Pre Marathon Training

So, I've decided to at least give things a go with the whole marathon thing. The actual race I would try to run happens June 3 on Jeju Island. I've never been there, and really would like to go because I hear it's a must-see in Korea, at least before I end my contract. AND, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to convince a few of my Korean lady friends to come down and watch me and cheer me on! How sweet would that be? To have people screaming for me as I cross the finish line, hahaha, just like old Track/X-C races.

Anyway, I've been reading my "Non-Marathoner's Training Manual" a lot lately, and some of what it talked about was polypropelene shirts (that take the water away from your body, esp. in winter to keep sweat from forming on your body), so I decided to go out and see if I couldn't grab myself a few of those. Well, I just so happened to stop by E-mart on a big sale day, esp. of things like this, so I picked up 2 of these shirts for $10 each (normal price in Korea on these particular shirts was $60) and I got another (with a little more color and character) for $28. In addition to this, I picked up some new running socks, that are really thick, and feel awesome on my feet. (Actually, running around Korea kind of sucks, because they make you take your shoes off at the entrance to anything, and so you are left wandering around in your socks. So far, I've ruined countless numbers (well, 10 maybe) but I still don't like buying new socks as often as I have to.) And, on top of that I got some sweet dark black corduroy pants for $5! Awesome, I've been looking for black, although I was hoping for jeans, but cords will do well enough I suppose.

Anyway, after all that, I was getting pretty excited for my running training to begin. (This time it MUST be all for fun, and I can't be as competitive with myself as I normally am, or I will just quit it again.) This weekend (using GoogleEarth) I traced a map of Jeonju and the major streets I will probably run along, as well as major destinations I'll head toward, and I used the GoogleEarth scale to estimate distances around town so that I can actually use the map, and the training schedule to adequately prepare for the marathon.

And actually, I am quite happy that I found this book, and the Jeju Island marathon (the entire course of it is along the coast. How cool is that!) Anyway, I am definitely looking forward to the next few weeks and months. I do still have a long time left in Korea, but this will help the time to fly much faster.

The only thing now, is I have to remember to do my online class, and I'd really like to continue studying languages. I just need to make a pattern or something so that the language learning can be structured and organized, and it also needs to be fun, or I won't do it either.

And I need to kill my TV, literally. It does have some good things on it, and there are some good times to watch it, but it does keep me from doing things that I should be doing, and the things I should be doing that I actually do, I don't do in a timely manner. Thanks to the TV, even the simplest task can become 3 times longer than necessary. However, last week, during my short breaks of 30 minutes between classes I did read (which was fun and encouraging to me, because I felt like I was accomplishing something worth while) and I ended up finishing two books last week, so it was nice.

That's all for now I suppose. Except for the fact that I've not posted in so long because I've not been to a PC room for well over a week, ever since my tonsil (right) got swollen (I think from the cigarette smoke) after 5 hours there last week. And therefore, I've not done any more of my online class either, and I've not done many more Internet things (including send in a resume for a job in Japan in Sept) that I've been meaning to do recently. And, back to the TV thing, my room's a mess, I've not cleaned it in well over a week, and just kind of let things pile up.

Ah, check out my marathon training blog at http://jmarathon.blogspot.com. I'll post to that after every time I run (and eventually record my distances and all) just to keep track of my progress. Out!