five in 20.five

It's almost been two weeks since I ran my fifth marathon; five before 25, check that one off the list. I don't know how I feel about turning 25. I feel like I should have accomplished more, but I suppose I can blame that on my severe delusions of grandeur as a child thinking that anyone could become an overnight success just by walking down the street. Le sigh. That's not why I'm writing tonight, on the eve of my 25th.... but can it really be the eve, because I was born in Chicago, and technically - okay, while it is currently the 24th there, it will be the 25th in less than two hours here and I wasn't born right at midnight, but at noon:37... - we're in the future here. By Korean standards I was 25 when I moved here, which I was totally not okay with. But whatever, rambling and I haven't even starting talking about what I signed on to write about...

Two weeks! The time has flown! I went for my first run since the big one on Tuesday evening and it was a little creaky, but it was good to get out on the road again and I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things.

I enjoyed having a goal to run for, but at the same time I've been gearing up for 26.2s (or 42.195s if we do km, and that sounds waaaay more daunting/impressive) since late-December/early-January. Granted I didn't always stick absolutely to the schedule, but I did most of the work unless I was sick or had achey knees. I'm happy to be able to run purely for fun again, and go whatever distance I please without worrying how it will affect a weekend long run or whether I'll be able to get in six miles before school.

To speak of the marathon! It was held on Jeju Island, on the northern coast, and it was by far the most beautiful place I've ever run. I went with my friends, Annie, Jennie and Sarah who were all running the half, as was our friend Lorna, who we saw before the race. We started out on a red rubber track at 9am, there couldn't have been more than 300 people running (I could be exaggerating, but it seemed pretty small in comparison to the other marathons I've run), and there was a 10km run, half-marathon, marathon, and some odd-distance walkers. It was bizarre, but nice because it made it really feel like just any other long Sunday morning run with a bunch of friends; no pressure whatsoever.

The course was a turn-around at 13.1 miles, and I loved every single moment of it. There were water stations set up every 2.5km after the first 5km, and the local fisherman and village folk would turn, wave and cheer us on as we passed by. The beginning of the run was overcast and cool with the breeze coming off the dark ocean, giant windmills dotted the coastline and loomed overhead, droning as we made our way down the coast. In my excitement, I ran the first half in two hours and seven minutes, which was a bad call given that at the turn-around I thought to myself, I came here to run this, so by jove, I'm going to run! and I did, I ran through the dull pain in my left knee that grew and then shifted to my right hip and then shifted to behind my left shoulder blade. I ran when I should have walked and stretched my legs, but I wanted to try something new and I wasn't trying to beat any of my own records, I just wanted to do it. As much as I told myself it wasn't a big deal, it was still pretty disappointing to glance down at my watch the minutes tick onto my already slowing time.

As late morning approached, so did the sun decide to come out from behind the gray clouds. It got hotter and I found myself unable to recall if what I was currently seeing was something I had seen before or if it was in some strange surrealist seaside dream. There were rattling noises in the shrubbery and I imagined little gnomes shaking maracas to cheer me on, but figured that if I stopped to inspect it would probably be something less sweet/awesome and super scary/deadly. It was getting hot, not Chicago 2008 hot, but hot nonetheless.

I ran with a business man, Mr. Park for the first 10 miles or so, he had a Go! St. Louis hat on so I struck up a conversation with him, "Are you from St. Louis?" We talked about how that was my first race and America and blah, blah, blah, he's Korean but lives in Japan and works for Toyota. He was a nice guy, but I later found out that what he told me meant "good luck" ("ha-nada-ra-seyo") or what I heard and repeated to everyone who looked Korean that I passed or they passed me actually means nothing. I laughed about it, and I'm sure the Koreans appreciated it even though after I passed they probably shook their heads and thought, Oh, silly migook talking gibberish! And there was another American girl from Ohio and it was her first race, so I talked to her about running things and missing America.

