I thought it would change after I left.

Gangwon is apparently full of fatties.

From the Chosun Ilbo:

In the study of data from 9.88 million people who had checkups in 2008, Dong District in Ulsan topped the list with 43 percent of its residents overweight, followed by Yanggu in Gangwon Province with 42 percent.

Four other areas in the Gangwon Province recorded obesity rates of over 40 percent: Inje (3rd place), Yeongwol (5th), Yangyang (7th), and Cheolwon (9th).

Of the 230 administrative areas nationwide, Gangnam and Seocho districts in Seoul ranked the lowest with 28 percent.

I have never noticed any place in Korea having a third of the population obese. I think someone's definition of 'obese' is wrong - it could be mine.

To look for a silver lining, this may mean Gangwon residents are less dependent on pharmaceuticals (wow, I spelled that right on the first try). From the Chosun Ilbo (note the obesity rate and compare it to the above article - consistency, guys!)

Korea's use of slimming pills and appetite suppressants ranks near the top in the world despite an obesity rate of 3.5 percent, only a quarter of the OECD's average 14.6 percent.

Production and import of obesity drug Sibutramine rose 11 times from W4.4 billion in 2003 to W49 billion in 2008 (US$1=W1,140). The market for psychotropic appetite suppressants, which are categorized as narcotics by the International Narcotics Control Board, also grew four-fold.

It is a paradox that one of the skinniest countries in the world consumes the largest amount of diet drugs. In a survey of 1,000 Koreans aged 15 to 59 by Consumers Korea, 86 percent had gone or were on a diet in 2008, while 13 percent said they had resorted to diet pills.

So, are gangwon residents obese? Is the rate 3.5% or 35%?

Kwandongbrian Health Report

For the past few years, I have participated in a seven km run on March 1 in Sokcho. Koreans call any run of five km and longer "marathons" which sounds strange to me, but I guess I am a marathon runner.

To prepare for it, I start exercising in December as the fall semester finishes. I try to exercise year-round but late in the fall semester I tend to be doing nothing athletic. So, each December, I start from around zero and return to some kind of regular program.

Indeed, I was close to absolute zero this Dec 1, despite having a good routine through the summer, until around September 10. I was increasing my running mileage and preparing for the Terry Fox run. The day I learned it was cancelled in Korea I put down my shoes and did not run again for two and a half months.

This year, I joined a health club and have been running and pumping iron for three months.

Each March 1, Sokcho has a seven km run around Lake Yeongnang which has great participation. Several hundred men, women and children do the circuit.

This year, I ran the fastest I ever have around the lake and was close to the speeds I managed ten years ago (for the record, 7km in 33:20).

I am also the heaviest I have ever been. Usually, during the winter exercise period I would lose a few kilos and occasionally see 89.--kg at the end of February. This year, 92 kg was the best I achieved.

Still, I am happy enough about the run, and have learned of another run in mid-April to motivate me. I hope I can find a way to work around my schedule and my wife's to keep running.

Oh, Gord and Sean, get outside and run. Man, I turned into a human waterfall on the treadmill. I suspect that anyone walking behind me while I ran was sprayed by sweat falling from my body and launched by the moving conveyer belt. Outside, the fresh and moving air kept me comfortably dry.

Of course, every March 1 that I have run has had beautiful weather and been unseasonably warm, so that may be a factor in how great I felt.

crashing electronics is a new hobby

As you may recall, my notebook died a few weeks ago (at the most exciting time for it - just when I needed all the spreadsheets and files for exams and end of semester stuff). It is back and working fine, although I still have plans to upgrade.

At the health club today, I, uh, did something to two running machines. They had their revenge though.

I guess the air is really dry in the club; as I reached to change the speed, my whole hand went numb with the static... and the controls stopped working. I couldn't turn the machine off, nor change the speed. Don't worry, I wasn't trapped, I stepped onto the side of the machine. The fitness instructor had to unplug the machine from the wall to stop it.

The same thing happened, although this time I grounded with the back of my hand to avoid some of the pain of the shock through my finger. Well, this time the machine shut down and wouldn't restart for me.

Anyway, I'm now okay. I think the treadmills are, too.

Terry Fox Run cancelled for 2008 in Korea

From the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea website:

The CCCK has been the organizer of the Terry Fox Run for the past 15 years. While the amount of funds raised for cancer research in Korea and the total number of participants has continuously been growing, organizing the event has become increasingly more difficult. As some of you may know, The Terry Fox Foundation has implemented stricter guidelines on local organizers in recent years. Regulations about sponsorships and commercial exposure combined with requirements for liability insurance are some of the factors that limit our ability to hold the event successfully. Finally, with 300 volunteers and numerous suppliers and partners to manage, the Terry Fox Run is an extremely resource-intensive event for our small organization to hold.

They plan to skip 2008 and run an excellent one in 2009. There is no word on whether the run will take place every other year or if this is a one-time thing.

They have good reasons but I wish they had mentioned this earlier. Internationally, the run will take place next week - did they really wait this long before making their decision?

I know I should be running for personal reasons but preparation for this run was a major motivator for me. I need to find another event now.

Let's look forward to an excellent run next year and if anyone wants to volunteer for it, be sure to contact them.

Worn out

I so proudly mentioned about ten days back that I had run 100km in a month and that I would attempt 50 km in the next ten days.

Today is the eighth day.

I am going to finish and maybe even beat my goal a little but I sure don't think I'll be finishing in style.

five km a day doesn't seem like that much - and it really isn't. Still, there have been a few missed days and catching up has been tough.

