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What an amazing 7 days it’s been since I started my challenge to run 2200km from Hanoi to HCMC. In reality, it’s going to be more than the 2200km I initially calculated as I’ve spent a lot of time dodging muddy puddles and using smaller countryside roads to avoid using the highways as much as possible. So far I have covered 146km.

This has meant that my first week on the road has been full of incredible people. I’ve lost count of the number of lifts on the back of motorbikes that I’ve been offered. I promise ive said no, even though it’s been tempting! Everywhere I go, from tiny road side drinks shacks to hotels to farmland I’ve been waved down by people wanting to know what I’m doing. Their reactions have always been the same. Total shock and confusion but then an expression of happiness and thanks for my mission. As my Vietnamese is woeful, a lot of these conversations have been through Google translate and showing my website. Which the talented Jay Nguyen of BIS HCMC designed and translated for me! Although I have learned that the Vietnamese for run is ‘chay’ and am now using it continuously whilst pointing at my legs!

If I were to take one thing from this week, it would definitely be the kindness of strangers. They have helped me cross rivers where ferries no longer exist, they have handed me cold drinks, taken me into their homes and donated massage fees to my cause. When travelling I have often found that people get cynical and think that everyone is out to make money from them, while in some more touristy areas, this may be true, I have found the total opposite. I am blown away by the support I have received from strangers, who themselves are not necessarily ‘rich’ but are willing to offer what they have and most importantly an enormous smile.

I have spent the last 2 days resting in beautiful Tam Coc, the area where the film ‘King Kong’ was filmed. I’ve cycled along tiny paths whilst being dwarfed by huge rock formations. They call Tam Coc, the inland Halong Bay and I can see why. I’ve been on a stunning boat trip along the river to see the formations from the water. It’s been a great blast of expat/traveller reality and I’ve eaten more than my fair share of pizza, burittos and cake. However, I am excited to hit the road again tomorrow for more random adventures. My body and mind are both in good shape and I’m literally running towards my first running visitor. I cannot wait for Guy Dormer to experience this with me!

My main fear on this trip is loneliness, so far it has yet to hit me. Although I’m absolutely sure it will find me. I’m finding social media is like a job and really appreciate the amount of support I’m recieving from friends, family and strangers. I’m also so glad I packed my kindle, it’s full of book recommendations from people interested in the run and I can’t wait to read them all. The ‘Namrunsnam’ Spotify playlist has also helped when the runs have been tough. Remember, if you donate you can add as any songs you like and I promise not to skip any!

Thank you for reading and please donate as little or as much as you can. It will make a huge difference to the lives of children here in Vietnam.

Love Naomi

(aka Nam)

It seems a lifetime ago that I visited the British Vietnamese International School (BVIS), in reality it was just a week ago!

The school were hosting a community day and I was invited in to share my story and take part in activities with the children.

The morning started in the large assembly hall where I stood in front of a sea of children, ranging from 4-14 years old, all wearing their house t shirts (Hanoi, Hue, Dalat and Saigon), I will be visiting 3 out of these 4 places on my run. I will only go to Dalat if I get very very lost!

The amazingly confident community leaders gave an overview of the day to the huge audience and then introduced me. I was so impressed with the standard of public speaking from these young teenagers.

I started by getting all of the kids up on their feet for a morning wake up aerobics session. I recruited some children to join me on the stage as well as some of leadership team. Who participated with gusto!

After completing the warm up I explained my running challenge and my reasons for wanting to try and make a difference to the lives of some local children. Following this, was the BIG NAM RUNS NAM QUIZ! The children competed in their house teams, worked beautifully together and really enjoyed banging the buzzers! I was really pleased that the children were able to answer all of the questions and reflect on what they had heard in my presentation.

I ended the assembly by asking the children to guess what I had in my running backpack. There were some really great guesses including, medical kit, hat, water and a map.

Before I left the assembly, I was presented with ‘Viet’ the water buffalo. Viet is the symbol for ‘Vietnamese Perspective’ which plays a huge role in the ethos of the school due to its duel language curriculum and the fact that the majority of the students are Vietnamese. Viet is now safely stored in my backpack and is enjoying the journey so far. Here he is enjoying his morning Pho. Expect to hear more from him soon!

Following the assembly, the children continued to work in mixed age group houses to complete community based challenges including; making a giant city out of scrap materials where they had to ensure they included all the necessary amenities. When speaking to the children during their learning, they described how all children should have schools, parks, hospitals and homes. I absolutely agree with them!

