Two weeks ago Keith and I went camping for the first time in Jeju. It was so much fun! We went with our friends Sarah, Brady and Dan (who's in charge of all the Jeju Fury sports' events). Although it was raining that day we still went since Dan had big tarps to cover our tents. We ended up going to the south end of the island, where we camped out near a beautiful and famous waterfall called Donico, which is hidden in a forest. We brought snacks with and games and just all hung out in one of our tents after getting all of our tents and the tarps set up. I was very happy that our tent was really easy to put up and our tents were comfortable and kept us warm and dry.

I really would like to do more camping this summer. Maybe each weekend? It's so nice to be out in nature and not have technology around you. Hopefully next time we go it won't be raining so we can have a bonfire and hang out more outside, maybe on a beach. It's still rainy season though so we might have to wait until July. I checked the weather forecast today and it looks like rain and thunderstorms every day for the upcoming week! When will it stop?

Actually, I like having some rainy days though. Like today, for example, Keith and I had such a relaxing day. We slept in, talked to Keith's mom on skype, then I made home-made guacamole, home-made granola bars and a smoothie and we watched The Office. I did yoga and then played some guitar...learned my first song! (twinkle twinkle little star...hopefully I'll step it up to a more difficult song soon:) And tonight we're talking to some of Keith's friends on skype and will just be relaxing around the apartment. It's nice to have some lazy rainy days.

Raw Food diet?

It’s been about two weeks after my marathon and I am just so happy to have a life again! I'm relieved to take a break from running and focus on other things, like I'm getting really into cooking. I've been discovering all of these vegan and vegetarian websites/recipes and trying to make my diet more of a raw/ natural diet. Each day, I make something new. It's a lot of fun! Also, I'm starting to learn how to play the guitar, I’m still studying Korean, and I'm also swimming, doing yoga and doing boot-camp. Besides that, school is coming to an end for me in a few weeks and Keith is currently getting his scuba diving certificate here in Jeju. He has one more day in the water...but there's supposed to be a typhoon and thunderstorms this weekend so it might be held off a week. Also, we booked our tickets for our 1 yr anniversary trip to Sri Lanka in August! I'm so excited! I can't wait!

Here are some vegan/healthy websites if you’re interested:


http://www.rawmazing.com/

http://www.naturallysavvy.com/

http://steamykitchen.com/recipes

http://www.thehappyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/

http://www.veganchef.com/

Even if you're not a vegan or vegetarian you can still get great ideas and substitute some of the ingredients.

Enjoy!


Next time, I’ll try to post some pictures of what I’ve been making.

2011 Jeju Full Marathon!!!

WOW! The marathon was incredible! It was truly the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life and; therefore, I feel so accomplished right now. :)

Let me tell you about the race day...

Keith and I got up super early on Sunday, around 6am. I immediately ate a bowl of oatmeal with a little bit of banana and peanut butter and then did some stretching until our ride arrived. We went to the race with our friends Sarah and Brady. Back in January, me, Brady, Keith and a few others were sipping on some hot chocolate at Chocoart Café and had that day made a pact to run the Jeju June marathon (everyone running different distances). Unfortunately Keith got injured and other things came up for the others who were originally going to join, but Brady and I were able to keep our promise! And so, the day had finally come and we were so prepared and excited to conquer this goal that we had been training for since the winter!

Well, the race was at Gimyeong beach, which is about 45 mins away from our place. It was a little hard to find the start location because it was so foggy out! But as soon as we arrived, we saw hundreds of people stretching on this big track field and preparing for the race. The whole event looked as though we were at a festival. There were clowns on stilts, kids dressed up in traditional Korean costumes, mascot animals walking around and posing for pictures and people marching around the track while playing musical instruments.

Keith and I made a few laps around the track (just walking) as a warm-up and then I did lots of stretching and last minute preparations before the race started at 9am. I saw a lot of people running laps and sprinting which I thought was a little silly. Why would you use up your energy?? Right before the start of the race, I drank a sip of OJ and had a bite of my last cliff bar (my parents sent over a dozen of them for my long training days), and also made a quick trip to the bathroom. Then, at 9am after many long Korean announcements (haha) the race had started and we were all off! Hundreds of people were all slowly running (actually walking for a few minutes!) while balloons were flying over our heads and people were cheering and taking pictures in the stands. I felt a great burst of energy in the beginning, but of course, I made sure to quickly find a good pace so as not to go too fast. I had a looong way to go!

I was pretty worried about how late the race time was considering it's already June and the weather has been pretty warm. However, the weather was absolutely perfect that day!! It was overcast, misty, very foggy and a lil breezy since we ran along the coast. But it was also very very humid that day so I was sweating like never before! The mist and breeze really helped and they were handing out cold wet sponges at the food/drink stations and that felt AMAZING!