I made 8km the first day and missed the second day due to rain. I made another 8km on the third day and missed the fourth to family commitments. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth days have been 9km, 5km, 8km, and 5km respectively with the last three runs progressively slower.

If you were counting, that should be 43 km. I'll finish on Saturday (with two 5km runs between now and then) and pace myself differently in September.

I hope to follow a three day cycle of 8km, 5km and 0km. I will also add some calisthenics and hopefully swimming, although scheduling swimming is a challenge. Mostly though, I will be looking at running faster, not further, for a while. I have managed a best this year of 8km in 41:07 although my most recent 8km was 44:00. I want to run 8km in under 40 minutes by the end of Sept.

Oh, I also hope to do Seoul's Terry Fox Run this fall. In Canada, it is scheduled for Chuseok Sunday (Sept 14) but might have a different date here to avoid Chuseok. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea (CCCK) has not set a date yet. I hope they don't throw the whole thing together with a week's notice. Anyway, information should be here ...sometime.

"Thrive"

Among other things, for me, camp means running laps.

Competitive swimming gave me a predilection for several things I guess, but two of them were repetition and a clear breakdown of split times in a long bout of exercise. Sure, at camp the roads are quiet and I could be travelling through a variety of backdrops and vistas but then I wouldn't know how long any individual leg of the run should take.

Here is the track I run on, encircling one of the few grass soccer fields in Korea. Sorry for the amateur stitching of photos.
I am on pace for twenty-five km a week and hugely proud of myself.

Near the end of my runs ...wait, at the beginning of my runs, there is nothing to be proud of. As an old man, the first two km are ludicrously stumbling and flailing until my legs stretch out enough to run like a human being. Anyway, at the end of my runs, I have frequently misjudged how much energy I have to spare. This makes the final laps a struggle.

I used to tell myself to hang on. I decided that wouldn't do for this camp. I don't want to struggle to the finish, I want to be tall and strong through the final kilometre. to this end, I now tell myself to thrive. It may seem corny - as I write this, it really seems corny, but if it gets me through a few runs, it is worth it -saying it, that is, maybe it will never be worth it for posting it online.

Anyway, it's 8:40 and I have to get to bed soon to hit the track at 6:00 tomorrow. Time to finish letters to parents.

March 1 Marathon

Man, I love being able to say I just ran a marathon.

Maybe Koreans don't share the history of an ancient Greek hero running 26.**miles to warn Athens about the Persians (I know, we don't have the history either: 26 miles was what fit inside London when they held the Games). Anyway, any long run is called a marathon here.

At my current fitness level 7 kilometres sure felt like a long run, although I would have completed it then looked for more athletic stuff to do twenty years ago.

I'm happy with my performance. Around Christmas, I started going to a health club a few times a week and steadily increased my treadmill running distance. Before that, I hiked up the local mountain several times a week. Still, it was only three days ago that I ran 7km inside at the health club, and that was not easy.

Running outside felt great. Today's wonderful weather didn't hurt at all. I ran faster and enjoyed it more today than I have running indoors. I found I could measure my performance by looking around - I could see a few hundred metres down the course which is much better than watching the treadmill's odometer.

I was running at nearly my maximum speed for the entire race. I was at the point where I felt fine when I inhaled thinking, "One, two" and exhaled thinking, "Three, four". The count corresponded to my pacing. Interestingly, my mind wandered and I found myself singing silently. Um those points aren't that interesting, this is: when I was singing, even though I wasn't enunciating the words, my breathing changed to match and I began to cramp up. I had to return to thinking about other things or counting.

My time was within a minute of last year's time so I'm happy about that - again, it was much faster than I expected to go.

Film the gasping foreigner!

I made KwandongAlex his own entry number and we posed after the run.

How out of shape am I?

I've been swimming at Sorak Pines Resort and really happy about how quickly I got up to 1500 metres.

Today, I brought my watch to the pool deck and timed a few swims. The result: either I am ready to challenge Park Tae-hwan or the pool is much shorter than the short course standard of 25 metres!

What I originally figured to be about 1500 metres was actually around 1000 metres.

And I didn't notice.

It felt more or less as tiring as it should.

Anyway, I am now increasing the distance. 6 lengths took just under a minute thirty seconds so I figure that is close to 100 metres.

Other fitness news:

It seems I write more about exercise at the beginning of the new year. I do think about resolutions and such but i think it is more a matter of where I exercise. Typically in January and February, I am near scales so I see (and shudder at) my weight. My exercise is more measurable, too. Sometimes the measurements have only local meaning -I can compare distance and speed at Sorak Pines to other swims at Sorak Pines but not to other pools, for example. I mentioned years ago that ...wait, I have to back up a little.

In January, I bought 24 tickets to use the Sorak Pines pool and 30 tickets for Hae-su-pia Jimjilbang. I described, above, the pool. The jimjilbang or 'sauna' has a weight room and bathhouse facilities on one floor and dry saunas and an open area on a lower floor.

Now, I have to use the pool tickets by the end of March, but the sauna tickets are good forever. The sauna is a good place for us to take the little guy when it is too cold and windy to play outside. The open area is great for him to run around in and there is a children's area, as well.

Anyway, I am back to the sauna and its weight room but some of the weights feel surprisingly easy. Again, I can compare my lifts at the sauna to other lifts there but not to other weight rooms or historic lifts I have done.