Skating Around Pattaya Paradise for Pre Season Training

31.01.2009 19:30

At 41, considered old in the tooth for a professional athlete, Eddy Metzger works diligently in order to stay out in front of the pack. He's the 2008 USA National 10K and 100K Inline Speed skating National Champion, and races marathons all over the world in under an hour.

When asked to flesh out his resume, which includes feats like skating the Great Wall of China, scaling and descending Mt. Kilimanjaro on in-lines, racing camels, and surviving the Running of the Bulls on skates, Metzger told the Pattaya Times "People have short memories; I'm only as good as my last race. Suffice it to say that Pattaya was the ultimate place to launch my training for the 2009 competitive season and make it a memorable year" Friends told him that his vow to treat a Thai vacation like a training camp was unrealistic, but Eddy proved otherwise. "They told me I'd succumb to the temptations of the night and lay around on the beaches all day, but they don't know me," he said. "I'm the 1% of visitors who didn't come to party. I can get up before dawn and spend copious amounts of energy working out. By late morning I'm dying for a proper Thai massage, and afterwards I can afford to be a glutton for all the fresh fruit and fish and sticky rice

And papaya salad a man can possibly eat. By 1 or 2pm, when most tourists are just getting going, I'm tired out and ripe for a nap." While his hometown of Floyd, Virginia, USA, was suffering from record-breaking cold, Eddy embarked on ultra marathon training sessions in shorts and t-shirts. "I had to chuckle when it was balmy outside and yet everybody was bundled up with scarves and mittens." Either solo or with cyclists from the BMW Thailand bike team, Eddy regularly found him skating Rayon’s country roads, touring the extensive grounds of Wat Yansangwararam, or flying by attractions like the Chi Jan Hill Carved Buddha Image. "With so much eye candy out there, it's easy to get a great work out without even realizing it," Metzger noted. In spite of the Thai penchant for driving aggressively, Eddy was grateful how vehicles gave him a wide berth and drivers extended arms out of windows with thumbs up. "Inline skating is so new and unusual here that I was lucky to get a lot of interest and respect on the road, such that I even had personal truck escorts for long stretches sometimes," Eddy recalled. He added,

Skating Around Pattaya Paradise for Pre Season Training - Pattaya - Eddy Metzger - Mt. Kilimanjaro - Great Wall of China - Race - Skating

"And the energizing quality of the legendary Thai smile is profound," Eddy continued. "I must have internalized the wattage from thousands of brilliant roadside smiles to power my long journeys." Eddy intends to return to Pattaya in April and work with the Pattaya Times and the Pattaya Rotary Club Marina on an inline challenge to raise money for the community. For a small donation, you can challenge him to a bike vs. skate race. Beat him and Eddy will donate a considerable sum to charity!

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