After having lived here for a combined 7 years, I have finally managed my first run in the actual city, normally I always run in an phu, so it was a nice change. The chance came to me because of a colleague of my GF who is staying in town at the moment and suggested a Saturday morning run leaving from his hotel, the new world. Finding a parking spot for my bike near the new world was actually the hardest part, as for some reason, some parking attendants here are very protective over their spots and which buildings you are allowed to go into, I mean I am paying for the spot, who cares if I actually go into the building or not? Someone please explain that to me.
After the parking mini fiasco, we met up at the lobby and set off on the route, I was wearing my ultimate direction AK running vest, which meant I could securely put keys, money, phone, water in there without having to worry about loosing anything, thats probably the biggest issue with running somewhere where I have to ride first, what to do with all my stuff. Other than the pack I also opted for a Hat (bad choice in headgear though, more on that later), Melbourne marathon running shirt (represent), adidas running shorts and Energy Boost adidas running shoes (more on those later as well).
The route took us parallel to Pham Ngu Lao street, on Le Lai, which was pretty quite at 8am on a Saturday ;) and through the middle of a roundabout at the end of the Bus Depot, this is probably the biggest difference between running in the city and an phu, there is way more traffic (duh) which means your eyes are constantly scanning 360, looking for the next danger, which isn't as scary as it sounds and is actually quite fun because it means your run wont be monotone at all. You also occasionally get a nice "Hello" from someone on a bike which is nice.
Continued onto Nguyen Trai street, which saw us passing quite a few markets and actually had some sidewalks which were runnable, definitely a plus. Protip, always run against the traffic if you are running on the road, much easier to see what is coming at you. We followed Nguyen Trai street until it turned off to Tran Phu and then made the cut onto Vo Van Kiet and turned "back" city bound. Vo Van Kiet has the making of a perfect running spot in Saigon, picture this, trees and river bank on one hand, city skyline on the other. Sounds wonderful right? Straight out of the New York marathon promotional youtube video. At this point you remember that you are actually not in a youtube video and someone had neglected to put a walking track or sidewalk next to a 4+2 Lane road (the 2 being motorbike lanes) so you are running in the motorbike lane, which is actually not as bad as it sounds, its wide for a motorbike lane so we did not have any close encounters at all. It is really cool when you start seeing some of the taller buildings in town, such as the Bitexco tower and get a sense of, I am getting closer to the finish, I really liked that aspect of it.
We followed Vo Van Kiet until Cau Ong Lanh, at which we cut back onto tran Hung Dao, finished with a loop in the Park and were back at the New World after 9km, the great thing about the "loop" is that it is almost infinitely customizable to match your needs, only want to run 3K, no problem, want to adapt it to match your Sunday Marathon training long run of 32 Ks, no problem either, just continue on Nguyen Trai and cut back way later, and once you are on Vo Van Kiet, you essentially cannot get lost.
A word on the weather before I talk about my gear, setting off at 8 am, and having run in Vietnam for a bit, I thought we were fine, however it was seriously hot and humid on Saturday. While my legs and body didn't really have a problem, my heart was definitely pumping in over drive and my head was boiling to the extend that it gave me headaches. Keep that in mind and don't be too obsessed on your pace and overall time, enjoy the run for what it is and give your heart enough walking breaks in between to catch up. Perhaps running earlier would have also helped, although a 6.45am wake up on Saturday was probably pushing the comfort levels.
Now let's have a look at the gear I took, shirt and shorts, excellent, no complaints at all, no chaffing and also light enough to not become annoying after being soaked in sweat. The aforementioned hat, this was quite a thick baseball cap, in black, big mistake, whatever good it did in keeping my hair out of my face and "protecting me from the sun" it failed at providing much shade and the color and thickness made it very very hot underneath. I will be looking for a different hat for my future runs, either a visor or a trucker hat (not in black). The Energy Boost shoes, I have had them for a while but actually have never gone longer than 5k in them, were very good. Nothing hurt after the run, my feet were actually relatively dry and cool, thanks to the techfit upper. Personally I would still prefer a slightly thinner sheet of Boost but it does what it promises, so plus points there. The Pack I spoke about in some detail above, can't say anything bad about it, it provides ample space to keep everything, plus 2 Water bottles without stuff sloshing around or being distracting/uncomfortable on the run.
Some details on the run below, it was quite a slow one compared to my normal pace, however the weather and conditions didn't allow me to run much quicker on the day:
Distance: 9.08KM
Time: 56:31
Pace: 6:13/KM
Calories: 798
Do you have any different routes in the city? I have thought about running in the zoo, not sure if that has been tried? What do you usually take on your longer runs? Feel free to let me know if you want to meet up for a run sometimes.
