The decision was made, I have opted not to do the 1/2Ironman race in Taiwan. Instead I have changed my focus to running. I need to rebuild a solid base of running before I take on another tri! I kicked off my road races on the right foot! It was a 5k race, I went into it feeling great - had a pretty good night's sleep, made it to the race just on time, the weather was hot and sunny (just what I like) and I figured I would just give it my all.... a benchmark race so to speak. While waiting for the race to start, myself and my fellow white friend were standing about 1/2 way back when the race director pulled us to the front. They wanted some foreigners in their photo's of the start. Starting at the front is not my style, so soon as the gun went off I took off running and moved my way to the outside as quickly as possible! I ran the first mile of the race with this really nice Korean guy, every time I started to slow down, he motioned for me to keep up. We ran about 30seconds faster mile then I usually run. I was on my own after a mile.... tried to keep up the pace but let it slip a bit. Coming up to the turn around I could see that there were 2 ladies ahead of me. I tried to pick up my pace as much as I could, but to me it was important that I keep running and not slow down. Surprisingly it worked! Shortly after the turn around I passed 1 lady, and about 4 min later I passed the other lady. I knew this meant I was in 1st place for the women. I've never been here before, it was a new feeling, an amazing feeling but I also felt some pressure. I could taste my first ever 1st place win and I wanted it badly! I kicked it up a notch and didn't look back. Literally gave it everything I had. Coming up to the finish, the finish line crew picked up the banner for me to run though! I did it! I came in first place overall for the ladies!!! About 2 min after I crossed the finish line, I almost threw up the water I had, eek! And I was a bit out of it the rest of the day... but it was worth all of it!
I know this year hasn't been all that I've wanted it to be for running and tri's but it has really been something different. I have managed to earn 1st place in a 5km overall; 2nd place in my age group in a sprint tri; 3rd place in my age group in a 1/2 Ironman! All things I never knew I'd be capable of earning. Now that I've tasted what it's like to win, I want to keep pushing harder in my workouts and my training so that I'm able to keep it up!
Aside from the fun with racing, I did get out to explore a new part of Korea! In the south there is this massive national park, home to Jirisan mountain. Over the Korean holiday Chusok (similar to Thanksgiving), I had a nice 5 day weekend and took 3 days to travel down south and check it out. I quickly learned why Jirisan's trails are rated a 5 out of 5 on the challenging scale. The darn things are all made of stone! Some genius thought it would be great to make all the paths with stones.... some poor sap (probably literally poor and in need of a paycheck) took on the task of going up into the mountain and laying out stone paths, matching these rocks up like a giant puzzle. I think it could be the worst idea ever... but what do I know, I'm just a hiker that almost broke a few bones trying to navigate the paths! I could see that without the rocks, this hike would have been a ton of fun! But having to watch every step you took made for a tedious (and hard on the knees) long, slow 24km hike. The plan was to do the whole ride - 45km, but that was cut short with how hard the trail was on the body. I believe I need to do some more rock climbing before I can go back and tackle the 45km ridge. Alas, I will return, I have some unfinished business there! I would also like to say, at least I saw some beautiful views.... but with the heavy cloud and fog I saw - umm - cloud and fog. Maybe next time! :)
