Hello and welcome to bonus episode number 158.
I almost said 183.
No, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Episode 158 of the Q-Lips English podcast.
How's it going?
I hope you're doing well.
Thank you for clicking play and joining this English study session with me.
My name is Andrew, and what I do here in our bonus episode series at Q-Lips is So.
I share some stories from my everyday life with you, and I hope that by doing so, you will be able to improve your English fluency.
We know that if you want to get fluent in English, you need to spend a lot of time with the language.
You need to make it a part of your everyday lifestyle, and that's what I'm here to help you with.
So let's dig in.
We got a little bit of a longer story for today.
Today I'm going to talk to you about the race of my life.
I had an amazing result at a half marathon recently.
It was a day filled with drama and I'm going to tell you the whole story in this episode.
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Just click the link in the description and you'll be able to access it on our website, QLips.com.
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All right.
With that being said, I think we should jump in and get started with today's story.
So without any further ado, here we go.
Enjoy.
Okay, so for today's story guys, I'm going to tell you about a half marathon that I ran last weekend.
Now, if you're a long-term Q-Lips listener, you'll know that one of my hobbies is running and I really enjoy it.
And I like marathoning and just running, something I do all the time, maybe six or seven days a week.
Like it's something I do almost every day is go outside and go running.
Well, I'm currently in the process of training for a full marathon that I will do next month, in November.
It's called the JTBC Marathon and it takes place every fall here in Seoul.
And this will be my first time participating in it, but it's a pretty big popular marathon.
So I'm looking forward to it and I've been training hard for it.
Since around April or May.
So it's been several months that I've been training for it.
And one thing that's a good idea and many runners recommend and I've gotten this advice from other runners and online a lot of people recommend this.
Running books that I've read, they recommend doing this.
That is doing a tune-up race, a tune-up race.
A tune-up race is like maybe a 10 kilometer race or a half marathon race that you do maybe five to six weeks before your marathon just to check and see how good of shape you're in.
Doing the tune-up race will tell you you know if you're ready to do the marathon at your goal pace, your goal speed, and will give you some indication if you're good to go or not, or if it might be a very difficult and disappointing day when you do your marathon.
So I usually try to do a tune-up race during my marathon training block.
This will be my fourth or fifth full marathon.
So I've trained a little bit for them in the past.
And yeah, it's something that I think also is a good idea to do one of these tune-up races.
So I decided to sign up for a half marathon race.
Just a local race, nothing too big, nothing too special.
But the cool thing is that it takes place right here in my own backyard in my neighborhood in Seoul where I go running all the time.
You know, I've talked about on Q-Lips before.
So if you're a longtime listener, you'll know that there are These amazing riverside paths in Seoul.
They're completely blocked off to cars and they run alongside these streams, that there's this big network through the city and they're great for cycling or biking or even taking a walk.
And I run on them all the time.
And there was a race on one of these riverside paths.
So when I learned about that, I was stoked and I signed up, and running is so popular all over the world these days.
And it's no exception here in Seoul and in Korea is really, really popular, which makes it sometimes hard and difficult to get a place and sign up for a race.
There's a lot of competition just to sign up for the races these days, but I was lucky enough to get a spot.
So that was awesome.
Okay, let's fast forward to race day.
It happened last Sunday and looking at the weather forecast in advance, it called for rain.
So I was expecting it to be pretty rainy on that day.
In fact, it said there was a 100% chance of strong rain on that Sunday.
And so in the back of my mind, You know, leading up a few days before the race, I thought that this is probably not going to be a great race experience, but I still had hope that maybe the weather report would be incorrect.
But when I woke up on Sunday morning and I looked outside, it was indeed 100% correct.
It was pouring rain, just like a really really heavy rain shower, steady rain, thankfully no thunder or lightning, or it wasn't even too windy, but it was just really really rainy.
And I decided that I should do the race even though it was rainy.
My wife was like, you know, if you wake up on Sunday morning and it's super rainy, just stay home.
Just go back to bed.
