Marathoning and a Whole Lot More!!!!!

So I ran my first race in Korea and this is what happened....

I got up late Saturday morning, packed all my marathoning essentials, and started my solo journey to the beautiful coastal city of Pusan (Busan). First, I had to bus downtown to pick up my new, broken digital camera. It only cost $33.00 to fix the whole flash mechanism at a Nikon Repair Shop!!! Then I took another bus to DongDaegu Station where I boarded a bullet train (the KTX) that would take me to Pusan.

CRAZY THING #1-
I have never been on a train in my whole entire life (excluding Calgary's Sky train) so the whole thing was pretty exciting (small, simple things like this always seem to excite me). When I boarded the KTX, I was surprised at what it looked like inside- the interior resembled the inside of an air plane but there was lots of leg room and flat screen TV's that hung from the ceiling. As soon as I sat down and got comfortable, I looked up at the flatscreens and guess what I saw...
A program on... that's right ... SASKATCHEWAN!!!
I couldn't believe it! I was on the other side of the world and sure enough I'm watching some program on a Korean bullet train that's talking about Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada!!!!


The train got me to Busan Station, then I took a subway from there, transferred once, and BAM... I was on the Haeundae Beach in Busan. I walked down the long beach before I hailed a cab that was to take me to a motel nearby.

The motel was reserved a few days ago, by phone, by my co-worker, the Goddess of English/Korea, Stephanie. She said it would be a nice place, it would be close to the marathon, and it would only cost $50.00... but really I did not know what to expect because I have never been to a motel in Korea.

CRAZY THING #2-
So I hailed a cab to the JAMJALEE HOTEL. Within a few short minutes I arrived at my motel. It looked quite classy from the outside so I was excited to see my room. When I got up to my floor the lights were all dimmed, and a light flashed above my room door. I walked to the door, turned the key, and walked inside..... Wwwwhhat????
I'M STAYING IN A SEX MOTEL!!!

This is the deal with accommodations in Korea. I was told that there are hotels, like the Marriot, that are pretty much the same as hotels in Canada... Including the $130.00 a night price tag!
There are also motels, that are much cheaper and are also very nice. Since most people in Korea have relatives or friends that they stay with when visiting the major cities, the main users of the motels are either business men (who wanta have some fun!) or couples (who wanta have some fun!). The motel industry isn't really geared to marathon runners!

Sooooooo... hears what my room was like. To the left was a enormous bath room area. There was a separate room for the toilet (the biggest toilet I have seen in Korea so far), then a giant area where their was a big bath tub, and a "hanging on the wall, bathroom showerhead" area with not one "hanging on the wall, bathroom showerhead" but 3 (now that's luxury!!!). And to top it off guess what was hanging above the tub....
A SEX LIGHT!!!
This light was controlled from the tub and turned different colours like a mood lamp.

The bedroom had a widescreen plasma TV with a full surround sound system, a new computer with internet access, a fridge, a queen size bed with not a mint but a condom on the pillow, a "classy" pornographic picture on the wall, and of course ... more sex lights!!! The most important thing was that it was clean.

I looked around for a bit, dumped my stuff off, and went searching for a pasta restaurant (pasta is a marathoners must have the night before a run). I found a TGI Fridays about 4 blocks from the Jamjalee that over looked the ocean. The $19.00 pasta was horrible but I ate every last noodle (it was the first time I've had pasta in Korea). After stuffing myself, and taken in the ocean view for a while I went back to my motel, I was exhausted from my busy day and went right to bed... It was only 8:30pm. I had to get a good rest, I really didn't feel 100% and the race was at 9:30Am the next morning.

I woke up at 7:00Am and I didn't feel 100%, my throat was a little sore, my stomach was a little unsettled and I felt as though I might be fighting some illness... or maybe it was just my nerves. I couldn't even take my customary pre-marathon shit!