Speaking of missing America, I do. Running along the seaside, especially that last half when I was alone for most of it, I kept wishing I was running on the Chicago Lakeshore path and it made me happy and sad all at once. Happy that I've had so many good memories there and sad because it and they seem so far away. I also spent a lot of time thinking about what I should think about, and not thinking, and then thinking about What Would David Blaine Do? because he's done all those Houdini-esque stunts where he's trapped some crazy place for x amount of hours/days and has to do something to while away the time, but then I heard the rattling again so my mind skipped to David the Gnome and how fun I used to think it would be to ride a fox through the forest, but they're really small. Also, there were ajushis and ajummas spreading out seaweed to dry on the sides of the road and piles of garlic to be shucked and sold because the season of kimchi preparation is upon us, but in my long-distance delirium I imagined that they were sorting through the seaweed to find sea garlic which I'm pretty sure doesn't even exist and I just made it up.

Anyway, it was a great run and sprinting across that finish line felt wonderful knowing that no matter how crazy it was that I didn't stop to walk, not even through the water stations (there was stopping to drink and stretch, but it was short-short), I ran through it all. And although I didn't break any world records I'm happy that I got this one in before tomorrow, and the last two were less than three months apart - I think that's kind of neat, and really crazy and I'm almost 110% positive I won't do that again.

Oh, and we took a 5ish-hour ferry and a 4 and a half-hour train back, what with transferring and waiting and stopping and all that jazz we got back at 4am Monday. I would upload the pictures, but I'm going to try to wake up and get in a run before I spend all day eating the cakes that my students said they were bringing me, until then, I leave you with this from Mr. Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running:

"My time, the rank I attain, my outward appearance - all of these are secondary. For a runner like me, what's really important is reaching the goal I set myself, under my own power. I give it everything I have, endure what needs enduring, and am able, in my own way, to be satisfied. From out of the failures and joys I always try to come away having grasped a concrete lesson. (It's got to be concrete, no matter how small it is.) And I hope that, over time, as one race follows another, in the end I'll reach a place I'm content with. Or maybe just catch a glimpse of it. (Yes, that's a more appropriate way of putting it.)"

Let's get "HEALTHY"

Maybe you already read about it, or maybe I haven't posted it yet, but I completed my fifth marathon on Sunday - YAY!!! 5 BEFORE 25!!! It was on Jeju Island (or Cheju-do, depending on the day: spelling changes between the J and Ch). We took a plane there, and before I boarded I grabbed a complimentary Korea Herald. Browsing through the pages I found this hilarious gem and thought it fit to share with you:

Health tips for soccer fans reads the headline, by Lee Ji-yoon:

"With Korea's first World Cup match due on Saturday, the government has released health guidelines for enthusiastic soccer fans.
The 'HEALTHY' guidelines stands for Heart protection, Exercise, Aqua, Low-calorie diet, using public Transportation, Happy mind and stop Yelling, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Health officials said that feeling extreme excitement or tension affects the bloodstream and raises blood pressure. And the symptoms could be lead to cardiac infarction.
Proper rest, relaxing the body posture and taking slow, deep breaths during the game and at halftime can help in relieving such symptoms, they advised.
When people yell loudly, a cyst can occur in the vocal cords. Alcohol and smoking also cause dehydration. Health officials say that drinking water can be helpful to balance the humidity.
They advised not to shout for more than 30 minutes and to avoid noise and dust.
Because most of the matches will be broadcasted in the evening, soccer fans are recommended to eat more fruits and vegetables like bananas and peanuts, rather than chicken and carbonated drinks, while watching the matches.
A high-calorie diet at night can put pressure on the digestive organs.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to promote the health tips through the Internet and large screens that will be installed in cities nationwide."

You've been yelling 29 minutes already? You better take a rest. Go eat some vegetable peanuts.

Sinking Fast

I enrolled in a Korean for Beginners class at   (or "Kyung Hee Dae Hag Gyo"). Yeah, leave it up to me to start taking my studying seriously with three months left. Excellent! Anyway, I was really excited because I can finally read (though I'm guessing at a kindergarten level, though realistically below as I usually have no idea what I'm reading/saying) and I was really looking forward to being able to say more than your average greetings, ordering at restaurants/bars and asking price/directions. Yes - notice how I'm writing in the past tense. Uh oh! 


My co-worker/friend Kat and I left for campus straight after our school bell rang, we signed in at the front desk and were directed to the classroom. Since class didn't start for 15 minutes, we decided to wait outside so as not to seem too eager. As we sat we joked about the last time we were in a classroom, almost three years for me and only one for her; we hoped our professor to be a female or an unattractive/non-distracting male; most of all we couldn't wait to learn.

