South Korea Marathon Weekend

This past weekend Daniel and I went to Seoul, South Korea so he could participate in the marathon there. We had a wonderful weekend and the race was a huge success.

We arrived in Korea late Saturday afternoon, picked up his race number, and finally settled at our hotel, the stunning Imperial Palace.  We were looking for Italian food for dinner because it is all about the carbs the night before a marathon. Since the Italian restaurant at the hotel was booked up, we stopped by the "Guest Relations"  (hee hee) desk to ask for advice on where to go. The woman working at the desk spoke fluent English and Korean, which was very helpful when she called to book us a table at Antonio's restaurant. We asked her where she was from originally and the conversation went like this:

Kelly: Where are you from originally?
Her:  New York
Kelly: Cool, so are we. Where in New York?
Her: Long Island
Daniel: No kidding, so am I. Which town?
Her: Oyster Bay

Small world I tell you. I find it so random we are visiting South Korea and run into someone who grew up just miles from Daniel. Anyway, she was very nice and friendly and helped us out during our entire stay at the hotel.

The next morning started very early at 6 am as we made our way towards the starting line. Lucky for us, we keep some warm winter clothing in storage in Hong Kong because it was FREEZING. I don't know how the runners stood around in shorts. Daniel took off his warm clothes at the last minute and gave them to me to hold on to, but there were guys standing for an hour in shorts. Meanwhile I was cold in this jacket!

Here is Daniel warming up for his run and trying to stay warm until the start at 8 am.

Feeling the energy of the crowd as they get ready to start the race. It was very exciting!

After the race started and the runners took off, I left to find a spot to cheer them on as they ran by. After a quick stop in a coffee shop to get some tea and the feeling back in my fingers, I found the 17K mark and hung out until Daniel ran by. I chose a great spot to spectate. There were women drumming and tigers dancing. I found Daniel in the crowd when he came by and he looked great!

After this, I had some time to explore while the runners finished another 25K so I decided to check out the Gyeongbokgung Palace (try saying that five times fast!).  It was beautiful and I arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard.

This outfit is pretty awesome, no?

After exploring the palace, I made my way to the finish line to cheer Daniel on in the final stretch. The last part of the race was a lap around Olympic Stadium, which is a pretty cool way to end the race in my opinion.

Soooooo... How did he do? Daniel did an amazing job in the marathon! He ran a great time and he felt good the whole way. He even picked up his pace at the end of the race and flew past thousands of people to the finish line. Yay!

What better way to reward yourself for a marathon well run than Korean BBQ and raspberry wine? Delicious. And cheers to a fabulous weekend!