rocks and running

At the beginning of the week, one of the folks in the foreigner rock climbing community told me about an indoor climbing center in another part of town which is only about 6-8 miles away (but takes 45 minutes by bus). After determining that they indeed still existed, I went over on Saturday afternoon to see what the cost was per day, and what equipment I would need if I wanted to practice there.

When I got to Gwangyang-Eup, I got in a taxi and tried to tell the driver where to go. I have decent enough skills at this point that I can usually make myself understood, but obviously not yesterday. When he obviously didn't understand a word I said, I showed him the address written down (note: I am dumb and should have written in Hangul before leaving the house) and when THAT didn't work, I showed him the phone number. On which he couldn't read some of my numbers. After me showing the phone number on my fingers and using my poor Korean counting skills we still weren't able to get through to the climbing center, and after a group discussion with some of the other drivers I was told to get out of the cab. I did a little "I don't understand" and a little bit of a pout (hey, it works), and then one of the other drivers took me by the arm, walked me down the street and pointed to a store about a block away.

The shop was mostly hiking with some climbing stuff, and while he had some shoes they were all too small for me. He also has some harnesses, but they were more expensive than I would be able to find on-line WITH the shipping, so I passed. The walls were in the basesment of the shop, so while it would be worth the cost for a drop-in, I don't know if I would want to pay for a month or more. There were some overhang-things built, and some ceiling holds, but I'm still at the basic "find hand-hold, find foot-hold" point. The owner speaks some English, and when I tried to ask how much for one sessions, he told me that he will let me in the first time for free (there was a sign that seemed to indicate that it was $5 for one session that I saw on my way out) and gave me the web address for the local climbing group. I'm going to see if I can run some of the site though babelfish and get one of the teachers at my school to see what he can find in Suncheon.

Next weekend is the 5K race in Suncheon. I'm going to be so.freakin.slow. Right now I have decent enough times on the treadmill (well, decent for me) but outside without the display to tell me how fast or slow I am? I'm not so sure. I know it isn't about how fast I finish, but rather THAT I finish, but still... ugh.