Hello folks:
I wanted to update you all on a couple of MAJOR acheivements here in Korea. Now most people would think I’m crazy for doing them (and trust me I had to question myself a few times) but the feeling after actually doing it was worth it.
Back in May, I took part in the Lotte Tower Sky run in Seoul. Lotte Tower is one of the WORLD’s tallest skyscrapers sitting at 123 stories. Someone somewhere decided that it would be fun for people to compete by seeing how fast they could climb the 2,917 steps in the lava-lamp shaped building. Of course, being the over-achiever that I am, I decided to sign up and do it!
In the weeks leading up to the event, I ran the stairs in my apartment building to somewhat prepare me. I honestly never made it past running 60 floors but it was better than nothing.
On the day of the race, I met up with my friends that morning at the race site. One of my friends, who actually told me about the race, would also be doing the climb too. Our two other friends came as our personal cheer squad. I was super nervous but anxious to get it all over with. Since it’s Korea, they had a whole mini festival going on around the tower to get people pumped up for the race. There were even professional athletes in town just to compete in this race. They apparently travel around the world competing in these types of extreme races. The crazy thing is, the fastest time among them was FIFTEEN minutes.
My goal was to complete the climb in under 45 minutes. The first 50-60 floors had me wanting to quit. But, after that it’s as though the numbers were magically changing by 10 with each stair that I climbed. Once I hit the 100th floor my second wind kicked in. (Or I just really wanted it all to be over. Hey whatevs) I pushed through those last 23 floors and ran through the finish line! My time came to my phone… I MADE MY GOAL!!! I was so happy. I collected my medal, took a few pics from the top of the tower, and made my way down the high tech elevator.
Now I can say, I competed in an international race! It was a tough race, but some how I wasn’t satisfied and decided to go even farther.
I had seen posts from a Facebook group inviting people to come to Seoul for free Saturday workouts. This was something I had really been missing from my workout regimine. So my friend and I decided to check out this group called Seoul City Crew. They hosted free outdoor workouts for ANYONE on Wednesday and Saturday. They were also preparing to compete in….the Spartan race. Initially I said no to the race seeing how I had done a similar race in the states a few years ago. But again, the overacheiver in me decided otherwise. My friend and I would once again put ourselves through physical extremes. (What is wrong with us??) There were also over 60 people from the Crew that would take part in the race.
We loaded up on buses on June 30 and made our way to the race site an hour outside of Seoul.
There were soooo many people. I couldn’t believe that everyone wanted to endure physical torture just like me. Our race time was at noon so we spent time just walking around. (I was actually just trying to calm my nerves.) We would be doing the shorter version of the Spartan race, called the Spartan sprint. I was under the impression that it would only be about a 5k and 20 obstacles. BOY WAS I WRONG.
The race started out with 3 obstacles back-to-back. A set of walls to climb over under and through followed by a barbed wire crawl on the ground straight into a cargo wall. Whew…ok I was prepared for those so it actually wasn’t too bad. Next came what seemed like an eternal run on a path built over a really pretty lake. (thank God the scenery was beautiful because I would have quit LOL. Just kidding) After this LONG run came another set of obstacles….a rope climb that I had to opt out of and do burpees, a set of high hurdles to jump, a heavy atlas stone carry, then 3-4 different sets of monkey bars that I also had to opt out of and do burpees. (it all became a blur after this) The burpees were grueling since it was super hot out that day too!
Next came a VERY STEEP trail climb up a mountain that lasted about 30 minutes alone. Everytime I thought I was at the top, I had to go up even more. However, the race creators failed to keep one thing in mind…we all had to come down this steep mountain. There ended up being a long backup of race goers trying to get down the steep and narrow path. This added at least 30-45 minutes to everyone’s race time.
After we finally got out of the woods and off of that mountain we had to carry heavy buckets of rocks around a mini obstacle course and then go through a series of puddles of mud. The last “puddle” was actually a mini pool of muddy water that we had to swim under a wall to get out of. UGHHHHHHHH. From there it was another wall and more running. The last few obstacles included carrying heavy sandbags around a stadium, crawling under more barbed wire but in sand while being sprayed with water, a tall cargo wall, and finishing by jumping over a small fire pit.
WHEW!!! The total distance of the race ended up being well over 8 KM or around 5-6 miles. While it doesn’t sound like a lot distance wise, when you add in the obstacles it becomes pretty hard. Just think, people were out doing a 12 KM version. More power to them!
I was so proud of myself for even finishing. I wanted to stop several times but I just kept pushing and giving myself pep talks along the way. I was rewarded with a NICE medal and a t-shirt that says Spartan Race FINISHER! Yayyyy.
I’m sure after reading this, you think I have lost my everlasting mind. But I actually encourage you to try something out of your comfort zone. If you do, or if you have, share it in the comments section. I want to see how awesome (and crazy) you are too!
As always, thanks for reading! Happy traveling.
Broke And Abroad 