I experienced my first road race in Korea and it was a blast. I decided that my training was ready to start a new phase of racing and so I signed up for a 10K. It's really interesting the whole process of registering for a road race in Korea. For starters, you can't register the morning of such as in America. The other thing is you pay via Bank Account transfeer (a very popular means of paying for things over here. You can easily do it from any ATM). Another great part is that they mail you the race packet with you chip, bib number, and whatever one of the gimme's for that race might include. They're not big on the free tshirts like American road races. For my first 10K I got a manbag that I gave to a staffer. For the one that I'm going to do at the end of April I get a case of Korean Melons. Yum. Talking to other runners this seems to be very common at smaller towns as they are proud of their local harvests. The other cool thing is the small town this race is going to be at is the town where my boss's dad grew up.
Anyways, at the race I got a pretty decent night's sleep and decided to warm up a little so rather than taking the subway to the race (a three stop trip) I mixed it up with some jogging, stretching and walking. I had scoped out the starting area the night before and noticed there was a 24 hour Home Plus right near the start. I knew that Home Plus had lockers that you can get for just a dime (and you get your dime back) so I just brought a couple things [wallet, phone, hotel key] to keep in the locker while I just left my warmups and the locker key waiting safely for me tucked into the middle of a bush (very reminiscent of road races in the states). The course was beautiful, and there were a ton of people. I don't know how “big” this race would be considered, but the Capital10K or the Turkey Trot are probably relative sizes, much so rather than the Cupid's Chase or Jingle Jog in Georgetown.
The race was great to have so many people as it gave me an opportunity to start way in the back and just casually pass the others, keeping myself relaxed, motivated, and on pace. I was super happy with my performance as I started out super slow and kept a solid steady pace of increasing my pace. I ran a 42:11 which I felt incredible with for the first race of the season. I can't wait til the next one because with my training and getting more comfortable I'm sure that by the next one knocking 13 seconds off of each kilometer sounds pretty simplistic in order to break 40:00 the next race.
I got me a pair of happy running feet socks since I enjoyed them so much for normal wear. They've got this compression area around the arch of the foot and they feet nice when running. Although after 6 miles I doubt I've got enough feeling in my feet to notice a difference. But, during the beginning it's nice to notice the difference.
This is the convention center that the race started and finished at. It was massive and definitely a landmark in the city.
Out in front of the convention center you can see the line of flags. I didn't quite count how many countries they had represented but it was quite a hefty number and I was quite impressed. I always find it interesting which flags international hotels fly above the doorway. For example there was a hotel that I was warming up beside that flew the Korean flag along with ones from the US, Thailand, Japan, China, and Australia. Zero European countries were represented which I found intriguing.
I took pictures of both lines of flags because I found it so fascinating the sheer number of flags that they were choosing to fly and thus maintain. That could be a hefty Eagle Scout project retiring each country's flag in the way that is proper for that individual country. Just think of the amount of research.
Some of the countries that I recognized that I enjoyed seeing flags for that often don't get represented were Ireland [first picture, the furthest flag on the left], Italy [first picture, third flag from the front on the right hand aisle], the Scandinavian countries [Norway, Sweden, Finland], etc.
Watching the flags and naming them in my head as I sat there on a bench relaxing after the race reminded of the afternoon I was on my laptop at Dee and Buc's house in Schertz.
Buc : What you looking at over there?
Me : Flags.
Buc : Naw, Seriously, What are you looking at?
Me : Seriously, flags.
{Turning laptop to show him a webpage outlining the historical battle flags of the Texas Revolution}
Buc : I'll be damned.
We've laughed about that numerous times since then and every time I have a discussion with my students about flags or start thinking about flags whenever I see a hotel or a cluster of flags I think of that leisurely afternoon discussion.
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