Another race day has come and gone and I have to say this was way better than the last. Running without bronchitis was a huge plus. Also, Pyeongtaek (the city where we live) is buried in smog right now referred to as Yellow Dust. From what I understand it is a mix of sand and other stuff that blows over from China plus all the local pollution. So simply running without all that stuff was a treat.
Gyeongju is located about 4.5 hours southeast of Osan Air Base. Showtime for the bus was 0245 hrs. We got there at 0740 and the race started at 0800. Not a lot of time time to push through the other 15,000 participants to find the start line.
Picture of the masses afterward.
Why travel so far? For the Cherry Blossom festival! The city has tons of blooming trees. It was so beautiful. It is a city I would live in for a long period of time.
Here I am at the finish. The goal was < 1:30:00 like always (which I never achieve) but I got close! 1 Hr 30 min and 36 seconds.
Here is a link to the course
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1118116829/share/0?lang=English&t=1460283193238
Random shot of some beautiful local buildings
Cherry blossoms. Here is a link to my new tradition of post-run thoughts:
https://youtu.be/se_Yh__Vn2M
More people.
I had some time before the bus left and made my way to a local outdoor market. This nice lady was selling chicken thighs with spicy kimchi and cheese. It was so good!
More of the market.
And the usual token of finishing - the race medal. I love collecting these things for some reason
One thing Korea does right is they have sweet rest areas on the highways. Here we are along the river where there was a great cafeteria and great view. Can you tell we are getting closer to the west coast and yellow dust?
Yummy cabbage soup with some Ox? Spine and kimchi.
One thing that nearly brought tears to me was when I ran past a large group of very elderly Koreans all standing on the side of the road waving the Korean flag and cheering with fists raised "Fighting!" It made me realize that this group of people in the last group that lived through the war. They are the last link between families divided North vs South. I was grateful to see them.
Though the race was great, I got shocking news this morning. When I hit mile 9+ I heard an ambulance go out. I saw it on the opposite side of the river. I thought about running back but with 2+ miles to backtrack and knowing the ambulance was on its way that seemed to be an endeavor that would not yield any benefit. Well, I just learned today from one of our Korean civilians that a man running the half in his 50's, visiting from China, died! I suspect it was a heart attack. Super sad. I wonder if I should have gone back. I'm sure it would not have made any difference as the sirens sounded only minutes later. Still, sad. Could be me one day... hope not.
Overall it was a great run. Sorry for the sad ending to the post.
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