Running Diamond cub 2024

I ran the Running Diamond Cup, the 10km. It was held on the morning of July 7th, 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City, with over 2,500 runners. The thing I remember most about this one isn't the course though. It's the time I had to wake up.

The race started before dawn, earlier than any race I'd done. I had to get up while it was still pitch dark out, the kind of hour I'm normally fast asleep. Fumbling around getting ready in the middle of the night to go running sounds a little insane, and at the time I did ask myself what I was doing. But once I got there and saw a few thousand other people who'd just dragged themselves out of bed exactly like me, it felt less insane. A whole crowd of the same kind of crazy, all standing in one place at 4 in the morning.

Running while the sky goes from dark to light is a strange thing. I started out when the streets were still dim and the lights were still yellow, and then it got brighter with every kilometer. By the time I finished, the city was light enough to see people's faces. It was like me and that whole crowd had quietly lived through a full morning that most people sleep right through.

Uy Nguyễn (Mike)