Sometime in December while I was working the night shift at the ER, I had a few extra moments and found myself watching YouTube videos on running drills/exercises. I know that is probably a strange thing to be watching but given that I have strained my back about 6 times, I was thinking I needed to do something different to help with my muscle balance. YouTube of course makes suggestions, and on the next video was a guy who ran a 200 mile race in the state of Washington and made a video documenting his run; I think the video was nearly 2 hours long. I watched and listened to his journey as he said hello to other runners, got lost at night, hit lows in energy, met up with pacers - one of which had just run a marathon in North Korea and brought by a book written by Kim Jong-Un and during moments where they were walking she would read this book out loud. I found the concept of running so far that you had to run a night as well with a headlamp, spent moments walking, chatted with others while walking, and even slept (he took a 4 hour nap at one point) to be utterly fascinating. YouTube suggested other videos and soon I found myself thinking of running an Ultramarathon myself. But where? Turns out that there was one scheduled for a Saturday in March and so after talking to Jari about it, I signed up.
3 months later I was sitting at the train station south of where we live with a ticket for the SRT train which even though it makes 4-5 stops still only takes 2 hours to get to Busan (5+ hours by car). It was about 9:30 am so I decided to start the trip with a rice triangle.
I found this book online written by a famous Ultrarunner who is also a vegan. I figured a little light reading would not hurt.
Here I am waiting to get on the train, smiling but realizing that I probably should have brought some warmer clothing.
View from the train as we sped by city after city.
I stayed at a simple hotel that was $50/night. Bed + Shower and close to the starting and finishing line. That is all I wanted.
Before these events, there is usually a bag check. This is different from the standard Half or Full Marathon where you simply grab a small bag of goodies with your racing bib, rather they inspect your bag to make sure you have all the required equipment. I was traveling alone and was not sure where the bag check was so I set out early to find the location. I thought a nice relaxing jog would not hurt.
I went to the place the website said was the point of check-in only to find the Korean military and police working together to tear down the building... There went plan A and quite frankly I had no plan B. So I jumped online and found a phone number and then called work hoping one of the Korean contractors was working. Luck was on my side, Mr. Yi was working and after trying my best to explain what I was up to he agreed to call the number and ask where I needed to be. In the meantime, I looked around myself.
View of the beach at Songjeong (Busan, South Korea).
After searching for a while and then receiving word from Mr. Yi they were in Hotel Capris (oh wait, none of the hotels on the beach there were labeled in English!) I asked around (simply stated the name of the hotel and received blank stares from Korean speakers and finger-pointing in a direction-- all sorts of directions actually) and after a little while found the hotel! Poor resolution here on my screenshot but you can see from my Garmin how I went up and down the beach looking for hotel.
I know I said they were not labeled in English. Let me clarify, beyond the word Hotel they were not labeled. But here I am. See the sign on the door?
Oh wait, there it is. A huge banner out front and I ran right past it! This is an ongoing problem for me, missing things in plain view. Charlotte suffers from this trait and it drives Jari and I crazy. Guess it is a bit hypocritical for me to ever get upset with her.
Bag check was accomplished by him pointing to a list of stuff in English and Korean and me nodding: 1+ L of water, food, jacket, headlamp with spare batteries, food, first aid kit, whistle, phone, trail shoes, emergency blanket. In return they gave me my bib and a long sleeve running shirt and some Korean style Gu packets.
I went back that night for the presentation and dinner only to find out the organizers had sold the race 3 weeks before to the current organizers and they had not had time to pull together a meal and presentation, so I went to the closet restaurant (there are 100's in any given city in Korea) where I had a nice meal of Kimchi, rice, egg, curry, and fried pork cutlet.
And yes it was train themed and yes they brought my dinner out on the toy train. Awesome.
View of my part of town at night
My hotel
Oh, here is the door to the hotel. Two feet wide. A tight squeeze for sure to reach the lobby.
Next morning I went for a walk. It was cool and windy and I was praying it would dry up. I did not want to run in rain and mud :(
On the flip side there were lots of kids flying kites on the beach. It was really pretty.
While walking I snapped a photo of this lady. Check out this hula-hoop! It is a good 10 feet in diameter! She just kept on going without putting much effort into it. This is a new addition to the usual geriatric public exercise equipment I have seen up north where we live.
I sat down at Starbucks on the top floor and read my book for the morning. It was quiet, and lonely. My race was not supposed to start until 5 pm so I had to entertain myself the full morning. I was unaware at how important interaction with other people that speak my language was until this moment. I did not have headphones to listen to music so I was stuck with my thoughts: guilt (for being away from family electively), anxiety (would I make the 50 K? I had been having issues with a tendon in my ankle and was nervous), boredom (should I have signed up for the 100K that started at 7 am, at least I would not be sitting around all day for no reason 400+ miles from family), back to anxiety (100K are you crazy? Will you even make the 50K distance?...)
