Last night 70k champ Jeff Campbell was the special guest at the Blue Dragon Running Club post-VJM party. He attended along with Race Director, David Lloyd, and Quang Nguyen, who helps coach the kids.
After Jeff gave a short talk on his ultra running and road marathon journey, some of the kids had questions for him.
He was asked why he runs. “When I run, I don’t think about anything else,” he said. “Any stresses and worries from life disappear when I am running. Also I like how it makes me feel – how it makes my body feel and how I feel about myself.”
Jeff emphasised he spent time building up to his longer distance victories, first running shorter distances. He also explained how each time he stepped up the distance, his performance level at races dropped before he got more competitive again.
Some of the kids then shared what VJM and running means to them, with some echoing Jeff’s sentiment that running makes them feel happy and better about themselves. Many who ran 10k aim to step up to longer distances in future, and one of the 25k runners is targeting 42k at Vietnam Trail Marathon.
One runner shared that they felt very at home on the trails: “Before the race I did not think I was ready or trained enough, but somehow once I was on the mountain trail it felt great and I felt strong.”
One of these kids, Lý Thị Các, won the 10k overall and another, Đặng Đại Nghĩa, got 3rd place overall. Other Blue Dragon kids got the under 12 and under 16 podiums: Nguyen Viet Dung, Nguyen Tuan Manh, Vu Duc Minh Nhan, Ha Thi Dao Nham, Bui Hai Linh.
Congratulations to all the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation kids and staff!
To learn more about Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, visit their website: www.bluedragon.org