Through donations from this community day, BVIS children and staff raised an amazing £1380 (39500000 VND). An outstanding total for a fabulous cause!

A huge thank you to all the staff (especially Rosy, Ollie, Nga and Georgina) and, most importantly, the children at BVIS for letting me talk to you and join in with your community day, I had a great time!

Thanks for reading. Please share my page and donate as little or as much as you can.

Love Naomi (aka Nam)

Hi everyone,

After months of preparation, today was the day I started my 2200km run from Hanoi to HCMC to raise funds for children’s education, healthcare and to end human trafficking.

After an awesome fundraising day at The Fitness Village Hanoi on Saturday (more pics to follow in a future post) a group of 10 legends met me to begin the run. Members of the Blue Dragon team (an amazing charity that are working tirelessly to stop trafficking) came and joined me as well as Emily from Saigon, Chris and Fiona from TFV and other Hanoi hero’s!

We ran through small hems (Vietnamese narrow streets) and quickly out into fields of bananas. I was surprised how quickly the city became countryside. The group chatted and pushed each other until we reached a small shack serving Cha Da (iced Vietnamese tea), where we chilled out amongst the banana trees and added some songs to my running playlist. I’ve vowed to not skip any songs so I think people’s choices were interesting!

After 4km we waved goodbye to the blue dragon team. I’ve loved spending time with them, their positivity is infectious. At the 5km mark we waved goodbye to Emily. This was the furthest she has run in 2 years after pretty terrible knee issues. She has been an epic support in the leadup to this event and made the video attached to this post.

The remaining group pushed out another 5km where we had a much needed coffee stop. By this time the temperature was pretty warm! After 10 amazing Kms it was time for me to continue on my own. I couldn’t have asked for a better, more positive team to start this adventure with! THANK YOU!!!!!!

14kms later and I reached my destination for the night. I’ve treated myself to a lovely apartment, had a hot shower and am now off to the pool to sort out my route for tomorrow!

Thank you for reading. Please share my page and donate as little or as much as you can to help change the lives of children over here in Vietnam!

Love Naomi (aka Nam)

A huge thank you to SSC for their support of namrunsnam.

At the beginning of September, Yoga Joy Saigon hosted a fundraising class taught by Jade Pooley.

Thank you to Jade, Yoga Joy and all those who attended this event. All the money raised will help to make a difference to children’s lives here in Vietnam.

Hi all,

I’m back from injury and feeling great! I’ve been training hard whilst back here in the UK, the weekly Kms are slowly building up and the ankle is feeling strong.

With just over a month to go until my start date, things are becoming very real! This morning, after my run along the seafront, I employed the computer skills of my patient mum who has created a sign up document so that you can join me along the way!

Click on this link, add your name and dates next to where you would like to join me. (The link is also accessible through the ‘run with me’ tab on the website.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10kemzTnXr275udFA_ShXjltf17cvuE8thRb4iQdYftU/edit?usp=drivesdk

Don’t worry about pace or distance, I’ll just be delighted with your company! I’m also willing to push on further for any of you ultra runners out there…

Please share this link with any runner friends who might interested!

I’ll try and stick as close to the plan as possible but obviously it could change…

Scroll down for short blog.

It’s time to leave Saigon after an epic 4 years. I’m sat having my final airport beer and feeling more emotional than I expected.
I’ve got almost 2 months back in the UK before returning to start my run at the beginning of October in Hanoi. I’ve got lots of multi day trail runs planned so hopefully will be fit, healthy and ready to go! I’m currently getting a form sorted for you guys to sign up to run with me for a day, weekend, week or month! If any of my UK based friends would like to join me for some slow training runs over the next couple of months that would be awesome. Just drop me a message!
I also have a suitcase stuffed full of ‘race to saigon’ games, created by the fabulous Ellie. If you haven’t done so already let me know if you’d like one. Only 7GBP and all money goes to support children’s education and wellbeing in Vietnam.

After 4 amazing years teaching at BIS I have handed my notice in so that I can complete my 2200km charity run challenge. On my penultimate day at school, Thursday 27th July, I hosted Namrunsnam Day at the British International School, HCMC, in order to introduce my challenge to children, staff and parents.