Our watches ticked nearer to 7:30 and we picked up our purses and headed inside. Much to our dismay, this dude who asked where the Conversational Korean class was was in the new classroom we were told to go into. Uh oh! Not looking so great. His name is Steven, he shows us his book and it's full of questions and answers - dialogue practice. Panic sets in slightly, but Kat and I reassure each other that it's Steven who is in the wrong classroom. A few more minutes and two Chinese girls come in the class. Then one more. Then the teacher...

From the moment the she walked in the classroom she's speaking Korean, and it's fast. Reeeeeeally fast, and seemingly advanced. I look at Kat with pure panic in my eyes. From her gestures we gather she wants us to open a book - a book which neither of us have. Steven offers to share. Kat is directed by the teacher (unbeknownst to me; I thought she was abandoning ship) to share with one of the Chinese girls. The teacher wants us to change things into the future tense, words/verbs that I do not know. I sink lower in my chair. So this is what it feels like to drown. I mutter to myself. I actually muttered it, and had Kat been sitting next to me I'm sure she would have said, "I know! Right?" but Steven was busy translating and my humorous despair was shared with no one.

Calculus wasn't as hard as this class was, and I couldn't even blend in behind a sea of heads as there were only six of us in the class. Anyway, so we're conjugating verbs for about a half an hour when the teacher asks us how long we've been studying and what we've studied. She tells me "Fighting!" when I reveal that I've only just learned the alphabet, and then there's 30 more minutes of her telling me "괜찮아요" ("kwen chan i o"/"It's okay.") then she finally leaves the classroom and brings back the Korean 1 book which is what I'm talking about!! Basic vocabulary and building on that. She took down our information and said she would try to move her schedule around to accommodate teaching Kat and I after our work (if not, I better get my money back as it was false advertising that led me to there in the first place, "All you need to know is how to read?"). Class ended, and I crawled onto shore sputtering saltwater and pulling seaweed from my hair; I didn't die. Let's hope it's more understandable second time around. I'll let you know.

Awesome!

Two of these things are really awesome and one is in the sarcastic sense:

A1. Allie brought in a bazillion toys for Show and Tell last week, two "hand-uh pones" (green and orange) being among them. Top was playing with the orange one and offered Aden the green one, but Aden wanted the orange one and threw a hissy fit. Top wouldn't share and I didn't make him; I should've just taken both phones away, but I figure they'd work it out. Aden wasn't happy and started sucking his face in like an old man (he does it when he's angry or getting scolded; I'll have to take some pictures of this as it's probably the most hilarious thing, ever), but then he asked for a sheet of paper and I'm thinking, Alright, he's over this phone business. But, no:

Anger management issues much? Awesome.

B2. I bit into the granola bar I bought yesterday and I thought, Hmm... this tastes fishy - that's weird. I looked down, and what do I see? Little sardine-ish fishies syruped into the nuts and grains. Not tasty. Last time I checked fish were not a granola-friendly ingredient, at least not in my book. I'm scarred. Awesome.

C3. Last week in the playroom, Willie runs up to me all excited like he's ready to tell me the most amazing thing, ever, and he sputters out something about Danny and Roy. He's smiling, so he's not tattling on them. I'm confused. I ask him to repeat and he says, "Danny or Roy is breaking the wind!" Then he starts to run away, and I say, "Wait - Willie. Like pthbth [fart noise]?" And he laughs hysterically and says, "Yes!" Who says "breaking wind" these days? Awesome.

Addition to the awesome-ness: Aden is always in a good mood at the beginning of the week and he'll come up and squeeze my face and put his face real close to mine and then blink his long eyelashes on my nose or cheeks. It's the weirdest and cutest thing, ever, and it gives me the giggles.

Things aren't so good at work right now - I won't go into details - and I'm actually quite stressed about the politics of the place. For a brief moment in time I really wanted to quit, but then my kids ran up to me this morning and attacked my legs/jumped up to pull down my arms for hugs or whatever, shouting "Kate Teacher! Kate Teacher!" [per usual]  and I couldn't bear the thought of leaving them before my time was through. I only have three months left, and I don't quit things. This too shall pass, and if it doesn't, I always have the kids. They're pretty awesome.