half marathon

more about Saturday August 21

Went out with some friends last night. We met in a bustling neon-lit area in Jamsil. Met Inchul and Darryl & Yu-Gyung. Darryl & Yu-Gyung's daugter is one day younger than Katie. Going to youthful areas like Jamsil on a Saturday evening reminds me that I'm a thousand years older than I was when I first arrived in Korea in January 1996.

We first went to an astoundingly expensive coffee shop, then moved to a shabu-shabu restaurant, and finished off in a very busy bar (where we had a second dinner). Inchul got some pat-bing-su for me and brought it to the bar. Everyone else had soup and chicken. I believe that pat-bing-su was the better choice. It's a dessert. Since we had to get back to Bundang via subway, we left around 11. We got home shortly after 1.

all about Sunday August 22

Up at 6am today. We packed Kyung Ja's car with our loot (and there certainly was a lot of loot, mostly for Katie). She then drove us to Me-sa-le (in Ha-nam City, Gyunge-do). We got there at 7:40 and my half marathon started at 8am.

The park in which I ran was in a valley with a long thin rectangular body of water in its centre. The body of water had been designed for the regatta at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. We ran laps around the pool of water. Each lap was 5km. We ran four laps plus a bit more. While running I looked at the mountains that bounded the valley. The Olympic scoreboard is still there and that was a nice motivator. I don't know when I'm going to run a race in such a beautiful place. My time was 1:45 and I was happy with that. This is my fastest half marathon since my first in Peterborough, Ontario in February 1995.

After the marathon we had a picnic. My brother-in-law ran the 5km race and the whole family came to cheer us on during the race, and then feed us after the race. An absolutely brilliant plan.

Ciao