My first article on blogger

My race experience in Korea

I arrived at the starting line bundled from head to toe. I see the cold crisp air coming from my mouth as I tried to keep warm. I still remember it was early November 2001 and I knew very few runners except for my husband and the running group that I joined. It was the opening of the Express way (half marathon distance) near Wonju, Korea.
Like at every race, I was nervous, but everything was foreign to me. I couldn’t understand the signs nor the language. I would just follow the runners. As there was five minutes left before the race I quickly removed all my layers and I quickly double checked my shoe laces were tied and my bib number was on. The bib number was made of cloth and I kept it as a souvenir.
We were then ready to go and I looked around to see where I could position myself. I went to the front of the pack and waited for the gun to go off. The nervousness quickly disappeared as I settled into the half marathon race. I relaxed not expecting anything except to complete it. The huge crowd became a small group of runners and little did I know that I was in the lead. I couldn’t really understand why a helicopter was flying above me so low that I wondered if I had done something wrong! I just kept going and paid little attention to everything around me. I felt strong and wasn’t sure where I was in position until one local runner said to me as we ran together through the tunnel that I was the number one woman. I couldn’t believe it. It was magical! I was over half way and I felt happy, but I was getting tired as the course was hard enough. I kept running though and kept thinking positive thoughts. I soon seen the the finish line about 200 metres away and I ran as hard as I could. I see the banner up a head and was so excited to break the banner. Without a moment rest, I was quickly shuttled into the direction of the media. My picture was taken for the paper. The runners were so gracious and I felt welcomed. The next day the director of the school said that I had made the front pages of their local paper. It was exciting and what quickly followed were more interviews. This was my first race experience in Korea and after that I raced a few more races. My racing experience there will always be a memorable one!