You don't really need to do the race.
It's not... like, you're a race, right?
It's not your goal race.
And so she said, you know, if it's really rainy, just don't do it.
But I woke up, I looked outside, it was pouring rain.
But I thought I'm already up, I had to wake up at 5am for this race, because the start was at 830.
And there was a lot of prep that I had to do in the morning.
And I'll talk about that in a second.
But I looked outside pouring rain and I thought, yeah, let's do it.
You only live once and who knows how many races I'll have an opportunity to run in the future.
You know I'm 41 years old and running isn't a hobby that has like a super long lifespan for most people.
I think once you hit like upper fifties into your sixties, you know you don't see too many people running half marathons in their seventies or even in their late sixties.
There's a few guys out there, but not a ton.
So that was in the back of my mind.
You know, clock's ticking.
I'm getting older.
Who knows how many more chances I'll have in the future to run these kinds of events.
And they're always fun to participate in.
So I said, screw it.
Let's go.
We're running in the rain.
And so I got ready. drank some coffee, ate a bagel, et cetera, et cetera.
I got ready and I had to go to the start of where the race is.
Now usually.
I've participated in many different running events here in South Korea, from 10 kilometer races, half marathons, full marathons many many, many.
And always before the race, they mail you your racing bib.
Your bib is the thing that has your name and your number and usually a chip inside of it to track your time as well.
So always I've gotten a bib in the mail before a race.
But for whatever reason This event, they decided that instead of mailing out the bibs you have to go to the marathon start line area where they had like a little expo kind of set up right.
There's different booths for different running clubs.
There's a stage.
There's an MC.
There's music.
It's almost like a little festival atmosphere, the starting area of the race.
So you had to go there early and pick up your bib and your race pack.
And so...
I was planning to ride my bike when I thought, how will I get to the race?
I figured I'll just ride my bike.
But then when I saw just how rainy it was, I was like there's no way I'm going to be able to ride my bike in this super heavy pouring rain.
And so that made actually getting to the race ground a little bit inconvenient for me, even though I run there all the time.
And if I were to take the bike path to get there, it's not too far.
But if I have to take the subway, it was a rather indirect route to take the subway to get there, even though from my home to the starting area is only a couple of kilometers.
The subway was rather indirect.
So.
Took me a little bit longer to get there.
And once I actually arrived at the subway station, then I had to walk walk slash jog, because this was my warmup time.
So I kind of walked quickly and jogged in the pouring rain from the subway station to the start of the race area.
That took me maybe 20 minutes or so to get there.
And by the time I arrived, I was just totally soaked.
I have an Adidas tracksuit that I wear to every running event.
So I had my tracksuit on and I had my running clothes on under the tracksuit.
I wore just a sleeveless running jersey and some shorts.
And I wore just a pair of like, I have these, I don't even know what you'd call them.
They're like kind of sandal shoes.
Yeah.
They're made by this company called Merrill and they're kind of like this rubbery material.
I don't know.
They're great for like going to the beach or wearing in the summer.
And so I wore those shoes just because it was pouring rain and I didn't want to get my running shoes wet.
I had my running shoes in my bag and I was just barefoot in these Merrill shoes to try and yeah, keep my running shoes from getting soaking, soaking wet.
And yeah, so I had to do this walk jog from the subway station to the start line.
I finally got to where all the people were gathered at the start of the race.
And by the time I arrived I was 100 soaked guys like from head to toe dripping wet drenched, totally soaked.
And I have to say that the starting area of this race was like no other race I've been at.
We have this expression in English to be a gong show, G-O-N-G, a gong show.
To tell you the truth, I don't even know the origin of that expression.
I think it maybe dates back to the 50s or 60s.
Maybe I can find it and put a little footnote in the glossary for this episode, which you can get for free, of course, on our website.
So I'll explain that in the glossary, the origin.
But the meaning of a gong show just means a very chaotic, disorganized scene.
So this race was a gong show.
It was like really disorganized and chaotic.
