Lunch at Dong-A-Marathon Center

Sprint Tri Sign

Monday, August 11th
So it’s day 4 here in CheJu. Yesterday was extremely rainy and HUMID. This is the perfect climate for the athletes as it is way humid. The heat index is ridiculous. The day started early(for me these days) at about 5:40 as two of the athletes were competing at a “pre Games sprint tri”. There are so many countries training here that a guy from the Korean Tri Association organized a sprint triathlon. We headed out with Jarrod and Julie after 6 down to the venue. Another scorcher of a day on the way. A very informal race with probably 12 women and 20 men.

Everyone had different training objectives with the race as a few stopped after the swim and then a few after a lap of the bike and a few after a lap of the run- trying to get in some hard swim and bike efforts but also trying to stay somewhat fresh for next week. Jarrod ended up 2nd in the men’s race out of the 6 that finished. And Julie was 1st out of 2. None the less, fun to have a bit of a preview. I don’t feel like I’m doing too much but the days do go quickly. I am dead tired at night and have been falling asleep face down in my book. Right now I’m watching the men’s basketball team, China vs. US- in Korean. I’m hoping to be fluent by the time I leave. So Dr. K and I made our, what is becoming, a daily run to the “E-Mart” for coffee. He also had to get 20 bags of ice for ice baths for the athletes. I knew I should have brought my French press- what a mistake!!! The Doc and I debated buying a coffee maker but decided to just do our daily runs and we would look that much more forward to coffee in Beijing. So this E-Mart place… yea, like a K-Mart with a little of everything. I try to be open minded but I just don’t get the fish and seaweed stuff they seem to love here. After 2 cappuccinos the Doc and I made our way back to get the ice baths ready, I fiddled with my computer to get a wireless connection, made a skpe call, took care of some emails and bam- it was already lunch. More delicious Korean ham. I never think I’m too picky of an eater until I travel out of the country and find myself craving my American food. The ham just looks different especially still on the bone. And the cheese, it’s like Kraft cheese in the plastic wrapper individually wrapped- YUCK, I haven’t eat that since I was 7. Must remain open minded, must remain open minded, must remain open minded… this is my mantra. So shortly after lunch I sagged two of the girls on the bike as they rode to the open water swim for the day. We headed to Jungmung Beach two vans, two girls on two bikes and one lone scooter. I definitely have the scooter thing down. No worries, I wear a helmet. Especially here… these people are HORRIBLE drivers. Really. It’s like their stop signs and stop lights are optional. It’s even rubbing off on me when we pull up to a red light and one of the athletes tells me, “no one’s coming, you can go”- and I do! Such is life, I succumb to peer pressure. So… we hang at the beach a bit and watch the athletes swim and then it’s back to the Center. Another trip to E-Mart. Do some work on the computer and then it’s already dinner. More pasta, chicken, some extremely delicious tofu… meeting time with staff and athletes… and here I am, typing away at 9pm on Monday night. So, the highlight of the day, for me… at dinner I bring up that I went to the Colorado Springs Zoo last weekend. If you have not been, you must go. It was fantastic. My dad, Chris and I spent 4 hours checking everything out. I found myself intrigued by the grizzlies and the mountain lions, maybe because they are practically out the back door. (maybe not grizzlies but my friends Alison and Nathan still swear they saw one in the San Juans- and I saw Nessie my last trip to Scotland- never been to Scotland)… I digress... so Sarah proceeds to share her story of the tapars and their mating ways. Quite intriguing to say the least. You Tube it is all I can say. And I thought the penguins were interesting… I missed out. So I am off to bed here soon. Tomorrow I hope to take a field trip with the bike mechanic. We haven’t decided where but I’m sure I will have some pics to share tomorrow.