Soldier's Tour in Korea 

May 28, 2005

Asia X Games

Today was a lot of fun. Scott and I spent the day at the X games.
We got on the subway and headed for Jamsil, where the 1988 Olympics were held. That's where the X gemes were at.


This is the olympic stadium.

We got to meet a few famous Korean basketball players there and get their autographs. Junf loves basketball so I gave the autographs to him. I thought the guys were baseball players until Jung told me they played basketball. As you might have guesses, I don't watch much Korean B-ball.

This is me taking my picture with the X games mascot.

I didn't tell anyone becasue I don't like to brag about myself, but I'm an awesome skateboarder. here's me catching some huge air.

The guys doing the freestyle on the bikes were crazy. They are amazing. I have no idea how they can keep their bikes on one wheel and spin around like that. It's like ballet on a bike.

This kid was really into the games. Nice haircut kid!

One of the Moto X bikers showing off for the crowd. they put on a little show and did some jumps. What you cant see in this picture is that they are doing this on a brick street, so if they messed up they'd probably be dead. They rode like they were on dirt anyway though. This guy above even did a back flip.

After the moto x show, these local Tae Kwon Do students put on a demonstration by busting some boards and sparring. It was pretty cool. The instructor broke a board with one finger, no lie. That's pretty sad to know that old guy could beat me up with one finger. I nned to learn some Tae Kwon Do.

Now I'm home and loading up on Carbogydrates for my big run tomorrow. Maxwell and I are running the Gyeonggi Marathon. It's actually a half marathon (13.1 miles). I'm getting lots of rest and drinking plenty of water tonight and stretching really good. I hope to make it in under 2 hours, but I don't think I'll make that time. Probably get closer to 2:15 or so. Well see you tomorrow!

May 25, 2005

This morning we started off with PT. We went to the gym and worked out for PT today. I was an easy day, nothing hard. Here is Kim in him uniform after PT.



And here is my pitiful attempt to look like I just had a hard work out. Not a drop of sweat on me!


This is Katusa soldier friendship week, and they are having all sorts of games throughout the week. Today was the tug of war and Sseirum which is Korean wrestling. Here are two guys wrestling in the sand.


The object is to get your oponent out of the circle or get him to land on the ground first. Kind of like sumo wrestling.


Here is everyone getting ready for the tug of war contest. We won.


Later on at 7 P.M., we had a talent show for all of the units in Yongsan. I was asked by my roommate Jung to play the guitar for them. Here I am just waiting foe our turn to play. There were a lot of good groups tonight.


Here are a lot of my friends singing acapela. They sang "In the still of the night."


After that song they did "YMCA" and Jung and I played the guitar for them. It was a lot of fun. It's still going on so I don't know if we won or not, but I'll let you know when I find out. I think I'm going to get some dinner and go to bed. I'll see you all later. Bye.

May 24, 2005

lots of updates


It's been a few days since my last update, but I had a good excuse. I was on a religious retreat all of last week. They took my computer, MP3 player, watch, cell phone, everything. I thought I was going to have withdrawals at first, but it turned out OK. Actually it as a great retreat. It was called Tres Dias which is spanish for "3 days." I really became closer in my walk with God because of it. As a matter of fact I have taken over a bible study in the unit and am starting up my own homeless ministry here in Korera. I have about 5 or 6 poeple who are going with me on Saturday to the train station to minister to some of the homeless there. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to talk to them since I don't speak any Korean, but I know God will provide a way.


One of the only 3 photos I took before they confiscated my camera. This us being greeted by the workers when we first arrived on the bus.


This was the leader for the weekend (Ed Salazar). I really had a great time and rededicated my life to the Lord there.


Just getting home from the retreat. Those are some of the necklaces I recieved at the retreat. I'd love to tell you what they are for, but then I'd have to kill you. I'd recommend that if anyone gets the chance to attend a Tres Dias, that they jump on it. They are all over the world, so you can find them anywhere.
Monday was a busy day back at work. We had our regular maintenance on our vehicle, but this time was a little different. We had to do it all in our MOPP gear (gas mask, biological/ chemical suit) It was so hot in that thing too. When I took my mask off, I just turned it upside down and a stream of sweat poured out of it. I hate wearing that thing. After that I lead a bible study. We had about 5 poeple turn out this time. After work I went running with SSG Woody and Maxwell. We ran about 7 miles last night. I ran 10K in 42:30, which is really moving for me. After that I hung out in Maxwell's room with Scott and watched "Unleashed" the new Jet Li movie. It was a good movie.
Today was pretty laid back. I had to stand in a ceremony for 3 hours today, which hurt a lot. They had a cool Tae Kwon Do show though. It was insane. They had kids that weren't any older than 5 years old breaking board and doing back flips, and kicking apples over their head while blindfolded. It was awesome. After that I spoke to a couple of people to coordinate our homeless visit this weekend. I am also practicing on my guitar, because tomorrow night I am playing it at a competition on post. All of the Katusas are putting on a talent show contest tomorrow night and they asked me to play the guitar for them. I'm playing "YMCA." I'm going running later. I got a new pair of shoes last night and am trying to break them in. Well, I'm going to get something to eat now. Talk to you all later. Bye bye.