And As you can imagine, there were hundreds of people who had to pick up their race bibs.
It's pouring rain.
Everybody's got an umbrella.
I had an umbrella too.
I was waiting in line.
And I just assumed it was the correct line to get my race bib.
Everybody was asking each other, like, is this correct?
Am I supposed to stand in this line?
And nobody knew.
I asked the person in front of me, is this the right line to get my race bib?
They're like, I don't know.
And we were asking around and one person from the line was like I'm going to go to the front and try and find out some info and I'll come back.
She left and then she never came back.
So nobody knew what was happening.
But by this time, it was probably, I don't know, I would say around 7.45 a.m.
And the gun to start the race was supposed to go off at 8.30.
So I was a little bit stressed but everybody was a little bit stressed about when we were going to get our bibs and get to the start line and how things would work out, because we're short for time.
And the line was so long.
So yeah, you can imagine just pouring rain.
There's no good covering for people to pick up the race bibs.
So everybody has their umbrella and we're all kind of huddled together trying to keep the rain off us.
But it wasn't working very well.
We weren't sure where to go, what line to stand in.
And there wasn't great...
Staff support, there weren't too many people to ask.
I mean, it's all staffed by volunteers, I think, so you can't be really too angry at people, but it was pretty disorganized.
And so I waited in this line, felt like an hour, but probably was about...
Uh, I'd say it was around yeah, almost an hour, because by the time I got my bib it was like 8 25 AM.
So I only had five minutes from picking up my bib until the race was supposed to start.
Mind you, I'm still in my track suit.
I still have my umbrella, my bag.
I've got to get into my running shoes.
I just had my Merrell water shoes, let's call them on.
And so I was totally unprepared to start the race in just five minutes.
So it was pretty hectic.
But one of the guys at the booths who was giving out the bibs, he's like, guys, don't worry.
It's okay.
We're going to delay the race by 30 minutes.
So I was like, oh, perfect.
Okay.
I have just enough time.
Now I can go to the changing room.
I can get changed.
I can get set up.
I can drop my bag off at the bag check and I can go to the starting line and that'll be great.
30 minutes.
Okay.
So I kept in mind that the race was going to be delayed and I went about doing those things.
I found a little area of dry ground which was really hard to find because it was just pouring rain everywhere.
And although they did have some tents and cover set up, you can imagine that they were just packed right.
Everybody's kind of standing under the tent waiting for this race to start.
And I would say the scale of this race probably around 2000 runners, if I had to guess, across three different events.
There was a half marathon event, a 10K event, and a 5K event.
And I would imagine maybe 1500 to 2000 people participated.
But there's family members, there's friends, right?
So you have more people than just the runners themselves.
So I found a place where I could take my track suit off and I could take off my wet shoes, and I brought a towel with me.
I tried to towel off a little bit towel off my feet at least to try and get them dry and put on some socks.
And I realized I brought the wrong pair of socks.
And a little bit embarrassing, but my socks weren't even matching.
I bought, I brought two different socks.
So I was like, everything's not going right today.
Got ready.
And as I was tying up my shoes, Suddenly I hear three, two, one, go.
And I'm like, what's going on?
I thought the race was delayed by 30 minutes.
The guy at the volunteer.
The staff member just told me the race was going to be delayed by 30 minutes.
And as I was getting ready, three, two, one, go.
And I look and there's all the half marathoners just leaving.
And so they actually did leave at 830.
And then I was super stressed.
I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not even ready.
I haven't warmed up or anything.
I haven't checked my bag.
I still have my bag.
I had to put all of my wet clothes in my bag.
And so finally I got everything sort of organized.
I had to make my way to the bag check area, wait in line again.
It wasn't too long, but five minutes or so to check my bag.
And then I ran to the start line and the guy at the start line like there was an MC with a mic and he pointed at me.
He's like, go, go, go, go, go.
You're already late.
So I took off and it was about 10 or 11 minutes after the main group of runners had left.
Then it was my turn to go.
I was finally ready to start.
