................Taking Flight...............: Color Me Rad 5k

I signed up for the "Color Me Rad" race, I think I put a link to their website earlier in the week. Some EPIK teachers from my orientation were doing it and had invited others to join. So, I got up nice and early to make the 9AM start time that my team said we were joining at. I took the subway out to Ilsan (just outside of Seoul) and it took me a little less than an hour. I was a little nervous on the way there because when the subway would come out from underground occasionally, it was raining. When I arrived and exited the subway, again it was sprinkling a little bit, but not too much.

I picked up my packet of things: a Color Me Rad tshirt, sunglasses, a racing bib and a "color bomb" (colored cornstarch). I changed into my shirt, put on my sunglasses and looked for my group. I didn't see them so I thought I would wait by the starting line. There were not many people there, so they actually combined the 9 and 9:15 start times. Still no sign of my group, so I decided I would just run anyway, not knowing when or if they would show up. It was a lot of fun--there were a few different color stations and the race workers threw the colored cornstarch at us-first yellow, then orange, pink and finally green. The finish line was a bit anticlimactic. It wasn't a timed race or anything, so it was just like...okay, you're done. No big hoopla or anything really. We were given free vitamin water (sponsors) and some tissues to wipe the color off our faces.

There was a DJ that was performing all day so I went over to the "music stage" area to hang out for a little. They were throwing blue color and also giving away free color bombs, tshirts and sunglasses occasionally. It was fun, but a little hard to enjoy alone. I was starting to decide when I would head back, when I was glancing through the crowd and I spotted my group!! I made my way over to them and found out they had just arrived. So I hung out with them while they waited for someone else to show up. Then they went for the 11:30 start time. I thought I would just go with them again; some of the group ran and some of the group walked. I stuck with the walkers. We hung out there for awhile, until everyone started getting hungry and took a bus to a location not too far from where we ran. We ate and everyone went their separate ways home via subway.

While walking back from the subway to my place, I received quite a few stares. I finally showered and rinsed off all my color, sprayed down my shoes and tried rinsing my clothes a bit (my socks are the worst!) I got ready and...then it was time to meet another group of EPIK teachers for dinner in Hongdae. I met up with Krystle, Soo, Tim and Priscilla. We went to a BBQ place, even though Krystle is vegetarian, because we saw there were a few side dishes she could have that were meatless. I realized we were quite close to where Kwangmin lives, so I sent him a message and invited him out. He joined us as we were finishing up. Tim was super sneaky and said he was going to the bathroom, but he ended up going and paying for the bill!!

We walked around Hongdae and listened to some band playing on the streets. As we were walking, Tim spotted another EPIK teacher who was supposed to be meeting up with another group but hadn't been able to find them. We invited him to join us. Unfortunately I don't remember his name, and ironically, he is also from Michigan! (Saginaw) So, we decided we would go for makgoli, which is a Korean rice wine. We also had to order some side dishes, so we had some fried and battered vegetables and meats as well. We called it an early night so everyone could manage to make it home using public transportation.