The entire school community were invited to wear sports kit or come dressed as their favourite sports person. My day started up on the stage on the sports field at the junior campus where I was able to share my challenge with the kids and how they can get involved. I have taught many of the children throughout my years at BIS and was blown away by their excitement for my cause. Two of my chosen charities, Thien Phuc Orphange and Friends for Street Children are linked to the junior campus and most of the children will have either visited the children at the centres, hosted events or attended clubs with the kids that will be helped by the money raised through my adventure. After pulling some heart strings I led 800+ children and staff in a sweat inducing warm up to Eye of the Tiger. Supported my some of my amazing colleagues in their fluro sports wear and sweat bands. Us teachers, love the spotlight! Once everyone was warmed up I sent class by class to run a lap of the field before returning to their classes where they would be completing activities and additional challenges relating to namrunsnam. It was awesome to see the smiling faces of hundreds of kids and adults from the community that I have called home for the past four years. I felt a huge boost of confidence that we are going to make a real difference to so many vunerable kids. I completed my lap with Deputy Head, Chris McKelvie, who has been an absolute legend with his support of my challenge and ensuring the kids get involved as much as possible.

All drone video and photos were supplied by the talented Matt Payne, check out his instagram @mattyp7 and website here: http://www.imagesbymattpayne.com

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1Y3VRyQ1XdLJGUQ0Eq76Xcxj8jGGwZFwv

After leaving the junior campus I ran the whopping 400m down to the infant campus, where I have spent my final year teaching in Year 2 (6 and 7 year olds). I was again given the opportunity to introduce my challenge to the children in an assembly and do some warm up dancing with them. All kids at this campus have or will have the opportunity to enjoy playdates with the Thien Phuc children. This is such a valuable experience for our students and they always impress me with their ability to look past any physical issues or language barriers and just play. It’s an ability many of us as adults find difficult.

For the remainder of the day, each class undertook challenges or activities relating to health and wellbeing. I challenged my amazing class to stair climbing where they had 15 minutes to climb the 3 flights of stairs to the top floor and back again as many times as possible. I was impressed by the mental strength of some of my kids. Some found this activity challenging and were on the verge of giving up many times. I saw the determination in their eyes as they took another swig of water, gritted their teeth and heading up the stairs again. I think the winning number of climbs was 11 but I do know that every single one of my kids pushed themselves as much as they could. Another challenge was the plank challenge. The class split themselves into their house team and competed against the other house for the longest cumulative plank held by one house. The teamwork, support, love and respect that every children showed one another was awesome!

In the afternoon the whole of Year 2 had a huge golden time with each activity relating back to namrunsnam day. The children got to choose 3 activities to participate in, including: bootcamp, yoga, mindfulness colouring, just dance, team games and meditation. The buzz I could feel when I walked into each classroom was awesome. Kids coming up to me and asking questions, giving me tips and wanting to know more about the run.

I have been particularly honoured to have been approached my many of our wonderful Vietnamese teaching assistants offering me places to stay with their friends and family down the length of the country.

With the generosity of the BIS community, we raised an unbelievable £2040 for the namrunsnam charities.

I’m so excited to begin this adventure, just need my ankle to fix quicker so I can get back out there pounding the pavements.

Hi everyone,

I’m writing this from my sofa as im resting up due to a grade 2 sprained ankle. Turns out cars in Vietnam like to drive on the pavement as well as on the road. I dived one way, my ankle went the other. Ouch! I’m still able to weight train so it’s not all doom and gloom. I’m getting physio 3 times a week and aim to be back pounding the Saigon streets within the next week or so.

Luckily, I’ve still been able to go exploring with my talented photographer friend Jon Fitton. This week our theme was ‘Saigon Traffic’, apt given how I got injured!

Here are a few of my favourites!

Night running at Sala, An Phu, HCMC.

Bui Vien Walking Street, District 1, HCMC.

Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, HCMC.

Saigon is green!

Thanks for reading!

Love Naomi

(aka Nam)

Running in Saigon can be brutal but it’s taught me that if I can enjoy running here I can enjoy it anywhere! The heat, the traffic, the noise can, at times, be overbearing but it’s also a comfort as I know I’m never far from a cafe su da (very strong Vietnamese coffee) or a banh mi (vietnamese baguette).

I love running through bustling streets, over jam-packed bridges and past the constrasting buildings of this city. I have discovered countless tiny hems (streets) with welcoming cafes and have highfived numerous security guards. I especially love running by the Saigon river in early evening when the street food stalls really come alive and hundreds of kites are being flown in the sky.

My talented photographer friend, Jon Fitton, has taken on the mammoth challenge of taking a decent photo of me. I am famously un-photogeneic amongst the people who know me best. He is still searching for ‘the perfect shot’ but here are a few that show off this wonderful city that I am lucky enough to call home.

Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to Jon for your patience in dealing with “my photo face”.

Naomi

XXX