A few travel tips I couldn't post in the Picasa Album:
Taxi Mafia?
There is a taxi mafia in Phuket. There is only one spot on the island you can get a metered taxi, the Airport. Even at the airport, you need to know exactly where to find the queue. Metered taxis are not even available to get back to the airport. There is no number to call to order one. I was asking our cabbie on the way from the airport about it and he gave me his personal card. When I later asked the front desk to arrange a pickup, our reputable chain hotel refused to do so and recommended we find one outside. If you need to get your way, and know you are getting hustled, a good way for them to accommodate you is to start getting angry in the hotel lobby in front of newly arriving guests trying to check in. My call was then swiftly put through without them feeding me anymore BS. That's how you beat the system to and from the airport.
How do you beat them on a daily basis? Motorbikes.
Motorbikes only cost $10 a day (and that was for a higher end 150cc version) plus a few dollars a day in petrol. For comparison, a ride in a tuk-tuk is a minimum of about $10 and that will only take you a few miles. Due to the low volume of tourists, the tuk-tuks could maneuver through traffic fairly quickly, but I imagine during the high season is it near impossible to get anywhere as a result of all the traffic.
Side note: I would recommend renting from the most reputable rental place you can find. We were lucky and the owner of a local cafe also owned the motorbike rental place next door. He was a Danish ex-pat with a Thai wife. Some of the less reputable places tend to be locally owned and will potentially scam you. The scam works where they will rent you something expensive like a motorbike or jet ski, then demand 1,000s of Bhat for repairs. Caveat emptor.
Ko Panyee
This is the floating village we stopped at on our speedboat tour of Phang Nga. I had seen this video a few months before we left but hadn't thought about it since. We stopped at a floating village for lunch. After wandering around I came across the field and thought, wow is this the same one? Sure enough...
The village includes a floating soccer field. Inspired by the 1986 FIFA World Cup, children built the pitch from old scraps of wood and fishing rafts. As of 2011, Panyee FC is one of the most successful youth soccer clubs in Southern Thailand. A 2011 brand campaign for TMB Bank includes a short film that tells the team's story. The film is based on interviews with the original team, and it stars local children rebuilding the field on location. (c/o wikipedia)
When tourists go to Thailand, one of the things they want to see is some authentic Muai Thai boxing. We tried to see Muai Thai in some of the famous places in Bangkok, but unfortunately there was a Bhuddist holiday and there were no fights during our stay. The largest beach city in Phuket is Patong. It has a decent sized boxing stadium and we bought ring side seats. There are flyers everywhere, there are trucks that parade around to promote the night's matches. They even have some fighters in the cab of the truck dressed in their outfits, complete with their gloves and and warmup robe.
We were sitting behind one of the judges on the side of the ring. He had a fight card with all of nine of the nights fights. Before he even got to his seat, there was blue line going through one fighter each fight. Just in case this was a setup, since it was blatently laying there exposed (why not turn it over?) or if it was just the guys predictions, I didn't bet on the first three fights. Once he got to his seat he was blocking our view of the paper but we had already written them down. After he got the first 3 right, I attemped to bet on the next one. The bookie wouldn't take my bet because he claimed that too many people were betting on the fighter that I chose. Huge red flag.
Other Red flags:
-Signifigantly more tourists than locals- the locals can enter for free (or dirt cheap).
-The bookies would only take bets on one of the fighters, they would say there was too much action on the one side etc, but then would only give you 1:1 odds on the other fighter. Bet 1000 Bhat ($33)
-We got there a little late and there were not many VIP seats left. VIP ringside seats were maybe $45 vs $35 to be in the stands, which were probably a better view anyway. When the usher saw my tickets he originally was going to sit us in the back, but then looked me up and down and I'm guessing profiled me a potential gambler with money. (Younger guy, dressed nice, might want to bet to impress his girl, etc.) He walks us up to the second row on the side, RIGHT next to where the one bookie was stationed.
-The bookie would come over and pretend to give you inside information on the fighters and say who he was betting on. The guy in front of me (talking to the bookie in the video) was receiving this 'advice.' He would tell me the one kid was a ladyboy or one of them was tired etc. Early in the night he actually gave good advice (knowing a dramatic comback was about to take place since the results were already determined).
-The bookie would actually yell out "BLUE, BLUE" and once the fighter kid (mid fight!) would look at him he would motion for the kid to lay off. From that point on the kid would pound away with body shots only, then take a few shots.
-Rounds were all of random lengths, and fights lasted a random amount of rounds before decisions were made.
-The referee would collect the fightcards from the judges. Our judge didn't even fill his out, and the ref didnt even look at them before raising someones arm.
-The one boxer was barely grazed by a head shot, fell to the mat and then spasmed a few times before pretending to be knocked out for a good minute. They made a big deal about getting the smelling salt out and waiving it around and the guy still didn't react. He finally 'woke up' and was helped out of the ring.
