I DID SEOUL, BUT I'M NOT A SOLDER

I went up to Seoul on a solo mission to run a marathon on Dec 17th. I decided to crash Seoul a day early to check out some of the cool stuff in one of the biggest cities in the world. I really had no plan I was just goin with the flow. This is a short explanation of some of the crazy crap I saw on the busy day...

1- Fingering out the Seoul Subway system is in many ways like doing a Sudoku puzzle and I'm not going to lie to you... I have never did a Sudoku puzzle!

2- after cracking the Secret Seoul Subway System Code I booted it down to Insa-Dong, an area that is popular for its art galleries, tea houses, and some old traditional buildings and architecture. Soon as I peaked out of the subway exit, I was bombarded my a fusion of old and new buildings-

What really caught my eye was a giant Bell Tower with Korean Dudes equipped with traditional outfits and sick weaponry from back in the day! I managed to get there exactly at noon to witness the ringing of the bell ceremony. Basically It when t like this... A dude screams something in Korean, other Korean dudes bangs on drums for a little bit, all the Korean dudes march up the bell tower, they scream more, they use a striker to hit a bell bigger then my apartment, It's so frickin loud that your eyes go blurry, you can feel your brain shake around in your skull and your ears feel like they're growing bigger then your body!

3- After the Bell Tower I decided to check out the only head Buddhist temple that is located in the middle of a city, Jogyeasa Temple. It was blizzard to see such old and traditional architecture of the Buddhist temple overshadowed and engulfed by massive skyscrapers and modern office buildings.

4- After increasing the peace at Jogyeasa, I hulled down to Insa-Dong Gil (Dong means area or neighbourhood and gil mean street or road). This street is a long passenger street that has many narrow allies filled with little shops. First, I stumbled into a building that had a Andy Worhol Society Exhibit... It was kindda like dropping LSD... the off the wall, zany art engulfed this building that twisted and turned up like a building in a Dr. Suess Story. I snapped a few pictures of some of the crazy crap!

5- When I left the art gallery I found myself caught in a reenactment of the Traditional Korean Wedding Parade. People were jumping out of the way of the horses that lead the parade of drummers, dancers, percussionists, and the wedding party down the narrow, twisting street. I manage to follow the parade and catch the wedding ceremony that was even translated into English so I could understand it.

6- I had numerous pots of tea in a Korean Tea house, met Erin and ate 2 plates of pasta at a shody restaurant- then it happened.... It snowed and snowed and snowed.... big, heavy, almost fake looking snow flakes filled Seoul's night sky.... and coated Seoul in a wet heavy coating of Christmas White... My body was sore from a full day of sightseeing with my heavy backpack, I was full of pasta, and it looked like I would be doing tomorrow's full course marathon in the wet thick snow. I found a hotel by the marathon course, and crashed for the night... little did I know that the beautiful snow that had painted Seoul in White would lead to my demise in the marathon the next day...

7- I ALMOST DIDN'T FINISH THE MARATHON!!!

The Han Gang (gang means river) Marathon's course took place entirely along the river's edge in Han River Park. This river is the most famous river in Korea. It has played an important role in Korea's history as it is almost 1 Km wide and it runs right through Seoul. It is also the location of Korean's highest grossing Movie called Monster (its about a monster that lives in the Han river and kills a lot of people).

Anyway, the weather was probably around -8 C when the marathon started- there was also a cold wind that blew right through my thin running gear. When the marathon started I just let myself take in the majestic winter atmosphere, I noticed that my body was a little sore from the long day yesterday but I just ran through the discomfort. I was running at a good pace, and really enjoying the feeling of running through the slippery, wet snow... The course was great until I realized that it was one of those courses where you actually run the same course as the half marathoners then turn around and run the same course again... this is in many ways like a sick joke to marathoners who have ran 21 KM then have to turn around and see the same crap again... It's Kinda like a more painful version of the Bill Murary movie "Groundhog Day"!!! At the halfway point my time was at about 2 hours so I was on pace to finish the marathon at around 4 hours... which would have been my personal best then about at the 23KM point it happened...

My leg slipped on the ice and jerked my right knee out... It happened so fast and it didn't really hurt at the time so I regained my composure and continued to run... about 10 Km later the pain was almost unbearable... and was only getting worse... my jogging turned to limping, and then to a painful hobble... I though about quitting because of the pain and I was a little concerned about long term damage... but I just couldn't give up.... as my pace got slower and slower my body was unable to keep warm- the cold wind turned my warm salty sweat into a chilly coating that turned my hands and face purple...

Finally I limped across the finish line... at the time of 5:00...

In the past weeks I have did much to heal my body up and I'm ready to start training for my next full marathon at the end of January.

Don't Quit
Quitting is for Quitters