running near the DMZ

a while ago i signed up for two half marathons near different areas of the korean DMZ..the first race took place in yanggu county, i think it was called the clean yanggu DMZ marathon, or something along those lines..since it was out of town, i asked my director to make sure there was a shuttle bus i could take to and from the race before i signed up, and there was..my shuttle left at 0600, and in order to get to the pickup spot, i had to catch the first subway possible..just so you know, that's at 0532..not exactly the time i want to be on the go on a sunday morning, but oh well..for quite a while i was the only foreigner on the bus, but just before we left another foreigner got on..the seat next to me was still empty (it would've been the last seat to fill up if the bus had been full) so she sat next to me..we had a lovely chat on the way to the race, at least until the road got curvy and we both got a bit bussick..i put my head down, she put her head back, and we both focused on not getting any worse..lauren is from south africa, and it turns out that another girl with her same name was also running the race..same given name and same family name!! about 2.5 hours after we left, the bus arrived at the race sight..the race was supposed to start at 0900, our bus didn't get there until 0840..i'm not one who ever likes to arrive long before the race, but 20 minutes was cutting it close..the parade area was covered with people, apparently most of the other buses had arrived quite a bit earlier...

i noticed lots of groups of people wearing the same clothes, so i guess it was quite the group event..many of the people wearing the same clothes were korean army soldiers in their pt uniforms..even before the races started (full, half, 10K and 5K) i felt sorry for them..it was muggy, and mesh shorts aren't optimal running shorts anywho..(not long into my race, every soldier i saw had stripped off the outer shirt and was running in just his base layer t-shirt..it was soooo muggy)..
there were the standard aerobic exercises before the gun sounded, and of course i skipped them..why on earth would i want to do aerobics before running a half marathon? the full marathon folks were called to the start line, and sent off..their course involved two out and backs..next up was me, with all the others running the half..they played a bit of def leppard's "pour some sugar on me" to get us excited..then the gun shot, and a military band took over..hee hee..
the course was out and back, which i don't particularly enjoy, though it is a standard of races here in korea..howeva, this course was a whole LOT more scenic than most courses i've run in korea..we ran through several checkpoints manned by soldiers, and past the army barracks..i noticed quite a few folks watching us out their windows..after that everything got really pretty..i could see a river on my right, and rock/hill/trees/bush on my left..most of the time there was barbed wire strung on my right, hung with signs warning of mines every 2m or so..that was a bit surreal..this was definitely NOT a course to step off anywhere if you needed to use the loo..just after the turnaround for the 10K runners, the road turned into an unsealed road..not so fun, but not awful either..at one point i ran through a bridge that was likely loaded with mines/dynamite that could be blown if the north ever decides to invade through this area..it was painted a bright army camouflage, if that makes any sense at all...just before the turnaround for the half marathon i passed the turnaround for the full marathon, and remembered thinking that wasn't very nice...after that the hills started...not huge, but they were definitely hills, and i definitely wasn't ready!! even as i ran down the first one, my thoughts were only that i'd have to come back and run up to finish the race...there were probably three or four hills, which i of course had to run the other way after turning around...

at some point during the second half of the race my ipod died...ugh...i had forgotten to charge it the night before, so it didn't have a full charge when i started the race...i tucked it into my sports bra and kept running...i might've actually run faster after that, as i didn't have anything to keep myself amused...then, to make everything even more entertaining, it started raining...not hard, but there was definitely precipitation...it got a little heavier, then lightened up, got heavier, then lightened up...it never got that bad while i was running, thank goodness...though between that and the sweat, i was soaked...about 2km from the finish, i was passed by the leader of the marathon...in other words, he had run nearly twice as far, twice as fast...yeah, that didn't make me feel so good...hee hee...the end of the race was awesome...the course took us through a small tunnel, past a tank or two, and past more soldiers on duty...it was by far my slowest EVER half marathon...i'm not at all fast, but this was bad, even for me...
post race goodies were pretty much the same as always, though i did have the option of a couple cups of beer...had i been able, i would've partaken...the finishers "medal" was fantastic...definitely the most unique i've seen at any race...they made fake dog tags!! the downside to running a race out of town, and relying on shuttles is having to wait for a long time after finishing...sooo, we waited...at some point after i finished, the rain started in earnest...a total downpour...and it stayed that way for the next couple hours at the very least...there was a small pavilion area that had been used as the stage, thankfully it was covered...a bunch of us were hanging out under there, feeling sorry for all the people working the race, who had to be out in the mud...the marathoners who finished in the downpour were all laughing...why not?
the bus ride back from this race took four hours, due to traffic...yuck...that wasn't so fun...

