Why I can't join the <6 sleeping hours club.

Thank goodness it's Saturday.  The end has come to one of those long weeks - the kind that just make you want to crawl into bed and pull the blankets over your head ... even just for an hour.

It started out well enough.  I finished my long run on Monday fully pumped for the half marathon we've got coming up shortly (!) and walked home all happy.  Jon had made pasta for dinner, so I sat down to eat.  Then it started.

My appetite was sapped.  I, a person who really really likes a high-carb dinner, couldn't stomach more than a bite.  Nausea set in.  I curled up on the couch with Keedo, who knew something was wrong, and fell asleep for a few hours.  When I woke up I still wasn't hungry, but the nausea had subsided.  I ate a bland dinner of cereal and granola bars (which I'll eat any time of day), and passed out early - 9:30 or so.

Now, this meant that I got a good night's rest, but also meant that I'd not prepared for class the next day.  I woke up early, showered, and scrambled to work by 6am to google, print, photocopy and grade essays before my 6:40am class started.  The day went on as per usual, and Jon and I met up with some of his former students for a bite to eat after work.  A little bit of dongdongju (ice-cold Korean rice wine) on a weeknight never really hurt anyone, right?  We went home happy and satisfied after hearing some rollicking good stories from Fiona, a robust Korean woman with far too much personality to fit in here.

Out again for a drink (is this really Monday?) to meet Chi-ho, a friend we didn't expect to see after that night because we're leaving in just over a month.  We waited over an hour before we gave up on him and called it a night, jogged across the main street, ignoring a taxi driver motioning for us to stay on the median instead, and back to our flat.

Minus my wallet.

I went back to look for it no more than 20 minutes later, but the whole scene had already changed and the wallet was nowhere to be found.  That's when I realized that the taxi driver was trying to point it out to me, tell me that I'd dropped it.  So much for being able to tune out Seoul's millions ... serves me right.  From then on, for one reason or another, I got only 5 hours of sleep - this, for a girl who obviously needs closer to 7 or 8 to function properly.

On Thursday, I misplaced my glasses.  Friday morning, I thought I lost the gift certificate to Adidas I'd won after the race.  I forgot my cell at home one morning, and Keedo got at it.  Now, when I press 9, or text using 'prs', I get a question mark.  My feet have been soaking wet all week because of a few days of rain (morning until night) and I really just needed a recovery day.

The good news is that nobody used my cards before I cancelled them, but getting replacements will be a royal pain.  I'm bummed that I lost my wallet, a funky purple snakeskin single-fold (i.e. men's wallet) that I don't expect Club Monaco to carry again.  But mostly, I'm just a bit angry at myself for letting a few small things get to me so much.  I guess that's why I need to be babied a little - a full night's sleep for this one or all hell breaks loose.

Note: Since I initially wrote this post about 3 weeks ago, I have lost my cell phone, forgotten my glasses on my bedside table and had them chewed up by Keedo, temporarily misplaced my temporary wallet in the staff room at work, and become a bit of a laughing stock for it all.  I took the cell of a former coworker who left Korea in early June, locked the phone while trying to put it on vibrate and had to lie about ownership to get the cell unlocked.  The list goes on. This has been more than a wake-up call reminding me that I shouldn't go drinking twice on a weeknight and that I have a one of those rare patient and supportive boyfriends.  It has also helped me realize that this culture is just way too damn fast for me to keep up with.  I'm definitely looking forward to slowing down a little back in Canada when I return on July 7.

Adidas Hangang Marathon

First of all, in Korean parlance, a "marathon" isn't what you'd expect.  Rather than completing a gruelling 42.2km in one go, like my friend Brandon, our "marathon" was really a 10k.

But "marathon" sounds so much cooler, doesn't it?

This was a Pagoda-wide event - English teachers and Korean admin - meaning that about 50 or so runners had a silly red PAGODA sticker literally slapped on their front and back.  Piggybacking on a few good runners wasn't the worst idea our employer has ever had.  Hey, if they'll pay for my race fee, I can at least wear it past the starting line ... beyond that, I won't be chasing it down if it flies off my running jacket.

Patrick - who completed a marathon before coming to Korea and who is expecting his first child in November - outran us all that day finishing in under 38 minutes.

Jon finished not much later, under 40 minutes.  He and Patrick breezed past me at the 3km mark because I'd weaseled my way to the front of the 4,000-strong crowd before the starting gun.

I made the lucky mistake of pacing with a Korean man with blue tape on his legs, and finished first out of the women from Pagoda and 13th in the women's category.  My time was 45:49 - which will probably remain my PB for years to come.  I could barely feel my legs running to the finish - note how my stride is far lazier than my running partner's.

Like with the previous Adidas race, we were all provided with healthy fried food and beer after the race.  Exactly what I needed!  Thank you Pagoda!

Photo credits go to a Pagoda photographer and to Maria, who cheered us on past the finish - thank you!  Stay tuned for our next ridiculous running goal - a half marathon on June 14.