When I first told my friends who are seasoned runners, that I would run a race with them before they left this spring, I admit that I was just trying to be nice (sorry girls). Granted, I thought it would be fun but I never thought that I would actually build up the guts to go through with it. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. Not for the running factor or even doing a race necessarily. But more so to prove to myself that after years of not running, that I could still get back into the habit. I also have another confession. I really didn't train. Ever since returned from the states on our summer vacation, I just can't get back into the swing of working out. Before we left for vacation, I had just completed the Insanity program and had never felt better. You could actually see my muscles (if you looked really hard), which was a first for me. I came back to Korea with the intention of doing the program again or finding an equally challenging program to work thorough but unfortunately, it never happened. So when I signed up for the 5k, it was also my way of forcing myself to do something again. I ran a few times and tried to get my endurance up which has always been embarrassingly low. I managed to run a very short distance three times a week but by the day of the race, I still didn't feel as prepared as I had hoped to. I had only been able to run about half a mile until I would be forced to stop and walk for a little while, so my expectations of the race were equally low. But when the day of the race came, I got a surge of energy that I can't describe. I’ve heard before that you run a lot longer and faster than you thought possible because of all of the adrenaline of being a part of a race. I give that aspect credit along with giving most credit to the amazing ladies that ran along side me. Knowing it was my first race, they promised to stick by me and I can’t shed enough gratitude for that. They kept me running the whole time, along with the help of the cheerleaders on the sidelines yelling ‘fighting!’ (Korean's way of saying ‘keep working’ ‘you can do it’)
Go
Team Sparkle!
We ran the Busan Ocean Half Marathon Race which took place on the Kwangahn Bridge in Busan. It was possibly one of the most crowded events I have ever been to. Once the 5k started, we spent the first twenty minutes of it dodging all of the people just to get ahead to a place where we could run freely. Since this is one of the few times that you can walk along this bridge, there were
so many individuals and families there just to be able to do so. People were stopped at various points along the race to take pictures of the scenery and get their picture taken. It was an interesting mix of runners and people there just for the event, not to run.
Told you my friends were awesome. When you registered for the race you got to type in the reason you are running. Since my friend's boss registered her, she wasn't able to do this so she wrote her reasons in the day of the race.
After the race was over and the feeling of seeing my breakfast a second time subsided, I had an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion, pride and accomplishment. It’s safe to say that this will not be my last race and hopefully I will get to squeeze another one in before it gets too cold.
