Trails

I've noticed that there are few Koreans here that run. I don't see them on the streets. I only see them on the running paths. While the paths are nice, they are boring. You can get some good distance while running on the paths and see a lot of the city. Korea doesn't have public drinking water. Boo hoo. I have to run with my water supply so my runs are limited to what I can endure without water or what I can endure with what I can carry.

I decided to have a fast run but I still wanted to work hard. In the spirit of adventure I took a new path and went in the opposite direction from my previous runs. It was easy to see why there were no other people running where I was. I immediately wound up running through a construction zone, then I had to hop a barricade. I crossed the river and ended up on a cobbled path. The path turned into trail resembling a dried riverbed. After a short time this turned into single-track that was being used by mountain bikers. I followed this until I got to a fork and I chose to go up a path and into the mountain that I had been following. The trail started up a short incline and steadily got better (worse) in that there were loose rocks all over, roots and the angle was so steep that I eventually was forced to walk. I walked until the angle eased and then I was back to running.

I ran down the other side of the mountain and ended up in a light-industrial area. People looked at me strange. My shoes were weird and I had bloody, cut up legs from the vegetation. When you walk somewhere you aren't supposed be to people put their hands up to stop you. When you are running people get out of your way to let you through. After a few stares and confused stares I was back to the river and back to the trail.

I went as fast as I could to get back home knowing that I only had a few more minutes before the sun would set and the homicidal daytime Korean drivers would only get scarier and more bloodthirsty in the dark.

I went out 2 days later to try and better my time and reverse the course. It was a more sustained incline going up so I was able to run the whole way. The descent was steep, loose and exciting. I managed to go fast enough to be at a full sprint by the end as I shot out of the bushes with enough velocity to scare the shit out of three peaceful farmers tending to rice paddies. Before they could protest my presence I was gone and running back to the river.

Daejeon is eerily familiar to the skyline of Madison, Wisconsin. The biggest difference is the fact that there are so few people out enjoying the natural surroundings. I could go on and on about what pussies the Korean youth are for never being out exercising but that would likely be futile and counterproductive. Instead I would prefer to motivate people to get out and push themselves. So get the fuck out there and do something. You live in an awesome city with amazing resources. Starcraft is a joke. Don't waste your life becoming fat like Americans. You have a chance to be better.