-In the 3rd round of the one fight, the bookie came over to the guy in front of me and told him he would give him 10 to 1 odds on the one fighter. The guy took the bet and the guy he bet on lost in a "shocking comback" about a minute later.
I do realize these local Muai Thai clubs need funding to cover their operation costs. I'm guessing they receive a good amount by hosting events like this and additional money from foreigners who live with them and train for a few months paying rent. I wasn't angry that they were scamming all of these people. It did provide some entertainment value if you could ignore the fact a lot of little things didn't add up (or you were just oblivious to it, which I couldn't comprehend how this was possible, but apparently a lot of the tourists were clueless). Overall I would just wish they were a little more slick about it. Kind of like going to watch the Globetrotters, you know what you are in for, but they at least put on a great show.
Or maybe my expectations were just too high, especially after the way they hyped it in the recording outside the stadium (from the video):
~snake charming music in background~
Ladies and Gentleman,
Welcome,
to Club Phuket Thai Boxing Muai Thai.
SUPER Real Fights,
the Greatest of the Year
BIG FIGHT,
BIG FIGHT,
BIG FIGHT.
uninteligable
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT.
Bangla Boxing Stadium,
Bangla Boxing Stadium.
Start 9pm,
Start 9pm.
See the Best of the Best,
See the champ of the (?)
Biggest fight of the Month
Thai Boxing Muai Thai
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT.
Bangla Boxing Stadium,
Bangla Boxing Stadium.
The new stadium of Club Phuket
Start 9pm.
Start 9pm.
~Repeat ad infinitum~
Final note:
The Thai people are a loving people. You would rarely if ever see any agression toward the tourists or one another. Considering the lack of order on the roads, this is pretty impressive. Despite their schemes to extract money from tourists, for the most part they are very helpful, friendly, and good-hearted .
I posted them photo-diary style so I apologize for the large number of pictures if you were just looking for a couple of highlights. They were also rushed so apologieson the grammar.
Also, my camera has GPS so a lot of the pics are geo-tagged. Feel free to check out the map to the right to see where they were shot.
Warning: This review isn't as rosy as I had hoped, but when a company brings in ~$1 million in gross revenue at the event, I have certain expectations.
If you haven't heard of "Tough Mudder" yet, you soon will. They started out with a handful of events in the Fall of 2010 and are now up to about a dozen in 2011. Come 2012, they will have about two dozen different events all over the country (and a few in CAN, UK, AUS, and Japan).
I say "events" rather than "races" because of their philosophy:
Since Tough Mudder is an event, not a race, we don’t post finish times on our site. We’re not into people obsessing over time. A) It detracts from some of the most important parts of the day, namely camaraderie. B) It’s lame. However, we do email them out to people who submit their times after event day.
The "Tough Mudder" brand is all about the hype and they are damn good at it. It has great appeal because it is a fun alternative to standard, long distance road races. This event is perfect for the average person looking for a date to circle on their calendar to use as motivation in their workouts. Tough Mudder has potential and nearly delivers on the hype. However, there are still a number of glaring issues that need to be addressed, especially if they want to attract the elite-type athletes in large numbers.
FACT – Marathon running is simply boring. And the only thing more boring than doing a marathon is watching a marathon.
This is true, but it is all relative.
myFACT - I spent over an hour of my run standing in lines.
Standing in line is not only boring, but also frustrating. There's nothing tough about standing in line for 30 minutes with hundreds of other annoyed racers.
Top 3 Tough Mudder Safety Concerns: (Please read these if you plan to compete in the event, they could help you avoid serious injury. Learn from others misfortune!)
Obstacle #15 "Mud Mile" - This consisted of a number of muddy pools you are expected to charge through. The pools are of various depths. Some drop off, get narrower, muddier, etc. One in particular was about 3 feet deep and had a huge boulder just under the water level. If this were at the bottom, to trip over this would have been fair game, but it was right at shin level. The guy in front of me charged in and cracked his shin open. Blood was everywhere and he had a large flap of skin hanging down. This does not even include the bruising he must have experienced. Needless to say, his day was done. It was disappointing to witness someone's run end in a way that could have been avoided. Lesson learned. I ran the rest of the race much more cautious. The only explanation for this is the Tough Mudder staff was too lazy to move the rock when they dug the hole or they somehow thought it was a good idea.
I coudn't find an exact picture of this, but imagine the girl below in speeding though this shallow water obstacle then having her shin/knee hit a huge rock (read: boulder) and fall to the ground grabbing her shin and screaming in pain. Not fun. In addition to hitting your shit, you could potentially to wreak havoc on ankles, knees, skulls, etc. when something that size is so close to the surface.
