Yesterday I ran my first race in South Korea. It's been a hassle trying to find races and register when I don't know the language! Luckily, a
Pusanweb post helped me to find a Korean woman whose husband is an avid runner. She
informed me of the
Busan Ocean Half Marathon Race, and Laura, Erin and I signed up for the 10km distance.
We have all been battling colds for about 3 weeks, and our training has suffered. We arrived at the race yesterday sniffling, coughing and feeling unprepared and NERVOUS!
Some ridiculous sights soon helped us to relax a little bit:
- there was a group led stretch ... hundreds of people were participating, it was to set counts and there were girls in miniskirts and crop tops leading it on stage
- there were people whose job was to mist
passersby with sanitizing spray ... need to be careful of H1N1!
- the first aid team were all on
rollerblades .. and some were looking not too steady on their feet
- a lot of runners were wearing jeans
We found a grassy area to stretch, and relaxed until race time. When we noticed the crowd moving out we headed for the starting line with George, our trusty photographer in tow. After lining up and posing for pictures we were approached by a man.
"Um, are you 5km?"
"No, 10km"
"Oh no, this is the half marathon course. You need to go that way"
Panic immediately set in ... we had less then 10 minutes and we lined up at the wrong line with no real idea of where to go. We had to push through the entire field of half marathon runners, run over their start line and a few hundred metres down their course ... mildly
embarrassing. Volunteers continued to point us in the right direction, and after a minute or 2 we saw a huge group of runners lined up. Unfortunately it was the 5km start line. There was no way to go around so we had to push through thousands of people to find our start line. Luckily I have learned how to say "Excuse me" in Korean, so after a few hundred "실래합니다's" we managed to pass the 5km start line. Finally ... the 10km participants were in sight! It was at this point that the race started. We were trapped behind thousands of people, so even though we tried to work our way to the front we were unable to cross the line for 7 minutes. I mean, at least we found it!
The race itself was a lot of fun. Running on the bridge was amazing, such great views! The incline was barely
noticeable, which was a relief. We made sure to pose for the photographer that was perched on top of the bridge ... can't wait to see those shots. It sure is tiring to run while holding the double peace sign or the heart-above-the-head pose. I expected the crowds to thin out as the race progressed, but that never
happened. I feel like I spent the entire time dodging through the huge amounts of people.
Some
interesting things that I saw along the route:
- hoards of people stopping in the middle of the bridge for
photo shoots- runners in jeans
- people lining up along the side of the course so that the first aid
rollerbladers could douse their legs down with numbing spray
- volunteers whose sole job was to hold open garbage bags at the water stations ... and everyone used them ... well, everyone except us ... I just threw my cups in the general direction. There were barely any cups on the ground - bizarre!
- free post-race
acupuncture-
Kyungsung university football players doing the race in full uniform, including helmets
Overall it was a fun event. My time was 53:57 ... which considering the circumstances I'm happy about. I plan on doing another race in
November and improving that time!
Thanks to
George and Cliff ... our cheering section and
photographers :)
After a lunch at
Quiznos (a turkey sub was the closest I got to Thanksgiving dinner this year), George and I spent the afternoon on the beach, staying until the sun went down. A perfect end to the day!
Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Wish I was home for some turkey.
