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!
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