If You Want to Feel Good About Life,

just stand at the end of the finish line of any half marathon/marathon. It's probably one of the few moments you will see someone giving all of their physical being to completing something, mostly, for themselves. I was at the 16th Annual Siem Reap International Half Marathon this weekend, and I saw much of that after I had finished the 10K. It wouldn't matter what language they speak, what country they come from (about 50 different ones represented), how much money they make, or what they had done with their lives before that moment, you felt proud of all their efforts in that final stretch having finished running 21 kilometers.

This was the first race I had ever been a part of. I had cheered on my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers at last year's race as I had competed in the 30k bike race. It was such an amazing feeling coming into that last stretch. Just as I felt like I wanted to give up and walk the rest of the way, hundreds of people in the last 200 meters wouldn't let me do so. I got this euphoric rush. I ran 10k, having only stopped once to power walk for about 10 seconds after 7.5k, in 1:02:28. This time isn't anything to brag about, as I was just hoping I wouldn't run past my playlist of 1:30:00. So, I think I did alright.

Kudos to all of my fellow PCVs who ran and biked this weekend. I'm impressed by you.

Talk to you soon,

Garrett