And so that was not a very pleasant way, kind of a little bit disappointing that I didn't get to run with everybody else, because that's part of the fun, right.
It's like you're doing these events together.
You're a part of the group.
It's a totally different atmosphere than when you're just running alone.
But I was just running alone.
And so at that time, in my mind, I was like, whatever, it's just for fun.
Okay, so it's just going to be a fun run.
The weather is against me, the weather's terrible.
I was in a stressed out bad mood.
And so was everybody, everybody was in a bad mood.
There were tons of angry people at this race.
Before the race people fighting and getting angry at the staff members.
Unfortunately, they were just volunteers.
So not cool to get angry at them.
But Just the vibe was a little bit tense, let's say, at the start of the race.
And so yeah, my goal was just to have fun.
Do a fun run, check my fitness, make sure I'm in good shape.
And yeah, try not to get injured because it was really rainy, really wet.
The course was like a good paved path.
But sometimes...
I'm not sure what they do to the paths exactly here in Korea, but there were sections of it where it was almost like painted this red color.
And, for whatever reason, on those sections that were painted red.
I don't know if this is waterproofing or weatherproofing material that they've laid over top, but it made it quite slippery.
So that was in the back of my mind too.
As I was running on some of these sections was like, oh man, I better not injure myself, like a month before my marathon that I've been training for.
I can't injure myself.
So I had all of these things in mind, right?
I'm stressed.
I'm in a bad mood.
It's pouring rain out.
And yeah, I don't want to injure myself.
However, one thing was in my favor, and that was the air temperature was really cool.
It's been a long, hot summer here in Seoul.
And finally, we had a day where I think the temperature was around 16 17 degrees Celsius when I took off and started started the race.
So that was perfect, because I've been training in like 30 plus degrees for so long.
And you know, when you're running in that kind of conditions, you're sweating like crazy.
Or at least me, I'm completely drenched and And just totally wet from sweat when I'm training in the summer.
So, to tell you the truth, it wasn't that much of a difference being in the total rain, although I guess my feet were completely wet.
That's a little different.
But in terms of like running in a wet shirt and wet shorts, it's nothing new to me because I've been doing that all summer long.
So I took off running alone.
Right.
But I felt good and I felt strong.
And in my mind, I was like, let's just have a good race.
Let's give it a good effort, but not injure myself.
Well, once I hit, even just like a kilometer into the race, suddenly there were puddles on the path.
That were just huge puddles and they were unavoidable.
You had to run through them.
And so you're splashing up water everywhere.
My shoes are soaked just even like five minutes into the race.
And once I got to about the two or three kilometer mark, I started to catch some of the other runners.
I was surprised that I sort of caught up with the back of the pack and I wasn't running alone anymore.
So that was pretty nice.
It was only about 10 minutes of running alone.
And then I was with some of the other runners.
And then another disaster struck, and that was my shoelace came undone.
So just as I caught all of the other people, my shoe felt really loose.
And I was like, oh no, is my shoe undone?
I looked down, my laces were undone.
And I don't know how that happened because I double knotted my shoes.
Double knotting is when you tie your shoes really tightly twice so that this doesn't happen.
But I guess maybe it was because the shoelaces were wet or something.
I'm not sure my shoe came undone and so kind of sucks when you're in a race and you're running pretty fast, pretty hard if you have to slow down to a complete stop and then start again, and moving your body up to full speed again takes a lot of effort and it's just like you can really feel that it takes a big chunk of your energy, and so I didn't want to have to do that, but I had no choice.
So I stopped, tied up my shoe, and then I was back at it.
And I was running and I was running.
It felt good.
And I was passing many people, which always feels good.
You guys know, if you're a regular QLips listener, that I'm a pretty competitive person.
And I know it's like so silly.
It's not a competitive race at all.
It's just for fun.
But in my mind, I always feel good when I pass people.
It really motivates me.
And so I'm like, yeah, pass in, pass in all these people.
Running pretty well at around the five kilometer mark into the race.
And of course, a half marathon is 21.1 kilometers.