It was almost a relief to be on the bus at 3 pm. The clouds had parted and I was in an insulated undershirt and running tights. I was so overly dressed and hot I almost felt nauseated.
The bus got a little lost by the 30 other people who were there to run helped the driver find his way. By 5 we were lined up for a photo and off we went.
Here is my Garmin data from the Run
So what was it like?
Section 1: Right out the gate we were running up a 8-10% grade access road. I ran for about 1 min then started walking. I tried to move up to near the front hoping to keep up with the seasoned trail runners. I know enough about racing to not take the lead right off the bat - that never works well. So we logged some 15-18 min miles. After 3 straight miles of that, I was actually pretty tired.
Section 2: Rolling hills. I discovered one of the guys spoke some broken English and he pointed at the girl in front of us and said, "She best Korean trail runner." Bingo - she would be my target. "Just keep up with her," I told myself.
Section 3: Nasty, nasty, nasty 8% grade slope down on rumble strip cement. It was horrible. I was ready to be done and we were only at mile 7.
Section 4: Pleasant rolling hills, here is where the sun went down and the clouds moved in. It got misty and started to sprinkle.
Section 5: More hills in fog and rain and then sleet. It was cold. By this point, it was just the girl and me. As you can tell from the data above where my cadence dripped to red over and over, we would get lost and have to walk around and find the trail markers. Sometimes we would run long sections and I would panic as I had not seen a flag in a mile or 2 so I would stop and wait. Soon I would hear the girl coming up from behind yelling in Korean, her voice full of the same panic I felt. I would wave my headlamp and give her a "Woop, woop" to which she would rely "Sank-you!" and off we would run again together until I would get ahead and the panic/search party would start over.
I wish I had a nice camera that could have captured the views of the city. AMAZING!
Section 6: Lost in the city because I followed another guy. But he spoke Korean, pulled out his phone and started chatting with someone and then a Kia Sportage magically showed up and guided us back to the trail and the next checkpoint.
Section 7: The hill from Hell. Mile 18-20 or so. Strait up we went into the dark, again working silently with the same female runner. We would take turns leading and helping each other out.
Section 8: Fog and mine fields! We got lost and ended up near some Korean army base and soon discovered razor wire fencing with signs that said, "Do not enter, minefield" - What!?!?!
Section 9: Down the steep hill, hopping from boulder to boulder, slipping on the mud and moss. I was so grateful for my trekking poles on both the uphill and down. I think those poles were the only reason I made it.
Section 10: Again, lost in the city. I wanted to run faster and just be done but I had NO idea where I was going so I just hung tight with the girl as we ran around asking people for... what I am not sure as I did not know where we were going. But eventually we made it to section 11 and this answered the question of what she was searching for...
Section 11: the last 3 miles were run on railroad tracks that sat on a ridge covered in baseball-sized loose rocks. Hands down this was the most miserable section of anything I have ever run. But eventually, I saw the flashing light and people signaling for me that I had reached the end.
After charging my phone for a few minutes, I was able to get the traditional Korean "fighting" fist pose. Another runner I had met at the starting line who actually spoke English really well told me she and many others had dropped out because they had been lost. Of the 30 who started, only 10 of us finished!
Even though I was exhausted I ran home in order to be in by 1 am. Curfew applies to all military even when on leave.
7 hours and 30 Minutes. This was 1.5 hours longer than I had hoped but due to getting lost we had also run an extra 2 miles. However, in the end I am simply happy I had someone to run with - without her I would have been lost and not been able to finish.
Would I do it again? Without a doubt yes. Did I learn anything? Several things.
1) Like life, it is tempting to sprint ahead - but without the guidance of a loving Father in Heaven, I think we would all be lost.
2) No matter how much you prepare, you can never prepare for everything. While it was a physical challenge for me, I think it was just as much a mental battle as well. Learning to focus, not panic, and overcome the pain in my ankle tendons or quads, or hamstrings was really important.
3) Drink. Near the end, I kind of forgot to hydrate and eat. I was focused on finishing and but then realized I had not voided (peed) in over 2 hours. My legs were cramping and I was hitting a wall. I started slamming water and food knowing there is a limit to the amount of calories the stomach can take each hour and that the longer the run the more likely this will just make you throw up. Gratefully I was able to keep it down and finish the race.
4) Spiritual lesson learned was the importance of constant spiritual nourishment. Sometimes we forget to read scriptures and pray and at first don't notice but over time it becomes apparent.
Overall it was a phenomenal experience. I am now turning towards my next goal: running from Osan AB to Yongsan Army Garrison in Seoul: 40 miles. At least this time I will have convenience stores with water and food and will not be running in fog next to land mines at night with a headlamp.
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