Here are my new shoes. They ar really light weight and cushioned for long distance running. I'm running in a 13.1 mile marathon on Sunday, so I need to break in my shoes before then.

May 18, 2005

Today we had a Prayer Breakfast for our Unit. We had invited a guest speaker by the name of George Packard to come speak. He is a Bishop of the Armed Forces and a decorated Vietnam platoon leader who was responsible for killing over 150 vietnamese. As you can see, we really do a lot of work to make our prayer breakfasts look nice.


I had the opportunity to speak a little at the Prayer Breakfast and to read some scripture. Normally the Chaplain does this, but I am trying to get more involved with the Christian soldiers in the Unit, so I thought this would be a good opportunity.

Later on in the day at 1:00 P.M. I had an English Class to teach to the Katusas. I teach once every few months to them and try to make it interesting. This time we played games and learned what some American Idioms were and thier meanings.


Here are the Katusa putting together a skit for the class.


This isn't a geeat picture of me, but here I am giving the class to the Katusas.

After work, Jung had invited me to teach some English to some people at his church. When I got there we met up with some young kids and teenagers and a few adults. They were Mongolians who had come to Korea and had learned some Korean, but were interested in learning English as well. I was a little skeptical as to how this was going to work, but Jung assured me it would be OK.


At the church we went into a small classroom and I just started talking english to them. They understood a little, but were asking Jung questions in korean. Jung would then tell me what they said in english and I would give him the answer, and he would tell it back to them in korean. it was a little odd, but I had fun teaching.


Jung with one of the mongolian kids in the class. Jung wants me to teach english to them every week now. I'm going to have to prepare some classes for the next time.

May 17, 2005

Well this was a great day. I started off the morning by going on a road trip. One of the guys I worked with was supposed to drive some high ranking person to Camp Jackson tomorrow so he asked me if I knew where it was. I had an idea but had never been there before, so I told him t meet me at my office and we'd go see if we could find it. We drove up there and found the place and had lunch.


It tuens out that this is also the place where all of the KATUSA's go do their basic training. I guess it's pretty rough for them because all of the KATUSA's hate the place. I decided to play a little trick on Jung when I got back, so I took the picture above and wrote "My favorite place in the world" above it and made it his wallpaper on his computer. He came in and cringed when he saw it. He thought it was funny though but told me " I don't want to ever see that again. I am trying to remove that place from my memory."

So when I got back, I was checking my emails. A few weeks ago I had emailed a guy named Dean Karnazes. He's the guy I've mentioned in here a few times; The one who ran 262 miles non stop, and a 135 mile race through death valley. Anyway, I had emailed him a few weeks ago and just wanted to tell him that I though he was a great role model and how much I liked his book, etc. Well I got an email back from him! He actually took the time to write me. I just though that was so awesome. I thought I'd share it with you:


Hello Tony (or should I say, “Marathon Man),

Thank you for writing such a terrific message. I’m glad that you enjoyed my book, and I am delighted to learn of your story. You sound like a remarkable person, and your drive is evident.

Please take care, and I wish you the very best in all your endeavors. See you at Badwater soon!



Warmest regards,
Dean Karnazes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Marchant, Tony K. SPC 41 SIG BN HHD [mailto:Tony.Marchant@korea.army.mil]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 9:30 PM
To: info@ultramarathonman.com
Subject: Mr. Karnazes



Dear Sir,

I first read about you in an edition of Runner's World Magazine a few months ago. On the cover was the statement that you hoped to cover 300 miles non-stop. I was so moved by the article that I immediately threw on a pair of my running shoes and headed out the door. Now I was just an average runner and ran about 35 miles/ week at best. Since then I have increased to 12 miles/ day and improving. I have since read your book "Ultra Marathon Man" and was even further inspired by the great stories inside. I just wanted to write you this letter and say thnk you for the inspiration that you have been to me.

It was only about 6 months ago that I was placed under the weight-control program for being 1 pound overweight. You see, I am serving in the U.S. Army and currently stationed in Korea. I was not the fastest runner by any means, but since then I have received the nickname marathon man myself. I tell everyone who will listen about your book and testemonial. Hopefully one of these days in the next few years I'll see you at Badwater. I'm originally from California myself. Again, I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me to want to be an "ultra Marathoner."