So about a quarter into the race, there was this section where a stream met up with the main river that we were running.
And there was... kind of like a bridge.
It's almost like a sidewalk where the stream can flow under the sidewalk.
And this section was completely washed out in the heavy rains.
There was some flooding from the smaller stream.
And so the water was just pouring over top instead of under this section of the sidewalk, which was probably 80 or 100 meters long.
Like it wasn't just a couple of steps.
It took you 20 seconds to run across it and was totally totally, just like uh, running water going over top of it.
And so when i saw that, i was like, oh great, i'm gonna have to run totally like through this huge like river, almost it felt like you were running through a river and the water was well over my ankles when i was going through this section, and so it was almost like a trail race, an adventure race, not necessarily a road race.
So that was a bit of drama on top of all the other drama running through this little river.
And yeah, otherwise, everything felt good.
And I was constantly shocked.
Like I didn't feel like I was working very hard.
But then, when I looked at my watch, which I wear, to give me some information about my running speed and distance, I've gone and my heart beats per minute.
All of these things.
When I looked at my watch, I was running really fast and it didn't feel difficult, but I was going at a really great pace.
And then I was getting close to the turnaround point.
This kind of race was an out and back.
An out and back is when you go like if it's a half marathon, you run for 10 and a half kilometers, then you turn around and you go back, So the start and the finish are in the same place.
So this race was an out and back style.
And as I was getting close to the turnaround point, I could count, I could start to count how many people passed me right.
All of the people that had already turned around and were on their way back to the finish line.
When they would pass me, I could count them and see what position I was in.
And so...
As I got closer to the turnaround point, the other runners who were leading the race they started to pass me and I counted them and I learned that I was in 23rd place.
So I thought, it's not bad.
I went from totally last place to 23rd place in just 10 kilometers.
So let's keep going.
That was kind of inspiring to me because I thought I would be in like 100th place but I was in 23rd place.
So that was good.
And so yeah, the plan on the way back was just the same to try and run hard, run fast, but also run safely.
And that's what I did.
Again, I got to that area at around.
Now it was five kilometers to the end of the race, which was completely washed out.
And the river was even stronger on the way back.
The water was even higher, I think.
So again, well over my ankles, had to run through that river.
But once I got past that obstacle, then it was only five kilometers to the end.
And I had been still passing people from the turnaround point.
So I figured I wasn't really counting, but I was probably in, like I don't know, 15th place, 12th place, something like that.
But then once you get to the five kilometers to go mark, Then suddenly it's not only half marathon runners but also the 10 kilometer runners were kind of mixed in together because they had been running for five kilometers.
Then they turn around and then go back to the finish line, which is the same finish line that I had.
So I was able to count how many people I was passing until that point.
But then after that point it was impossible, because there's all these runners mixed together half marathon runners and 10 kilometer runners as well.
So.
I had no idea what position I was in or what place I was in or anything.
Just tried to keep running steady and solid.
And as I got towards the end of the race, maybe the last two kilometers or so I was checking my watch and doing some math.
I was really, it was great.
It was a great run because although it was still pouring rain, the rain didn't let up.
It didn't stop the whole time.
So it was still pouring rain.
But because of that, I didn't wear any headphones.
I didn't want to get, you know, my headphones soaking wet.
So I had just my own thoughts.
It was just a quiet race, no music, no podcasts, anything like that.
So I had a lot of time to think and I was doing some mental mathematics around two kilometers away from the finish line.
And I calculated that if I kept on pace, if I didn't slow down, then I would get a PB, personal best.
Sometimes we call it a PR.
I think I use these two terms interchangeably.
Sometimes I say PB, personal best.
Sometimes I say PR, personal record.
So I was calculating that I could do it.
I could do a PB if I just kept up at the pace that I was running.
So I was pretty stoked because I felt really good and I thought I can do it.
And so that's what I did.
I just kept running at the same pace.
And this is a little bit funny at the finish line.
I looked at my watch and I realized that the finish line was not exactly at the point of a half marathon.
