Message posted by: Reg R.

This RR is coming a bit late as I have been out in the field for a long time.

So, here I am stationed in Korea for a year, I figure there has to be a triathlon somewhere off post that I can make. I finally found the 2009 Uljin Triathlon on the east coast of Korea. Man, I thought, how cool is this going to be. The swim is in the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea as the Koreans call it, and the bike/run course is right along the coast. The race was in October, and I knew that the water was going to be cold. With some insight from fellow Ontriers, I bought an Xterra wetsuit. I had never done the Olympic distance before so I started to train my booty off.

Then, of course the Army got in the way. Two different exercise got in the way of my training and four days until the race, it was in doubt as to whether I would be able to go or not. Well, the Tri Gods smiled upon me and I was able to go. The race was on a Sunday, so me and one of my buddies hopped on a train down to Uljin. We met one of my Korean friends outside of Seoul and took a bus the rest of the way. It is a good thing we brought him as the race ended up being in the small fishing village of Hupo. My Korean is not yet good enough to get those types of directions; however I can order beer (the most important thing to learn in any language).

We made to the race via the NASCAR bus, very crazy driver. I think we spent more time on the left side of the road rather than the right. Sign in was very easy, and we got our bikes checked in, found a hotel, and went to the race briefing. Turns out we were the only three to go. Usually they have a barbeque during the briefing, but were being cautious this year because of H1N1.

Race day was beautiful. The race began at 9:00, but I was up early enough to walk down to the beach to watch the sunrise. The air was cool, and the water, while shocking at first, was easily able to get used to.

I remember my first triathlon. It was a sprint and I did it with my folks. They were in different waves so I did not see them during the race. I remember the swim start and how chaotic it was, but it was nothing compared to this. This race had nearly 600 participants, and only one wave. Yep, 600 people into the water at once. My friend I was doing the race with had never done a triathlon, never swam in the ocean, and had certainly never experienced anything like this. He was one of only two people not wearing a wetsuit, and he stook out like a sore thumb. As we were about 100 meters into the swim, I hadn’t even pulled a stroke of water yet, mostly using the bodies around me to keep moving. I looked over and saw him trying to swim. He looked more like a dog trying not to drown. I, of course, couldn’t help from laughing, and promptly swallowed a mouth of sea water (Karma, anyone?). I put my head down and began to rifle through the sea of racers. I saw him later on,
clinging to the rope that sectioned off the course. I asked him if he was alright and he said that he thought it would be a great idea to just wait until everyone passed. I chuckled again, and swallowed the ocean again.

At T1, I realized why most racers wear their biking shirts under their wetsuits. I felt like Chris Farley trying to fit into David Spades coat in Black Sheep. I finally jerked to shirt over my head, ripping off the number in the process. I pinned the number back on and headed out for the race.

I then did something, I told myself I would never do. I used a cell phone during the race. I know, I know berate me. But I had told my wife I would call her before the race, and with all the excitement, I forgot to until we entered the swim. So, during the first two miles of the bike, I was “that guy.”

The bike was awesome. Flat, fast and right along the coast. So close, in fact the as the waves crashed into the rocks, the spray would was over onto the road, sometimes right onto me. It was simply amazing. The only bad thing about that was that about 2/3 into the race, the fisherman began to hang out their salty, squid catch from the previous night. Inhaling drying dead squid is definitely what you don’t want to do during the race.

The run was as I thought it would be, painful. I hadn’t had the chance to train at all due to the field exercises, and it came through during the run. I had a great time, though and received one of the all time strangest cheers from the Korean people, “GO WHITEY!” Yeah, that’s what I thought too. There was by no means anything bad meant by it. It’s just how they cheered for us. My friend received those cheers as well.

After the race, we had some bananas and Korean rice wine. They also had free Kimchi, but I wasn’t going anywhere near that stuff. The plan was to then go out for Nakji, squid so fresh that it is still moving when you eat it, but we didn’t have time. Duty called and there was only one bus out on the day, and we had to catch it. Luckily, this driver didn’t think of himself as a Mario Andretti, and we made it home safe.

This will definitely be an experience I will never forget. And for anyone who is ever fortunate enough to have a chance do a triathlon in a foreign country, I highly suggest you do it. The difference in the culture alone is reason enough. By the way, anyone know how to say “On your left” in Korean?

Swim 34:51

Bike 1:20:49

Run 52:21

Overall 2:48:00

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