Catch up!

Monday, September 16th, work work work.  I do that, you know!

10084 Steps (4.39 miles)

Tuesday, September 17th, we had our first rehearsal with the Korean National Military Symphony.  For the joint portion, I am one of 4 bassoons!  It is crazy!  I haven’t played with that many bassoonists in years!

8999 Steps (3.91 miles)

Wednesday, September 18th, was the last day of my week and the first day of Chusok!  (Big Korean Thanksgiving/family reunion rolled into one)

6840 Steps (2.97 miles)

Thursday, September 19th, was a responsible conduct day for the band so I slept in but still got up and put my uniform on so I could go to a schools meeting at battalion.  I ran into Carter there and he gave me shit about coming into work on my day off.  My friend Dom and I got to talking and he is a member of the Hash running group.  He said that tonight was the start of the Korea Hashathon and that I should tag along.  I said, sure!  I’m game for running groups!  The group is a very random one – a mix of soldiers, expats, English teachers and god knows who else!  For a hash run, there is someone who is the hare and they lay a trail (with chalk or whatever) and the runners have to follow the trail though the hare can lay false trails and double back and make it quite difficult to follow.  The hash can be anywhere from a mile or two to 10 miles!  At the end, there is a little party with singing and shenanigans (there was even a guy who played bagpipes at the end!).  Overall, I had a fantastic time!  It was really nice to meet non-army-band folk.  Normally, there are a couple groups in Seoul that Hash on the weekends, but because it was Hashathon there were going to be 14 hashes over the next 11 days! 

14491 Steps (6.30 miles)

Friday, September 20th, I decided to go back for Hash run #2.  This Hash happened to be Uijeongbu which is up North near the DMZ.  I traveled with a group via rail to get there.  This Hash was mostly through the woods and up and down a crazy mountain and I think they said it was about an 11k?   Anyway, it was a lot of fun!

20930 Steps (9.10 steps)

Saturday, September 21st, I got convinced to do more Hash runs!  I truly had meant to be productive over the weekend, but running sounded a lot more fun.  I went to one Hash in the morning and then one in the afternoon.  By the end, I was beat!

28507 Steps (12.40 miles)

Sunday, September 22nd, was a thankfully relaxing day!  No running for me since I had an APFT the next morning.  I was supposed to meet up with a friend for dinner, but he accidently fell asleep and slept through our dinner plans (a fact I get to make fun of him for for a long time!)

11014 Steps (4.79 miles)

Monday, September 23rd, I woke up feeling terrible.  I hadn’t slept well and I was pretty sick to my stomach.  But I toughed it out and went to my APFT and managed to pass with a 250.  I was pretty rough feeling the rest of the day though.

13568 Steps (5.9 miles)

Tuesday, September 24th, was a normal morning but then we had a joint rehearsal with the Korean National Military Symphony which was fun.  What was really funny is that we had a break in the late afternoon and the Koreans got us snacks for the break.  Snacks were Burger King whoppers and fries.  It was pretty hysterical actually if you think about that that must be what Koreans think us Americans eat for our snacks. 

8979 Steps (3.91 miles)

Wednesday, September 25th, I helped run an STX in the morning for the new people in my band.  I taught the courses on Individual Movement Techniques and Moving Under Fire – I actually had a lot of fun teaching and then watching my troops run around with the gas masks and dummy weapons.

21474 Steps (9.34 miles)

Thursday, September 26th, was another joint rehearsal day however this time it was all day long.  We were playing in a different auditorium and went through the whole concert – their portion, our portion and then the joint portion.  While I was waiting and not playing, I managed to make a pretty phenomenal reed (if I do say so myself!) just in time for the big concert!

12755 Steps (5.55 miles)

Friday, September 27th, was our big concert day!  I didn’t have to report to work until 11:30, but I got up earlier so I could go in and check my email and take care of paperwork (and get a starbucks, of course!)  We loaded up and traveled out to KBS hall.  We had a sound check with all the different groups and then we literally ran through the whole concert since they were going to do a live broadcast on the Korean TV and they needed to know who to zoom in on and such.  Then there was dinner (I think there was a fish head in the soup…) and then one of my soldiers was going to be interviewed by AFN since this was her first concert in Korea (and actually in the Army since she was a new soldier)  I got interviewed too about her since I am her first line leader.  Then the concert!  I think it went really well… I was happy with how we sounded J  It was huge production and a lot of work but the audience seemed to really enjoy it!  After the concert, we packed up, and I was back on post and in bed around 23:30.

8155 Steps (3.55 miles)

Saturday, September 28th, I rolled out of bed a little after 6am in order to make it the bus that was leaving at 7am for the Comrade Marathon for the 60^th Anniversary of the ROK-US Alliance.  There were a few other band folk running – one running the 5K, two running the 10K and then myself and one other running the half marathon.  We got there, got our bibs and t-shirts, got our bags checked, and did all the other regular runner stuff.  Our new vocalist was the person singing the US anthem which was cool to see!  Then, before the run, we were lead in warm up excises by a KPop group.  One of the more hysterical things I’ve seen in a while.  When the race started, I started to hang with the 2:00 pace group, but then I got ahead of them… and before I knew it I was doing 8:30 splits for the first 9 miles!  I paid for it the rest of the race though!  I ended with a 2:09 final time which was a PR for me (by best half marathon before was a 2:13 back in 2010)  After a half marathon, you usually expect a bagel or a muffin or a banana… not in Korea! They gave me a lunch plate with rice, some really strange fish soup, kimchi and a random assortment of unidentified substances.  I nearly puked…  Afterwards, I took the subway back and hobbled back to my BEQ.  I showered and then collapsed in bed with a movie which I half watched and half napped.  Later, I met up with some friends for some pizza and beer (which is always the appropriate night after a half marathon!)

24898 Steps (10.83 miles)

Sunday, September 29th, I woke up incredibly sore!  My IT band in my right leg is mostly on fire – that’s what I get for not training correctly and starting off waaaay too fast.  Anyway, I was a bit of a bum for most of the morning – though I did get up for my book talk chat and then skyped with my mom.  In the afternoon I went to the final hash run of the Hashathon which was a short hash and then a beer mile.  I took 4^th place for the females which I figured wasn’t bad considering I was hobbling after the half marathon.  Afterwards, some friends and I went to a restaurant in HBC and I had spinach mozzarella ravioli. Mmmm!  Then skyping with friends and bed!

7117 Steps (3.1 miles)

Monday, September 30th, I didn't have PT in the morning since my woodwind quintet was supposed to play a change of command in the morning.  We got up and rehearsed early but then our mission got cancelled and instead had to go to drill band all morning... yay... For lunch we had a Hail and Farewell with pizza.  After work, I went to get my hair trimmed since I hadn’t had it cut since before I went active duty (months!!).  Apparently I just want a trim with a few layers does not translate well in Korean.  The guy took a lot of my hair off and I am pretty bummed out.

10848 Steps (4.72 miles)