third race is the charm.

New money, new clothes, new race place and new age.... all things that have happened this week!




My birthday was on Friday, November 5th.  Along with all of the lovely birthday wishes from friends and family all over ( including a card with a DONUT in it! Thanks Little C :)),  I was treated with a surprise birthday display in the kitchen when I woke up... complete with Rilakkuma propoganda - much needed.  I also got some awesome compression socks, which  - though I'm not sure how they work - are sure to take hours off my race times. 

At work I was treated with a decorated desk, awesome cards, and a cake!! This was the second cake for the staff at Haeundae as Brett teacher's birthday was November 4th.  We are a little spoiled sometimes.

On Friday night, we met up with Christine and Brent for our first sushi meal in the Kay oh Ray at a place called Niki Niki Sushi in PNU.  It was AWESOME, and I could have eaten the entire meal a second time and not felt sick. 

Following this, I used my new pay cheque to get myself some hot new kicks at the Mizuno store, also in PNU.  All in all a wicked birthday.

don't touch my shoes rilakkuma. you're too lazy.

On Saturday we had to go into the school for an open house that was held for parents of incoming Kindergarten students. We spent an hour reading stories to the kids and making origami tomato purses...not a horrible way to spend the morning, and Tim has a new 6 year old fan who I will name Andrea Read if I get the pleasure of naming her when she comes. 


We then went for what turned out to be a giant shopping spree.  I have been SO sick of all of my clothes since about my second week here, and have been dying to buy new things (couldn't bring much in 100lbs of luggage).  I did pretty well and managed to spend at a rate of about 100$/5 minutes.  Very efficient.  I am glad that it isn't as hard to find clothes that fit as some people told me, and I got some really great buys  including a winter coat and my favorite new hoodie... 

Today was our third race day in Korea.  We travelled by subway to Yangsan, which took almost 90 minutes.  Quite a hike.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, about 18-20 degrees and sunny for the run, and the leaves are changing so the mountain views are really spectacular.

We met up with Kylene, Ian, Bren and Adam ( who we met in the first race) and also met a few new friends, Christina, another CDN, and Simon, Adam's friend who lives in Hong Kong. 


Tim ran the 5k and WON (!!!!!!) but he didn't register so he just veered off the course before the finish line. Makes up for the disappointing non-finish in Gyeong Ju a few weeks ago!


I ran the 10k and had  a pretty great race.  I was relaxed the whole time, and didn't see any women around me for the entire race.  The course was really flat, so I found it pretty boring and started out a bit too fast, so my pace slowed down a bit too much for a big pb. As I was coming in, I saw the finishing ribbon still up and thought that I'd WON, but then they handed me a card that said 2nd, and Tim told me that an old tank of a woman had come in around 39:00.  


After passing in my chip, I got a back with the best post-race kit yet.... eggs and Ramyeon noodles. 


So, although I was slightly disappointed to not win, my time wasn't great ( not sure of it, but I think it was low 42:00/high 41:00) so it would not really have felt like a legit win if I had come first. 


Adam ended up coming in 3rd, so us foreignys really represented!

I FINALLY got to go up on the podium, and it was hilarious.  They had about 15 paparazzi cameras on us, and played a song similar to the star wars theme at full blast.  I truly didn't know if I should laugh or cry.  I was given a 10 lbs glass trophy as well.

10 lbs of second place bling.

We were given little slips, which when we took to the race organizers, they gave us  cash prizes! Adam got 100,000 won ( 100$ ) for coming 3rd, and I got 200$! Yessa!!! 
That definitely helps to offset my heavy spending spree yesterday.

sorry we took all your money, Korea.

So, after a lovely fine dining experience at Breeze Burns burger place in Somyeon with the crew, we made it back to the dong for a soak at the jimjillbang. Now we are back to our humble abode, which although the toilet and tap now only work about 30% of the time, it's still our home.

Good day in the Kay oh Ray.