Korean Job Discussion Forums

[English Matt]

Hi everyone,

I recently stopped smoking and am trying to get back into a healthier lifestyle. I'm hoping to enter some competitive long-distance races by the autumn.

Is anybody involved in (or know of) any running groups in the Seoul or Suwon / Bundang region that meet fairly regularly and usually on weekends?

Cheers

[hauwande]

hi, im in gongju and will be also looking for some running comps.
not quite as good as i used to be but starting to enjoy it again after many years smoking and being lazy!

a club would be good for me too.

what sort of times do you do for 5k, 8k and 10k. the reason i ask is to get an idea of where you guys are at. the autumn would be good

[mld]

I've looked into the running groups and it was hard to find any information. I think there are a lot of Korean groups, but likely it will be hard to find them.

I've found a lot of people like to do road races here and often there are well-attended races every week in Seoul (sometimes there are multiple races on one day). To find a list of the races (in Korean, but if you look closely at the drop down menus you can pick Seoul (서울) on the 지역 menu. The next two are the year and month. That should give you a good list and links. Sometimes the races are in English.

I've been doing races here for a while. I've done (my bests) 17:15ish, 28:30ish and 35:30ish for 5/8/10km though the 10km I did on Sunday was less than stellar.

My suggestion to find a group would be to go to a race and try and ask around. It might help to get a Korean friend/co-teacher to write down what you want.... I'm leaving at the end of August and I don't have a lot of flexibility when I train so I've just been running on my own (in and around Seocho/Han River area in Seoul).

Let me know if you have any questions about the race site.

[English Matt]

[ddeubel]

English Matt,

Never thought I'd ever see myself addressed as "none other than"... I just do my thing and keep busy and try to squeeze between all the bitching in Korea....

I haven't been running much or well for a year or so. Haven't run a good race in Korea though I won my share and met lots of great runners here. Highly recommend running as a wonderful way to experience Korea!

I'm looking for someone to take over runkorea.ning so anyone interested, please PM me and I'll give you the admin PW etc... Great technology and way to build a good community of foreign runners and also a good base of people. Just need a cheerleader and I just can't these days....

I was so happy recently that so many foreign runners took up the free offer to run in Jeju (all paid!). Great race and glad I could help set this up....wish everyone luck this weekend in that race.

every now and then I send out an invite for runners to do a weekend run in Gangnam, breakfast afterwards at my place. I'll be holding another the weekend after next and will shout on http://runkorea.ning.com

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[mld]

Whoops!

I was too focused on getting the Korean right I forgot to copy the url:

As far as I know this has every road race in Korea (though I could be mistaken):

http://www.roadrun.co.kr/schedule/list.php

I haven't seen those other links/resources yet, so I will take a look at them.

[mld]

ddeubel,

I looked at your site and it says you're in Bangbae Dong. I too live there (almost smack dab in the middle of Bangbae, Naebang, Sadang and Isu/Chongshin stations (a bit east of Isu Middle School). Never knew there were many foreigners (other than the teachers at my school), let alone runners in this corner of Seoul.

Also, the fact that you mention Around the Bay as your favourite race worldwide is also strangely coincidental as I lived in Hamilton the first 21 years of my life.

Normally I go straight to the river and run along it or jog over to Seoul National University of Education to use the track - and dodge people playing soccer in lane 1.

About what pace do the runs go (min/km?). Just wondering because I may be interested. It's lonely running by myself all the time.

[English Matt]

[ddeubel]

Hey,

We usually go very slow! Especially now,I'm very recreational. My busted calf just won't allow me to do much. So consider it a good hour + workout at or in your aerobic threshold (60% of your max, which is 220 - age +5 (if you have been regularly working out), so about 130 bpm. -- I'm a disciple of Maffetone, his training method really is the most natural and "healthy"... but couldn't resist throwing some running talk into here...

Used to have a good group, I'm sure Jae and Eoin still are down at the Han running every Sat. morning. I'll have to get intouch again now I'm running without pain, yet slow. However, I usually get 1-6 people for my run. Just depends. We run along Umyeongsan mountain, lots of trails there. If anyone is interested in ultrarunnning, I've run most of the races in Korea and can get you in touch with that community, KUMF - Korean Ultra Marathon Federation.

mld,

Yes, was top 10 a few times at Around the Bay. But also had my share of struggles there Definitely Canada's best run and have great memories. Even later won the masters 5k I ran through heat and snowstorms, you never know in March. Tough course and not a pb course but rather all about pride. Did a lot of runs/races in Burlington between 2002-2004 when I was back in Canada. They have some nice races there and good running community.

But be proud of Hamilton, the place has character to spare.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[hauwande]

well, great to see there are a few runners here, albeit seoul not gongju... .

im still getting into it again, although starting to feel much better than 3 months ago. i still need abother few months to be really into it.

mld, if i can stay injury free i should be about where you're at in another couple of months. maybe we can do some races together come autumn

thanks for the site matt, ill check it out.

the trails sound great ddeubel.

also, what on earth is 'maffetone'? 'ultrarunning'?

[asc422]

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[ddeubel]

[3MB]

What happened to Seoul Synergy? Didnt the triatletes split from the runners? I think I read that the runners formed a new group (Seoul Flyers?). I used to be a member of Seoul Synergy, but due to a foot injury stopped running for about a year and then took it up but inevitably the pain comes back. Being part of a team is great. The training runs I went on with others always pushed me more than just running alone. My best time for a 10K was around 20 minutes and I ran a 10K on Yongsan base in about 43 minutes, which was not a bad time because the course is pretty much all steep hills. I curse my joints, always had a problem with them.

[Crockpot2001]

[mld]

asc:

a weekend or two ago I did a workout that went something like this: 6x1600m on a track. 3 minutes rest. I averaged 5:29. I'm probably not fit enough to run a 6-8mile tempo at a pace that's only 6 seconds slower per mile. Wish I could though.

hauwande:

My contract here ends on August 31st, so I probably won't be around in the fall. I'm hoping the Nike Human race happens again this year at the end of August and have that as my last race in Korea.

ddeubel:

I agree with the lack of numbers (and maybe even quality) these days. Last October I won a 5km in 17:20ish. I was somewhat embarrassed to be up there on the podium, especially since I'm pretty sure the guy who won the 10km ran faster than double my time. I find that if I were to run what I'm running now back in Canada (Ontario or in Victoria where I went to school), I would be struggling to break top 10 on a good day. That being said, when I look at the longer distances here (half and full), it seems like the times are pretty quick compared to back home. Maybe it's just a focus on the longer stuff here.