Jeju trail run

I’ve just put down my Kindle and roused myself from the armchair in order to write a blog post. I shouldn’t be so tired after a 10km race, but I am.

It was a really good event, on paths through woodland and on hillside, and lots of climb. The first climb was hard enough, but I realised two-thirds of the way through the race that we were being sent up a second hill. It might look grey and misty in the photos but it was pretty warm to be slogging up to top of hills as fast as possible.

They’re not just any hills, by the way, they’re ‘oreum’. Jeju’s a volcanic island, with Mt Halla in the middle, a dormant volcano. The island is also covered with hills formed by molten lava that’s found a way to the surface on the sides of Mt Halla. Some of them have a crater shape in the middle, but I wasn’t thinking too much about geology this morning.

The organisers provided a bowl of noodles at the end, with side dishes of Kimchi and beansprouts, as shown in John’s photo below, taken as we stood in the queue. It must be a major undertaking to cook up hot food on the hillside for lots of tired and hungry runners – big pans of noodles and hot soup, and a washing-up team – but they were very welcome.