Recognize me?
Current mood: accomplished

Your eyes do not deceive you; that photo is me, in a pink shirt, just finishing a 5k. It's over!

The trip to Andong took a long time in a small van. When we arrived, we met up with my Hapkido master's friends and ate the best meal I think I've had in Korea...and since I love Korean food, that's a big statement. Andong Chicken. It was marinated chicken in some kind of spicy sauce with onions, potatoes, peppers, and these long clear noodles made from sweet potatoes. Sooooo good!

From there, we headed to the public bathhouse where the majority of us were spending our evening. It was a fun time in the bathhouse. Two other girls were along for the running, so we hit up the female floor and soaked in the tubs and hit the sauna. We donned the canvas-like uniforms for the coed floors and met up with the rest of the group to hang out. When 12:30 rolled around, we decided to find places to crash. The sleeping rooms were mostly full, but we found a female sleeping room near the gym. Korean heaters work by heating the floorboards, and we were sleeping on thin mats...so you can imagine how insanely hot it was. I didn't get a lot of sleep and wasn't the happiest when Master Yoon stuck his head through the door to wake up us.

The run itself went fine. I didn't train very much, so my only goal was to run the entire time with no walking breaks. I'm happy to tell you that I accomplished my meager goal, and although I don't know my time (I didn't wear a watch and they only times the races at or above 10k), I did receive a medal. Not for placing or anything, just for completion. Cute, huh? They also had a spread of free cold noodle soup and grilled pork for free for the runners after the race, which I was pleased about.

We spent the rest of the day gorging ourselves and heading to the traditional village called Hahoe, where people still live in the traditional Korean way and wear the traditional dress, hanbok. It must be annoying for them to have tourists wandering through the main street of their town, but it was cool to see.

I'm a little tired this evening, my legs are a little sore, but it's not terrible. Not that I'm going to start running for fun or anything, but it didn't kill me and the weekend was a fun time. So yeah, I ran on purpose. And paid for it. Imagine that.