City 18 done: Seoul

It has been 7 months since my last "Olympic" run. Far too long for my liking so it was nice to get back to my challenge!

I had my eye on the Seoul International Marathon as my event to do in Seoul but wasn’t sure about doing another full marathon. It's been over three years since my last one and I have only done two before.

However; I took the decision to enter the marathon earlier this year so I had three months to prepare and there was no going back. I secretly wanted to see if I could break the three hour mark on race day. Read on to see if I did.....

I arrived in Seoul and it was absolutely freezing. Literally. It was so cold that walking for 8-10 minutes outside left me looking for the nearest coffee shop to go into to get warm. I checked the temperature on my phone. -1 degree centigrade. WTF? I was panicked for a while until I saw that as the week went by it was due to heat up to a tropical 11 degrees on race day. Phew!

Soon enough race day was here. I was excited but also quite nervous. The thought of running 26.2 miles was a little daunting plus I was putting myself under my own pressure of a good time. None the less I showered, dressed and ate a glamourous breakfast of Oats So Simple and bananas in my room before heading to the start line in the center of town.

The atmosphere at the start was good. Everyone was in a cheerful mood and the warm up was done to very upbeat K-Pop (which I became a huge fan of during the trip) with some very energetic girls leading on a podium in hot pants. I have noted a few of the moves for my next night of clubbing.

Then the start gun went off. I crossed the line and quickly got into my pace. A little quicker than I had intended.

The kilometers seemed to be flying by and before I knew it I had passed the 6km and then 16km markers. We were running through the area of town where I was been staying and where I had done my last few easy training runs once I arrived in Seoul. 

There is a sunken river that used to be a motorway which is stunning. We ran all the way along it and even took in some of the end sections where the motorway is still there in semi derelict form. Urban running at its best. We looped back on ourselves during this section and I caught a glimpse of the 3 hour pacemaker. He was way ahead of me on the other side of the river so there was no way I was going to catch him but I thought I seemed to be running at around the same pace. The drinks stations were every 5km and I made sure I filled up on water and iso drinks at each opportunity. I felt good reaching the 20km mark and was still tracking good time. I had filled my pockets with jelly beans and at this point started to take a few to keep my sugar levels up. They tasted good.

The route had remained fairly flat and the kilometers were still going by very quickly. At the half way point I crossed in about 1 hour 22 minutes which I knew was fast. I was happy to be on track for sub three hours and I knew that I had an “extra” eight minutes to do the second half. Just beyond this point I did have to start planning a re-creation of one of Paula Radcliffe’s most famous moments. Where could I pee? I hadn’t really noticed any loos along the route so searching out for a roadside bush was a must. I had noticed a few people doing this way back at the start so I figured I would not get arrested for doing the same. I spotted a place with no spectators nearby and made my way of for some relief. 

Onwards I then went. As I reached the 30km mark I was still pacing well but my legs had started to feel a little heavy. There was a food station at this point so I refueled with a banana (my fourth of the day so far) and more jelly beans. I then didn’t focus on the rest of the race but merely on getting to the 35km mark when I would treat myself to more sugar. The kilometers were certainly not flying by from this point and I could tell I was slowing down. Reaching the 35km mark I was happy (particularly as it had been the steepest incline of the race to reach it) and the views across the river were lovely. That said though I could see the Olympic Stadium where we were due to finish across the other side of the river and realised it was a further 7km before we would be inside it. That’s a long way. 

I knew I wouldn’t make it within three hours at this stage since my pace had slowed quite a lot so I focused on beating the 3 hours 15 minutes. I decided to run each kilometer and then walk for 15 seconds to rest and then run to the next kilometer marker. This seemed to work for me and whilst I was disappointed to have to stop for short breaks I thought it was best to arrive at the finish in one piece. Soon I was at 40km with only 2km to go. I carried on with the same strategy and then there was only 1km to go. Woo hoo! Soon I was then inside the stadium. Less than once around the track and I would be home. I looked at my watch as I crossed the line. 3 hours 3 minutes 36 seconds. Almost all the threes! It placed me 537^th out of 20,000 starters. 

So not quite under the 3 hour mark but still beating my marathon PB by 47 minutes....I'll take that! 

So that is city number 18 done and it's not long until city number 19 takes to the stage. Bring on Los Angeles in a few weeks time!

Until then...... 

Finished at the end

With my South Korean flag. Olympic city 18 done!