V/R

TONY K. MARCHANT
SPC, USA
Chaplain Assistant
HHD 41st Signal BN
Unit 15258
Camp Coiner
APO AP 96205-5258
work: 724-6993
Cell: 010-8671-7435

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. 1 Cor. 10:13

May 15, 2005

Well the day started off with me wanting to go get fish for my aquarium. I first called my wife to see if she had a good day (she's 13 hours behind me in Kentucky), but she was busy at a wrestling show and didn't answer the phone so I just left a message. Jung, my roommate, killed all of my old fish when I went on vacation to the states, so I had to get some new ones for my empty tank. I decided to see if Maxwell and Scott wanted to tag along with me. Along the way I ran into Kim who was wearing a suit. Kim never dresses up, so I knew he was up to something. It turns out he was hooking his friend up on a blind date and wanted to look nice. I walked over to scotts room and he was in a suit too. I guess he had just had one made for him and was trying it on. I told them they looked like James Bond. Above is the picture of Kim doing his impression.


Here is Scott trying to look mean. Uhh, yeah right! And here is me trying to look tough..............


Don't I look intimidating?


Anyway, I managed to get my fish and a few new X Box games (3 games for $20). After that Kim had to leave to meet his friend for the blind date, so Scott and I decided to head over to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream


We went to Space 9, which is a huge mall. And I mean huge. This picture is on the 3rd floor. There are 4 more floors like this above it. It is as big as a football stadium easily.


So Scott and I got our Ice Cream and walked around space 9 for a little while and got to see some of the stuff going on. There is always something happening there every weekend.


Mountain Dew had a stand there and were playing music and had skateboarders doing tricks. There was also a punching bag there that you could try. Scott wanted to punch the bag a little. He was hiiting it so hard though that the Korean working there was having to hold the bag from moving. See his leg holding the bag in the picture above?




Afterwards we sat down and finished our ice cream and watched the skateboarders do some tricks.

When we got back, Scott had just got a new UFC fighting movie, so we sat down and watched that. We ordered some pizza and wings for dinner too. After the movie we decided to go try and do some of our own UFC so we went to the gym at the top of the hill and laid out some mats and wrestled for a while. Now I'm getting ready to relax for the evening and watch a movie before heading to bed. I think I might go to the hospital tomorrow and get my foot looked at. My achilles isn't getting any better and now I'm starting to get worried about it. I need to start running again soon in order to keep up on my fitness. I'd hate to have to start all over again. Well, we'll see what happens.

May 14, 2005

Shopping and Hooters


Today I went shopping with Scott and Maxwell. We had nothing to do on a weekend and decided to just go look around. I hadn't been to Itaewon in about 4 months anyway. I was looking for a new pair of running shoes but I couldn't find the ones I was looking for. My achilles is still hurting.


Here's Maxwell. We did a little bit of shopping and heard that they had a new restaurant in Itaewon that was supposed to be like Hooters. We went to Outback Steakhouse for lunch and then decided to try it out later that night for dinner.


Here is Scott looking around. Dinner came around so we headed to "Better Than Beer" to get something to eat.


Here I am with one of the "Hooters" girls. The place was a lot like hooters, but just a different name. ANyway it was a nice way to waste a weekend with nothing to do. Hopefully I can update my next blog with something a little more interesting.

Gabe!

He's Finally here!!!


OK, I was finally able to get a picture of the guy to put on here. He's a hard guy to find. Well this is Gabriel. Don't let the cute face fool you though. Actually he's a good kid. He has 2 brothers (Seth and Kaleb who are also on here) and his mom and dad are Shari and my brother John.

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May 13, 2005

Quiet Roit/Skid Row Concert

Well, it's 10:30 P.M. and I just walked home from the concert. Both bands put on a good show. Skid Row was a little better, even without Sebastian Bach. I just happened to see a flyer for the free concert a few days ago, and I actually forgot all about it until today when I opened up my calendar and saw that I had written that the concert was today. I had to walk 1/2 mile home though after the concert because all of the taxis were going so slow tonight. My achilles tendon was really bothering me too. I'm not running the 5K run tomorrow. I want to make sure my achilles is good and healed before I start running again.


Quiet Riot getting ready to start thier first song on the stage.


Here's the lead singer of Quiet Riot singing on the stage.


There I am enjoying the free concert. They were selling $1 beers at the show and $4 pitchers. Needless to say there were a lot of drunks trying to pretend they could dance in the crowd. That was the funniest part of the whole show.


I happened to run into Ben when I was there. He was there with some other friends enjoying the concert too.


Some guy pretending to be Sebastian Bach. He did a good job singing though.


It was a really good show, and I couldn't complain about the price. Now I'm so tired, so I'm heading off to bed. See you all in the morning. Have a good night everyone!