the second race i ran was called the DMZ international peace marathon...it involved another shuttle, this one leaving at 0530...fortunately, this one left from the majour intersection where i live, so i didnt have to get up any earlier...5 o'clock is plenty early!!! the bus arrived plenty early, i had a lot of time to kill...almost two hours!! for a 9 o'clock race the bus arrived around 0715...even as we arrived, not all the tents and such were set up...so early...everything was also soggy, as it had been raining quite a bit the night before...i was thrilled it wasn't raining anymore, but the ground was totally waterlogged...so walking around in the staging area wasn't fun, as you ended up with wet shoes and socks...
the race started with another korean military band, as well as coloured fireworks:)...the route on this one was a loop, which i love...we ran on a sealed road the entire time, and from time to time there were people out cheering for the runners...good times...instead of running in a gorge this course was in a wide open area...lots of pretty flowers lining the roads, and farmers fields growing...the first water station wasn't until the 5K mark, which i thought was a bit too long, and i was quite thirsty...at that point, i had watched each of the kilometer markers go by, without water, and i was sooooo ready for water...anywho, after that, they appeared every 2.5 or 3K, which was great...at one point i even grabbed a couple choco pies...YUM!!! normally i don't eat those during a race, but i was tired of bananas, which were also available...
at the halfway point or so, my left hip flexor started making it's unhappiness known...i don't know why it tightened up, but it did...oddly enough, it was less comfortable to walk than it was to keep a slow run...around the 15K mark, there was a shower of sorts stretched over the road...the sun hadn't come out for most of the day (which thrilled me, as the weather was nearly ideal for me) but it was still a little warm, so the brief shower felt good...my hip wasn't getting any better...by the end of the race, it was just something i was tolerating...i wanted to get off my feet, and lay down...
my official time wasn't that great, but at least it was back to the times i'd been running in may...thank goodness...i can't wait until the weather really cools down, as i feel like i'll be a whole lot faster...cold weather works so much better for me...
upon finishing, i waited at the finish line because i knew my friend anina was coming in shortly after me...this was her first official half marathon, though she had run one as a practice run a month or two before...her training hadn't been good toward the end, and her knee was causing some pain, so before the race she was extremely worried about finishing before the time cutoff...needless to say, she had no worries on that issue...anina rocked, i was soooo happy for her...another friend, gina, had intended to run anina in, and had started running toward anina just as i was finishing...in other words, she didn't really get a chance to run her in, as anina was far ahead of where she had expected to be at that point...gina is awesome, and had finished the race just a little under an hour ahead of me...she's fast...plus, she's beautiful, and nice...one of the girls you want to hate, but you can't because she's so awesome...anywho...
after finishing, we headed straight for a pool to soak our legs...anina had seen a few foreigners doing it the year before...i climbed in, and it felt good...a bit chilly, but nice:)...the three of us (plus anina's husband phil, who is also awesome) ended up talking to cody (or was it colin?) who had just finished his first ever half marathon, having come up from mokpo (목포) for the race...at some point a couple korean guys walked by, and seeing gina stretching, one of them had grabbed her leg and pushed it a bit...not surprisingly, that was a bit creepy...but he was just trying to be nice...he had just finished his first ever half as well, and was pretty happy...(gina was faster than him, but she never mentioned her time:)
after that, we walked over to the bag check area, where i realized that my bag check number had fallen off my bib number somehow, and i hadn't memorized the number...so all of us started searching for my bag...it sounds like an easy thing to do, but there were thousands to see, and every bag was inside a white plastic bag, making the whole thing much more difficult...eventually, by pure luck, i saw my bag...thank goodness!! the ground was soggy, so a lot of the bags had gotten a bit wet...so had mine...a friend of gina and anina's had skipped the race, but sent her timer chip with them, so they turned that in, and picked up her medal and food bag...hee hee...the medal was so so...the food bag included a box of energy drinks (which, more than two weeks later, i still haven't gotten around to drinking) a banana (which had gotten smushed) and something else...near the bag check area there were a couple tents set up handing out hot food!!! bibimbap!!! (비빔밥)...basically rice, veggies, spicy pepper paste, and meat if you wanted it...the four of us went over to another fountain (this one wasn't on) and sat down to eat...there were people camped out eating all over...good food, good conversation, great people...
the best part was at the end...this might be my favourite race for one reason: FREE MASSAGE!!! somehow the race organizers had gotten a bunch of massage students to give free massages..we got in line when it wasn't too long anymore, and the massages were great...gina and anina liked theirs so much they got back in line and had another:)...i was a little sore from the massage the next day, but it was well worth it...plus the guy who did my massage spoke english well, and was funny...he wanted to set me up with his boss...lol...
the bus ride home was fast, and i was back in seoul around 5...a great day...

i've never seen any other place/race organization that can match koreans in terms of putting on a good race...they send out race packets a week or two ahead, along with the race souvenir...shuttle buses are usually provided if the race is out of seoul...there is always a finishers medal, and a bag of food after the race...LOVE IT!!!