After a long while on the giant Korean Shitter I gave up, gave my self a short reiki treatment, ate a breakfast of 5 bananas and 3 convenience store cakes , got in my marathon gear, and hailed a cab to the marathon site. The program said that I had to be there at least one hour before the start time so I left at 8:00AM.

When I got there it was a lot bigger then I expected. Many tents littered the grounds and there was a big stage at the far end. I didn't really know if I needed to get my racing chip activated or whether it was already active so I followed this random Korean Guy around for a while. He wandered around the team tents then around to some of the other tents. After stalking this poor Korean for about 25 minutes, I came to the conclusion that the chip is already activated.

CRAZY THING #3-

So I wandered around and noticed that there was a tent that was giving free massages. I thought I better take advantage of this because all the other massage parlors in Daegu look a little shady. As I approached I noticed that the tent beside it was giving free acupuncture treatments!!! Me being the curious guy I am, into all the crazy alternative health crap, thought ... what the hell give it a try. A Korean guy beside me said that it will balance my body before the run. I've never had acupuncture before so I was a bit nervous. I found a korean man working the tent that could speak a little English and sat down. He touched my hands and felt my pulse then asked me if I was experiencing problems with my stomach (yes), with my liver, and some of the glands in my throat (yes) then he stuck about 15-20 needles into my two hands and told me to leave them in for 15 minutes.

So I hung out around the tent waiting to get the needles pulled out with about 20 or so other Korean dudes, all geared up in their marathon gear- head bands, GPS systems, technical gear, tinny marathon shorts, and their hands elevated, looking like pin cushions, all the while there was thousands of Korean's in the distance being lead in a group aerobics-like stretch routine by a tinny woman with a shrieky Korean voice.... did anybody say "GONG SHOW"

CRAZY THING #4-

After getting the needles pulled out of my hand I could hear singing somewhere behind the acupuncture tent so I go and give it a look-see. Guess what I saw....
just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder...
the tent was full of about 30 people, they were kneeling and singing in Korean, and at the front of the tent was a priest in full church robes!!!
I'm not fricking shiting you!!!
He was in the middle of mass- he was blessing the bread and wine!!!

I haven't got to church in Korea so I though I better get in on this (Korean's sure know how to give themselves an winning edge!). I sat in on the last 10 minutes of the mass and even got the Eucharist!!! When the priest got to me he raised the bread and said in English, "Body of Christ"!!!

After the pre-marathon mass I saw everybody start to walk to the starting line so I followed. Everybody chanted something in Korea for about 20 seconds then the race started.

The course was beautiful. About half of the 21.1KM race took place on this big ass bridge that hung right over the ocean. You could feel the humid, salty ocean air coat your lungs and body as you ran. The scenery was breathtaking... the water was a clean green-blue and the sky was overcast. The sun only poked out for about 20 minutes (ideal running conditions sans the humidity).

I found out at the 16 KM point that I was only running at a 2 hour pace.... this was not good... I think I was enjoying the scenery a little too much so I picked up the pace for the last few KMs and finished the race at 1:55:57. My official time was text to my handphone (cellphone) about 2 hours later! It wasn't a great time for me but considering my soft training and the humidity, I feel it was a good time. A good sign that you ran a good race is that your legs frickin kill the next day... this happened to me!

Anyways, after the race I went back to the Jamjalee Motel and was greeted by the manager who said "check out now!". So I ran upstairs and jumped in the shower. In the shower, while lathering my sore body with soap it occurred to me that I didn't even really use any of the cool stuff in my room, I hadn't even turned on the widescreen TV or stared hopelessly at the wall porno!! That sucks... I need to use something to make it worth my while right? Right?

So in my glory, I turned all three "hanging on the wall, bathroom showerheads" towards me and in a display of complete ridiculousness I turned on the sex lights.

I stood in the shower, sore and in pain from the hot water burning the blisters on my feet and the chafe marks on my legs and under my arms, with three "hanging on the wall, bathroom showerheads" spraying me with water as the bathroom turned from red, to blue, to green!!!