, it became 12 km, then 15 km??… then …

Yesterday I ran 20 km. It took me more than two hours, but I ran 20 km non-stop.

It’s incredible for a lazy, out of shape person like myself??… but if I can run 20 km non-stop I guess I’m not really out of shape! I have been slowly building up the length of my runs so that I am nearly at half a marathon now. How do I feel? It’s amazing how much we humans have the ability to do if we only BELIEVE we can do it. I keep telling myself positive things when I run: “You can do it, keep going, you can do it, keep going!” even when I feel like I cannot go on anymore. I am halfway there. In another 6 weeks I will run the first marathon of my life, something I never thought I could ever do.

What about you? Have you ever done something you never thought you could do?

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Four more days and counting down

LA, Thailand Open, … and running

Whose side am I on?

Nakhon Sri Thammarat

Only 22 km to go!