Imagine covering a distance of 112.5 kilometres on foot. Imagine running for 19 hours along hilly, winding roads and all through the night with only a small headlamp to light the way. Imagine the fatigue, the fear and the crippling pain.
Pakanee Burutphakdee, 29, never imagined she’d be able to run so far for so long, but she did. In June last year she became the first and only woman to date to have finished the Ocean-to-Ocean (O-to-O) run from Ranong to Chumphon.
The long-distance event, held this year for the third time, starts on Thailand’s Indian Ocean coastline and finishes up on the other side of the Malay Peninsula in a province which overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
The O-to-O is intended to be a relay race for eight-member teams, but Pakanee ran the whole distance herself with only one running companion.
“The first time I heard about a 100 kilometre run, I was shocked that such a thing even existed,” she said. “I thought that anybody who chooses to do something like that must be crazy.”
Before she began running two years ago, Pakanee was one of those young women who didn’t want to exercise outdoors.
“The maximum distance I would run in those days was two or three kilometres,” she recalled.
In 2012, however, she was persuaded to take part in a 10 kilometre running event. It was that experience that got her hooked.
“It was torture,” Pakanee said. “I was so tired and I felt terrible, but as soon as I saw the finish line, all the misery disappeared.”
That sense of accomplishment made her go on. She ran in a half-marathon in late 2012. The next year, she felt ready to try a full marathon. Over the two months that followed, she finished two more marathons, improving her time by nine minutes for the third event.
People tried to talk Pakanee out of entering the 112.5 kilometre Ocean-to-Ocean run, but they made her more determined to try. She later said it was the toughest running experience she has ever had.
Because they were not part of a relay team, Pakanee and her running partner were allowed to start on June 14, earlier than the other competitors. They were allowed to pause for a few minutes every 5 kilometres to have a snack or make a toilet stop.
“I was very scared when it started to get dark,” Pakanee said.
They had to be aware of approaching traffic all the time. The scariest part of that night-time run, however, was ferocious dogs.
“I had to carry a stick all the way,” she said. “We were very scared of the dogs.”
Pakanee started to feel pain in her legs after covering 30 kilometres. At 50 kilometres, her ankles were badly swollen. An analgesic spray and painkillers kept her running until she reached 100 kilometres.
“At that point, I felt so much pain that I was nearly crying,” she said. “The sun was rising and the sky was beginning to get brighter, and I could see the road stretching ahead of me once again.”
The last leg of the event turned out to be the most tortuous 10 kilometres she’d ever run in her life.
“My swollen ankles hurt and after the 105th kilometre I could no longer run, so I had to walk.”
It took Pakanee three hours to cover that last 11 kilometres.
“As soon as I saw the finish-line, I started running towards it,” she said. “I could no longer feel my ankles at that point!”