The finish line was set up at about the 20.8 kilometer mark.
So if I crossed over the finish line and then just stopped, I wouldn't have recorded a personal best for the half marathon on my watch.
And I'm kind of geeky.
I love the stats and I love doing new records like this.
I love challenging myself and pushing myself and breaking records.
And so I really wanted to have the half marathon record on my watch.
If I stopped at the finish line, I would have been several hundred meters too short.
So I decided I got to keep going.
I can't stop once I hit the finish line.
I have to go until my watch says new record in the half marathon.
And so I must have looked like a crazy guy, because I'm coming towards the end of the finish line here.
I'm going at full speed because I want to make sure that I get my personal best record and everybody else crosses the finish line and they're like, oh you know, all tired and unhappy.
And me, I just...
Keep going.
I don't stop at all.
I just keep my head down.
I blow by everybody and I just kept running for another 300 or 400 meters, whatever it was, until I hit the half marathon, and I did it.
I got a personal record.
So I was so stoked.
All of that stress from the start of the race just washed away.
Didn't care about any of that at all.
Didn't really care what position I was in.
You know, I thought maybe I got top 10.
Maybe.
Who knows?
Doesn't matter.
I just got my personal best.
So that was sick.
So sweet.
And yeah, I was soaking wet.
Totally 100% drenched.
More drenched than you can imagine.
And it was still pouring rain.
So I had to jog back towards the kind of festival area where everything was set up.
And I found my bag and you could get your finishing medal.
And there was a post-race kit that had like some water and some snacks and some juice, some bread.
And also they gave out cans of beer.
So I was...
Like, don't mind if I do.
Okay.
It's only, I don't know, probably 10 AM on a Sunday morning, but they're handing out beers.
And so I thought, okay, let me drink a beer and celebrate my new PR.
I felt like I deserved it.
I went through a lot that morning.
So I went to the finish line and I found a little dry area under a bridge.
And I just kind of like shivered under the bridge, it was pretty cold and I was super wet.
And also after a difficult physical effort like that, then sometimes you're a little bit cold.
Thankfully in that race kit, one of the things that they also gave was a t-shirt.
So I had a brand new t-shirt that I could change into to get out of my wet clothes.
And I put on back my Merrell shoes to get out of my wet running shoes and my wet socks.
Drank my beer, cheered on some of the other runners who were finishing and watched those guys finish up.
And then I decided I got to make my way home because I was starting to feel really cold and the rain wasn't lighting up at all.
And so I started walking back to the subway station.
Once I got back home, then I looked at my official record.
I got a little text message that was like, congratulations, you finished your race.
You can click this link and see your official time.
And they give you like a little certificate, a digital certificate, with your name and your time and some stats about your race.
And I looked at it and I was so shocked.
It told me I came in first place in this race.
First place according to the chip time, not the gun time.
So there are two different ways you can decide who the winner of a race is.
The gun time is when the starting gun fires, right?
It's like three, two, one, boom.
Go.
And from that point on, whoever crosses the finish line first is the winner.
So gun time is that.
And then the other way to track the winner of a race is chip time.
And so chip time is whoever has the shortest time, the fastest time, right?
And so, because I started so late, I wasn't able to participate or to compete for that gun time, because it's like everybody else had this 10 or 11 minute head start ahead of me.
And so...
I was nowhere near the winner of the gun time result.
However, I was the winner of the chip time.
So whoever crossed the finish line, I'm not even sure who it is.
Unfortunately, the race organizers didn't share this information with us, but I would love to see those stats about where the other people finished in their times.
Whoever that was, awesome.
It was a difficult race in some rough conditions.
So they did a great job.
They finished first.
But I would have run faster than that person.
So I came in first place out of over 500 runners.
So I was over the moon.
I was so ecstatic that I did this great results.
And it felt like all of the hard training that I had been doing during the summer, running every day in the crazy heat and sweating sweating like a pig.
Sometimes we say sweating like a pig.
