Daegu 10K

Pizza and wine don’t usually make the list for training food, but mixed with hilarious stories between coworkers and friends the night before, Alex and I woke up energized for our big weekend in Daegu. I stayed cooped up during what seemed like the longest winter of my life and needed to get out again. We ran the 10K portion of the Daegu International Marathon -Alex’s first race! But not before standing on a train for an hour, ditching our taxi in the middle of nowhere, getting lost, getting help, getting stalked, attending a cult meeting and finally getting fed.

There’s no mention of booking a hotel because my mother indiscriminately rang every friend, old client, old flame and contact in Daegu to tell them we were coming. Under other circumstances I would have been be grateful for all those who offered to put us up for the night. But I’ve grown up knowing exactly what staying with a friend of my mother’s means, which is every decision made for you. Like to sleep in pajama shorts? Take those off. Here’s a flannel onesie. You shower in the morning? You’ll shower before bed from now on. Why aren’t you in the shower yet? You’ve been brushing your own teeth for over twenty years? Give me your toothbrush, hold still. Korean mother-women don’t seem to consider that I, myself want to get ready before leaving the house (usually) and I don’t need to be reminded of the necessity of shoes.

But refusing was a lost cause and being bossed around the house spilled into being bossed around the race. Really this part was not such a great time and we were exhausted with the pulling and pushing. But the traveling between orders and the race itself was just what I hoped it would be. Fun and freeing.
Getting something in our stomachs before taxing to Osong Station, Alex put her new juicer use and made strawberry-orange juice.

Healthy decisions.

Getting our bullet train tickets (KTX).

Standing room only. It wasn’t so bad, I’ve stood at concerts for longer. The scenery was nice and it went by fast (just over an hour).

Lost. After we got to Dong Daegu Station, we caught a taxi and asked to be taken to Daegu University. The driver said he knew where it was and we headed out of town. Yeah I thought that was weird too when we left the city limits. We got a little uncomfortable when he kept radioing someone and telling them he had a couple of foreigners. He started shouting at us when we asked if we were going the right way. We showed him the lonely sad blue pinpoint tracking our location on my phone’s GPS and he yelled at us some more. Alex and I quickly tossed him the fare and bailed at the next stop light.

After fifteen minutes of realizing were were not going to catch a taxi, this police officer came out of no where and to help us out. He stood in the street and waved a bus down for us going in the right direction. And we were on our way.

Enjoying the cherry blossoms while they last.