Well, the race overall felt excellent. I knew that all my hard work during training days had paid off, but don’t get me wrong, the race was still not easy and by the end I had to walk a lot more than I had expected. One thing that made the race seem SOO much longer were the signs at each km!! There are 42 km in a marathon (26.2 miles) so yeah, seeing 42 signs made the race super lengthy. I listened to music but had a hard time letting my mind drift off like it usually did during my long training runs. I think this was because I was enjoying the coastal view and was excited and engaged in the people that were cheering me on at the sidelines. They were all yelling "fighting"...a popular expression they use here for ..."don't give up". I actually wrote it in marker on both of my arms for extra cheering! haha

The view of the scenery was amazing that day. Since it was so foggy, it felt mystical running into the clouds with a view of the ocean and the jeju black rocks along the coast. Although there was not the crazy amount of spectators like at my half-marathon in Chicago, there were a small group of about 4 or 5 Korean students at every 3 km cheering the runners on. This was perfect for me because it made the race more relaxing and similar to my training days, allowing me to focus on just enjoying the moment, as well as reflecting on the journey that I was about to end.


About halfway through the race I realized that most of the students that were on the sidelines cheering the runners on were MY students from my middle school! I was so surprised! And so were they when they found out their foreign teacher, Tina Teacher, was in this event that they were volunteering at! I found out later that those students are part of a volunteer group that sign-up for events (like the marathon) each year to help out at. It was so great to not only have Keith and Sarah rooting me on at different points in the race, but also to have my students who I am so close with!


All in all, I would describe the whole race as peaceful. I very much liked how after the turning point for the half-marathoners, I was pretty much running on my own- all runners were at their own pace and pretty far apart from one another. I did meet a few really nice Korean and Japanese runners during the race though. We all pushed each other when we ran for a short distance with one another or slowly passed one another.
I also loved how even though people had passed me up a lot at the beginning of the race, after the half-marathoners and 10-k runners had turned around, I started passing some of the full-marathoners.

I wasn't that fast, I finished in 5 hrs, but I am more than happy and satisfied with that time, since my main goal was to just finish the race. My friends and Keith said that I was the only one who sprinted as fast as I did at the end so I was pretty happy and proud to hear that. Most people were walking the end or jogging very slowly by that point. Also, I felt good after my run which means that I trained really hard and ate/drank the right amounts during the race. Keith was a wonderful trainer! I couldn't have been luckier to have him helping me throughout the whole thing.

It felt wonderful to finish strong and then to see Keith, Sarah, Brady and even my students at the finish line, greeting me with congrats and hugs! I chugged a huge bottle of Gatorade afterward and then quickly stretched and stood in absolute awe and amazement at my personal goal that I had just achieved!!! Words can't describe how happy I was. It had taken me a few years, yes a few years!, to find the time, commitment and health for training and completing the marathon. In 2008, I had started my training and then had to stop for 3 months because I had needed shoulder surgery. Also, last year when we had first arrived to Jeju, Keith and I trained for several months but since we had not found an indoor gym that first winter, it was so difficult to continue training on cold winter days, rainy days and during vacation days while we were traveling. And then we got engaged and started planning a dream wedding! And so as you see, I feel very fortunate to have finally found the time, commitment, motivation and health to reach such a difficult and time-consuming goal.

As of right now, I don’t know if I would do another full-marathon. I think a half-marathon seems more practical because of the long training commitment and also because it isn’t as hard on your body. But who knows what I will want to accomplish next. Maybe a tri-athlon or half-ironman will be the next big obstacle…. we will see.

Thank you for everyone's support and encouragement throughout the entire journey! You have helped me get to where I am today!

2011 Spring Jeju Fury Vball Tourney

Updates here...

We just had a 2 day vball tournament. It's a fundraiser vball tournament that happens here on the island each spring and fall. Do you remember from last year? We were once the champions for a smaller tournament that was after the big one last June. The event is run by our friend Dan Nabben who's friend Canada. About 400 people (foreigners and Koreans) attend (some who fly in from Seoul) and it's pretty much the best weekend of the year. There's music, food, drinking, partying, camping out, beach v-ball games all day and just a lot of fun socializing. Keith volunteered and was the MC (announcer) and kept count of the scores/ranks for all the teams. He worked so hard helping out since he couldn't play because of his ankle injury. But things are looking up for him. He has been off his crutches and has been going to physical therapy and will be starting to swim soon and build up his strength. :)

But yeah, our team did pretty good and it was just an overall amazing and sunny weekend with nice weather (70s.

It's those days when we're sitting on the beach with tons of friends, playing v-ball, drinking a beer and watching the sunset, feeling really relaxed with no worries that we just can't believe where we are and know how lucky we are to experience all of this.


Anyways, I only have only 4 more weeks of teaching until my students have their final tests and then soon after they will have their summer vacation. Also, Keith and I will be starting to swim and bike more after my marathon (in only 1 1/2 weeks!) and might (if Keith's foot is better) start taking a salsa dance class.

We're also going to start exploring all the beaches on the island, as well as the other islands nearby. We also want to do more hiking and camping and photography around Jeju.

Right now we're in the middle of planning a 1 yr anniversary trip (hopefully) to Sri Lanka (near India). The island looks AMAZING....7 UNESCO sites, beautiful national parks with wild animals like leopards, many ruins and ancient cities, beautiful beaches, etc..... I had no idea until I did the research.


We're still trying to figure out vacation dates but I will let you know if we end up booking the trip. And if we're not able to, hey, we will still have an amazing Aug 7th celebration here in beautiful Jeju filled with laughs and love.


-Tina