Running like the Energizer Bunny

Fast forward two weeks and it's time for race number 2 - this time upping the ante a bit and going for the half marathon.  Honestly i'm not sure what I was thinking but I guess it is something that has always been in the back of my mind - on my bucket list. Especially after surrounding myself with runners - like my friend Peter from La Crosse who ran multiple marathons and always told me "just train, you'll get better at running and it'll be easy. I didn't believe him at the time seeing as I was lucky to run two miles, let alone 13.  I did find my love for exercise at La Crosse but running and I continued to have a love / hate relationship. Come Junior year another friend of mine, Jeremy, once again spiked my interest in running but I didn't seriously considered doing a marathon - sure I toyed with the idea but never got much further than that.  Jump ahead a few more years, find me living in Korea, this time friends with Charles who also told me "oh they're easy, you can do it".  I again shook it off and continued with my light jogs and yoga - but then one day the energizer bunny must have been hiding in my shoes because I could just keep going. Okay so back to the point...I did it, my first half-marathon is done and in the books, success. 

But you have to keep reading for the story behind it 

Lanterns, Eel, Art, and More!

To continue on our festival roll Sara, Amanda and I made the trip to Jinju last weekend.  If you recall the three of us made this trip one before, but for a a very different reason.  Reminiscing about our [attempted] hike of Jirisan made for some good jokes this weekend.  I was lucky enough to have a half day on Friday due to midterm exams so I decided to catch a mid-afternoon bus despite the fact that the other two would not be arriving until much later in the evening.  I'm not sure what I did wrong but I've had some stinky luck with buses recently, literally.  This time it was a man who though bathing in cologne would be a good idea before a 2.5 hour bus ride with 20 other strangers, thank you kind sir.  My bus pulled into town just after 5pm so after checking into our motel, conveniently located right across and down the river from the festival, I decided to go explore - as luck would have it I was just in time for the sunset. 

Fighting!

A few weeks ago I got a facebook invite from an old La Crosse friend Mitch, who is currently teaching in Seoul.  He's been here since August and since then has spent a few weekends exploring and hiking throughout Korea, this time he was trying to get a group together to takel Jirisan home to the second highest peak in Korea (the first being on Jinju island).  Now i'm a pretty active person but since being in Korea I haven't had many major athletic challenges or ways to test my endurance, none the less this invite spiked my curiosity.  Two weeks later and I roped my friends Sara and Amanda into coming along for the ride, Friday night hit and Sara and I were on our way to Jinju to meet up with Mitch and Amanda, before starting our early Saturday morning adventure.