Last weekend Ben and I went up to Seoul to run a race and spend a little more time in Seoul. On Saturday we got up early and headed to the World Cup stadium on the north west side of the city.
I had been waffling about what distance to run. I was signed up for the half marathon and when I asked JB (a nice Korean guy who has a running website that helped register me for any Korean race) if I could switch to the 10k he said that I could run the 10k, but it would be with my half marathon number and entry. My training had really suffered the past few weeks and I didn't think I could run the half marathon. Before we got there, I was sure I was just going to run the 10k. So we get there, and I start thinking that maybe I could run the half marathon. After all this was my last race in Korea and I didn't know when I'd get to do another half marathon. I told myself that if my warm up went well that I would go for it. So of course, my warm up went well and I ran the half marathon.Here we are before the race.
I really enjoyed the run. I didn't push myself, I just went as fast as my body wanted me to (which admittedly wasn't as fast as I had wanted to go) and it was really nice. The course was along the Han river there in Seoul and was pretty flat except for a small hill at the end. I ran it in 2 hours and 5 minutes, which was about a 9:33 minute per mile. Not as fast as I would have wanted had I been training all the way up to the race, but I enjoyed the race and had a good time. Ben ran the 10k with a couple of people from his work and ran it in 47 minutes or so. He had sprained his ankle a few weeks back and didn't get much training either. I'm proud of him. For finishing the race we got a pastry, medal, energy drink, and a box of dried fish. Yep, a box of dried fish.
I didn't keep it and neither did Ben. After the race we went back to our hotel, spent some time in the pool, and then took a nice long nap. We were both out, so we certainly needed the rest. We then went to dinner with JB and a couple other runners. On Sunday we slept in and spent some time in Insadong, a big shopping area in Seoul.
I had been waffling about what distance to run. I was signed up for the half marathon and when I asked JB (a nice Korean guy who has a running website that helped register me for any Korean race) if I could switch to the 10k he said that I could run the 10k, but it would be with my half marathon number and entry. My training had really suffered the past few weeks and I didn't think I could run the half marathon. Before we got there, I was sure I was just going to run the 10k. So we get there, and I start thinking that maybe I could run the half marathon. After all this was my last race in Korea and I didn't know when I'd get to do another half marathon. I told myself that if my warm up went well that I would go for it. So of course, my warm up went well and I ran the half marathon.Here we are before the race.
I really enjoyed the run. I didn't push myself, I just went as fast as my body wanted me to (which admittedly wasn't as fast as I had wanted to go) and it was really nice. The course was along the Han river there in Seoul and was pretty flat except for a small hill at the end. I ran it in 2 hours and 5 minutes, which was about a 9:33 minute per mile. Not as fast as I would have wanted had I been training all the way up to the race, but I enjoyed the race and had a good time. Ben ran the 10k with a couple of people from his work and ran it in 47 minutes or so. He had sprained his ankle a few weeks back and didn't get much training either. I'm proud of him. For finishing the race we got a pastry, medal, energy drink, and a box of dried fish. Yep, a box of dried fish.
I didn't keep it and neither did Ben. After the race we went back to our hotel, spent some time in the pool, and then took a nice long nap. We were both out, so we certainly needed the rest. We then went to dinner with JB and a couple other runners. On Sunday we slept in and spent some time in Insadong, a big shopping area in Seoul.
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