#17 "Funky Monkey" - Right after a long stretch of 4 miles of steep (line free!) trail running, I saw this obstacle. After noting how high the monkey bars were and just seeing someone's run come to an abrupt end, I figured if I got tired I would probably play it safe and jump in to the pool below. I was in almost the exact position as the guy in the foreground (below) when I decided it would be safer for me to just release evenly and fall, rather than risk slipping and landing awkwardly, thereby hurting myself. As you can see from the picture, your feet are at least 6 feet off the water and a few more at the peak height. I released as planned and landed in ONLY 2 feet of water! There wasn't even any mud to soften the fall. My first thought upon landing so abrupt and so hard was "uh-oh". My second thought was "I can't move my knee, I can't move my ankle, I wonder what I just broke/tore." After having crawling out of the "puddle," I furiously asked the guy how that small amount of water was expected that to break someones fall and why was there no warning. His only response was, "I know, I'm trying to fill it up." Needless to say, I was furious.
UPDATE 4/20/11: I went to have X-rays on my ankle at the Rothman Institute's Novacare Facility (where a number of Professional teams take their players). My doctor told me I was his third Tough Mudder injury of the morning! And the second from the monkey bars! Mind you this is 10 days after the race, and my appointment was at 11 in the morning. The other monkey bar injury that morning was a shattered foot. Apparently after I was injured on this, at least 2 more people broke their legs on Saturday on the same bars. This prompted Tough Mudder staff to cover over the shallow puddle they had to break runners falls bones, with a thick rubber mat instead for the Sunday runners. As you can imagine, injuries continued.
#21 "Hold Your Wood" - Rounding out the Top 3 Tough Mudder safety issues that really stuck with me was this obstacle. Basically, you grab a piece of wood or a log from a large pile. You carry your chosen piece of wood ~1/4 mile up a steep hill. At the peak of the hill is a turnaround, followed by a "slide" made of snow and ice. The only way to the bottom of the hill is to slide down the ice, with your log, to the bottom. The point was to hold on to your log on your way back down to the bottom, but this was not always the case. This obstacle is fairly late in the course so I'm not sure if people were tired, they had just carried a log up a double black diamond, or they were just lazy, but A LOT of people were losing a grip on their wood. Some of these pieces were 30-50 lbs. Others were well over 100 lbs due to the fact that groups of people were carrying one single trunk. Add to the mix that some of the pieces were round and you have a Glouchestershire Cheese Rolling type situation (except the log is chasing you, not the other way around). While standing in line, I saw numerous people hit by runaway wood and some people even taken away on stretchers.
UPDATE 4/20/11: I have confirmation that the top section of this event was shut down less then one hour after I witnessed the story described above. After even more stretchers were needed! Nothing "tough" here, just plain negligence by the Tough Mudder staff.
Note: Once 24 hours has been reached, all competitors will have four additional hours to equal the number of laps completed by the winner. Only by doing so will a competitor be considered a “finisher” of the event.
and
Of those that begin the event, only 10% are expected to finish.
The thing that I am curious about is the qualifying...
The top 5% of each event gain entry into World’s Toughest Mudder Series Finals at the end of 2011.
There are huge factors that come into play for determining a runners time. Those in the first heat have a huge advantage due to the fact they shouldn't have to sit in line as long, the course is not as torn up yet, and it is easier to fly up the single track trails when you don't have to wait to pass slower people from previous heats.
Also, given the lengths of the lines, a good number of people were cutting the lines or just skipping obstacles altogether. In a way I can't blame them, they didn't sign up for the lines and were pissed. They wanted something extreme and waiting 30 minutes for a balance beam didn't make much sense.
The Good News:(yes, there is actually a lot of good news)
Tough Mudder has an ego, and it is appealing. For example, when you pass the 5k mark, you see a huge banner in the middle of the woods explaining that this is where the Warrior Dash finishes.
WARNING: Tough Mudder is 3-4 times longer and MUCH TOUGHER than a typical mud run such as Warrior Dash. Only 78% of participants at Tri-State 2010 finished. Only those in strong physical condition should enter.
As for the 78% part, I saw very few people not finish, and others I asked noted the same. Just a few that were hurt, but we definitely didn't see one out of 5 or even one out of 20 people dropping out. Perhaps they get this number from the paid runners / finisher, not those who actually lined up at the start line / finishers.
The Headband. I like how they do not sell them and you have to earn it.
Good post race food (Clif Builder Bar, big VitaCoca, banana), live music, and of course a FREE BEER!
They give a good amount of money to a noble cause (Wounded Warrior Project). I do not know the percentages but I don't think it is a token gesture like some other races.
This event has a ton of potential. I realize they are trying to grow as fast as possible in this niche market, and I would too, but hopefully they can find a good balance between growth and improving the product.
UPDATE 4/20/11: According to their newsletter only 77% finished in Allentown... I stand by my story.
