Barefoot Mud Marathon

Two weeks ago I attended a barefoot mud marathon in Daejeon with Dong-yun. It was not quite what I expected, but a lot of fun nonetheless. Since the bus from Daegu to Daejeon left really early in the morning, Dong-yun and I just went up on Friday and stayed in Daejeon the whole weekend. Since it's Dong-yun's hometown, we stayed with her very kind family, especially her sister, who put us up.

We spent the weekend with Dong-yun's cousin, Yoon-ju, her friend, Hye-jin (not to be confused with my co-teacher Hye-jin, although they have the exact same name), and Hye-jin's roomate, an American foreign teacher named Aynsley, all very cool people. Since Yoon-ju is an artist, she also kindly led us in an art project on Saturday. It took a long time, but it was awesome, and very generous of her to give her time and tools.

Pictures under the cut.

Dong-yun's fiance, Dong-yun, Hye-jin, Yoon-ju, and Aynsley, from left to right. We're in Yoon-ju's studio.

Dong-yun and Hye-jin working hard on their art projects. The idea was you had to draw a sketch on a square of paper. You then transfered that to a ceramic-looking tile and traced the sketch using tiny pieces of broken shell and paste. Quite time-consuming.

Another shot of us at work. You can see the jars of different-sized shell lined up.

I decided to make a picture of the Prince of the Universe, whom I miss. Here you can see both my sketch and the finished tile product.

Hye-jin and Aynsley show off their work.

All of our tiles. Yes, Aynsley's is the inner workings of an ear. She said she can only sketch science-related things.

Dong-yun on the drive to the marathon on Sunday morning. It was very crowded and there was no parking! As usual.

Some guys dressed as workers and covered in mud. They were standing perfectly still, doing the street performer statue routine. I want to go to the mud festival and get covered in mud too.

A shot of the crowd at the beginning of the marathon. Most people walked the 7 km. Runners did a 14 km loop. You can see from this photo how crowded it was. The weather was sunny, so the mud was pretty dry. More like smooth, cold clay. On the sunny side of the road, it was crumbly and rocky, so imagine this crowd all trying to walk down only one side of the road most of the way.

Yoon-ju and Dong-yun posing on the road.

All along the route there were art exhibitions, usually making use of the natural surroundings. There was also periodic music.

At one of the stations there was a tent full of cotton to jump around in.

At another station there was thick, soft, real mud. I wish the whole marathon had been like this. It was fun to squish around in it.

The trail was on a very lovely mountain. It would be nice to come back another time where there are fewer people. I heard the running track was even prettier.

A monk (or someone dressed as one) picturesquely plays the flute under a tree. Later we came back during his break. He was up there with another guy drinking makoli. Haha.

There was a little stream for cleaning your feet near the end. However, by the time we got there, it was so muddy, it was as red as the trail.

Yeah, I don't know.