Sweating like a pig throughout the summer is just yeah, gross and nasty, but it all was worthwhile in the end.
And so, yeah, I came in first place, my first ever first place finish in a race.
So, yeah, like I said, just ecstatic with that great result.
And I went to the website and I was like, is there a special prize for the winner?
I wasn't sure.
And so I looked and the winner gets a trophy and gets a special certificate and gets a 100000 won cash prize.
1000 won is probably.
It's around 100 Canadian dollars, maybe around 80 American dollars or so, if I had to guess.
So it's not a huge prize, but it's, Decent prize.
However, unfortunately, it goes to the winner of the gun time, not the chip time.
So I don't get that sweet prize pack, but it's okay.
I don't care at all.
I was just like so happy to beat my personal record and to come in first place on chip time.
That was awesome.
And yeah, it's like one of those races.
That you never know.
Maybe there weren't a lot of fast runners.
Maybe a lot of the really fast runners that day woke up and saw the rain and they're like nah, not going to do it.
Who knows?
But it was cool for me.
So I had a really nice experience in that race.
And here's the funny thing.
Here's the ironic thing.
The title of this episode is The Rain Stole My Thunder.
And when you steal somebody's thunder, it means that you take something important away from somebody.
So for example, like this is the classic example of stealing somebody's thunder at a wedding.
Let's say, you go to your friend's wedding and at the wedding, maybe at the reception after the wedding ceremony.
You know, it's like time to have the party, the wedding party and the first dance of the couple.
But before all of this happens, you stand up and you say everybody, I have a little announcement to make.
I'm engaged.
I'm getting married.
And so you're engaged.
Announcement your news steals the thunder of your friend because it's his special day, his wedding day.
And then you made this announcement and you took all of the attention away.
And so The rain on this day stole my thunder because I had a really good result.
For me, at least, it was a really positive result, the fastest I've ever run in my whole life.
But because of the rain.
I think, like 99 of the people who participated in this race probably have a terrible memory of the race.
And if you go to the website for this event, it's really hilarious because there's a message board where you can ask questions or leave comments, or for the organizers of the race.
And all of the posts on this message board are so negative.
People are saying it's the worst race they've ever participated in.
The organization was terrible.
And I guess there was a problem with recording the time and the records for the accurately, and I have my watch to back it up.
So I know that my chip time is my actual chip time, but I guess for maybe the the 10 K runners, there was an error.
So people are complaining, like it was poorly organized.
It was soaking wet.
Uh, the chips didn't work correctly.
And so everybody was saying on this website, like it's the worst race I've ever run.
I want a refund.
There were tons of people asking for a refund and there were some other issues as well.
I
You know, were there some things that they could have done better?
Yes.
Was the rain probably the biggest factor in why things were disorganized?
Also, yes.
So whatever.
Doesn't matter.
But I think it's funny.
It's funny how we can have one event, one race and, depending on your perspective, it can be the best race of your life, like it was for me, or it could be the worst race of your life, like it was for some other people.
So both things can be true.
Thankfully I'm on the side of things as it being one of the best races of my life and it was super motivating.
I feel great now going into the JTBC marathon here at the start of November in just under a month and I hope I'll have another good story to share with you another good result after that race.
But guys, I think this is the end for this week's story.
So thank you so much for listening to me ramble on and on about running.
You know, it's one of my passions and it's something I could talk about all day.
I try not to do it too much on the podcast, but from time to time, I have to, I just have to do it.
And I wanted to share this kind of funny story and good result with you in this week's episode.
So, as always, let's continue the conversation over on our discord server.
If you have any questions or comments for me about this episode, you can leave them there, and maybe you have a story you could share with us about a time when your thunder was stolen by somebody.
This would be a great place to share that story with me and our whole community, and i can't wait to hear what you have to say.
So go go go, share your story with me, and the link to join our discord is in the description for this episode.
All right guys, I'm going to take off.
Take care as always.
And we'll be back soon with another brand new Q-Lips episode.
Until then, goodbye.