Tougher Races: (off the top of my head, feel free to add links in the comments)
GOALS Adventure Racing Association (Philadelphia Area) - http://www.g-o-a-l-s.com/ - Great intro to Adventure Racing
Bottom Line:
I think I would do it again. I had fun and those I went with enjoyed it as well. I am more aware of the dangers involved (see examples above) and will compete accordingly. UPDATE 4/20/11:Literally every day since I originally posted this, I have heard more horror stories regarding their incompetence. I would only do one of their events again if they can change their current reputation regarding course saftey.
I cannot see the Tough Mudder drawing serious athletes on the level triathlons do based on the well-known, ongoing safety problems. This is a "fun" race, and someone who is competing for a "serious" race wouldn't risk their season running it.
I have spoken to about 30 people in the last week who have run the Tough Mudder and have also done other Adventure Races or "extreme/mud races" and only three said they would do it again. Most didn't regret running it, but going forward would rather do another race instead for a variety of reasons similar to my issues.
Tough Mudder isn't the toughest. However, claiming to do is great for marketing and I don't blame them for doing so.
If you are signing up, I would recommend doing one of the first 2 heats on the first day. This will help to avoid lines at obstacles and you will be on the course before it is completely torn up. Or run in the "Elite Heat" mentioned on their site if it exists, I was not aware of it until afterward.
After running the Philadelphia Marathon last November, I decided to try to give qualifying for the Boston Marathon a shot this year. To qualify for Boston, a male in my age group needs to run a marathon in 3:10 (7:15/mile pace). I looked up fast courses in the Philadelphia area and this was seeming at the top of the list.
I thought the biggest drawback was that it was so early in the year, not leaving much time to train coming out of the cold winter. And of course I knew could be pretty cold. After reading the reviews on MarathonGuide.com, I found out over the first 12 years this race has been held the number one thing slowing down runners was the head wind THE ENTIRE RACE. According to the reviews I read, only in 2002 and 2006 had the wind not been a major factor.
We had to pick-up the bib by 5 pm on Saturday at the Wildwood Convention Center. Apparently there was an option to pay $6 and have it mailed. I would definitely recommend this option unless you need to purchase things at the Expo. The expo was small but they did have the race shirts for cheap. Surprisingly, considering I picked up my bib just before they closed up, was the number of bibs left unclaimed. They had a HUGE stack of people that were no shows for both races for some reason or another (probably the weather).
The temperature with wind chill was 23-26 degrees. We lucked out a bit because the winds were not the 10-15 mph NNE forecast, but only 6-8 mph. This still wore me down over time but wasn't completely soul crushing. So in the end, all of my stressing over the brutal winds was somewhat justified, but not the worst case scenario it could have been.
The course itself is fairly fast. It's a point-to-point race that begins in Cape May along the beach (near Congress Hall) and heads north through Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Avalon, then ending in Sea Isle City. You cross a number of small bridges, none more then 30ft or so. There are a few sections on bike paths and one the boardwalk which was a nice change of pace.
As for the actual run, I always try to just go as hard as I can while maintaining a sustainable heart rate (not breathing heavily). Apparently I wasn't breathing heavy for the first mile because I ran it in 6:11! That was fun while it lasted. One turn into the wind and we got a taste of what we were in for over the next few hours. It was so bad two guys sprinted to catch up to me just so they could use me to block the wind for a good half mile or more.
I passed the 10 mile finish line where a number of people were peeling off at 70 minutes. This was a good pace, a little faster then what I needed to and 2.5minutes ahead of BQ pace. As planned, I began to fade. Unfortunately, I faded a lot faster then I hoped and was off BQ pace by mile 17 (somehow I was on pace until mile 23 in Philly last year). Despite loading up on electrolyte drinks / salt / water for the past few days, my calves still cramped up (like I did last year) starting at Mile 25 and then again just after crossing the finish line. I might have to experiment with salt pills in the future.
I wouldn't recommend this race unless you really want a mentally challenging race. You need to be able to motivate yourself because the wind is pretty brutal, there are very few fans for support, there aren't many other runners near you and it's COLD!
Big thanks to Ray R. for acting as support crew / photographer / host. Having somewhere to get a hot shower after a bone chilling run like this was priceless.
Pros: scenic / flat / nice shirts w/big jersey shore course map on back / post race tent was nice to get out of the wind / the shore was a ghost town which makes it easy for people to follow you in a chase car and park along the course
Cons: head wind entire race almost guaranteed / spectators were sparse / no chip timing / long bathroom lines (try Congress Hall, thanks!)
Improvements: As many have suggested, reverse the course (starting SIC and ending in Cape May)
Overall I enjoyed the race. I didn't have a BQ time, or even a PR, but considering the lack of miles I have logged I can't complain. Finished with a 7:44 pace.
