As for the food being horrendous, was this your first time to Korea? Assuming the food was Korea cuisine?

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

I think he was referring to on course and post race food, which I don't recall being local Korean.

I didn't see much on course, but post race was pretty average - hot dog sausages etc.

Local restaurants were not ideal pre-Ironman, but I managed with a local omelette, noodle soup etc.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

I lived in Korea for five years, and drove for about a year.

Driving is manic. Especially in cities. 5 lane roundabouts that people treat as freeways, buses and taxis that go where they want, when they want. Toll booths everywhere, traffic cams everywhere, people that can't park or drive for anything... very interesting!

I also drove around Jeju, and had a guy graze my front bumper when going over Hallasan because he though he could cross the lane to hit the apex on a blind switchback. Fun stuff.

Anyway, definitely worth a try. :D

I was talking about on course food. Korean food, outside of the race, is awesome :)

They had hotdogs at the finish line ... and not the good kind :) I don't even recall seeing a hotdog bun there. It was a hotdog on a stick. Had they given us, which I was hoping, some sort of Korean food, I would have been in heaven. I was expecting some sort of salty food for the on course food, like potato chips. The closest thing they had to something salty was some crackers. On course food for American IMs is like a Vegas buffet on the strip. Korea was like buffet at a low class casino in the middle of nowhere.

This was my 12th Ironman. I've done them in 6 different countries. I've always had a positive reaction to all of them. The on course and finish line food for this race was the worse among all of the IMs that I've done in these 6 different countries. The best was Challenge Copenhagen, before WTC purchased it. They were sponsored by a swiss chocolate company, so they had a table full of swiss chocolate for you to sample while chilling at the finish line. They also had a wide selection of other stuff.

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

I have a different impression of their driving than you do. I've been to 14 different countries in Asia. I would rank Korea as one of the top ones on that list as one of the better places to drive in Asia.

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

They had some vendors selling local Korean food at the expo area. Had they given us that type of food at the finish line, it would have been awesome.

Just a FYI in case you return again, I stumbled across a place that sold pizzas. It looked like that was their specialty since pictures of pizzas were plastered all over the place. It was across the street from the Masan bus pickup. It shouldn't be difficult for you to find since that area is quite small. It was closed when I was there so I can't comment on the quality of the food.

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

Sounds good. I've been to 51 countries around the world and driven in half a dozen plus. Plus my wife is Korean. The driving is manic compared to the U.S. And that's including the horrendous drivers in the south.

I was in Masan too, and saw the pizza place but never found the pizzas!

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Was the swim wetsuit-legal?

I'd love to see the strava info from one of you guys who raced, if you wouldn't mind sharing with me (PM is fine if you prefer!)

As for food, I love Korean food, so no worries there. Also, I don't use on-course food - only my own nutrition - so that's no issue either.

And as for the driving, living in Japan I have to avoid nearly-blind octogenarians on a daily basis, so it shouldn't present too many problems either!

Thanks everyone!

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http://www.howesgreg.com

Yes, wet-suit legal. Water around 21 degrees this year. Here's my file - not fast, but I took 9 mins off last year! https://www.strava.com/activities/1829759545

On course nutrition was Gatorade this year (Pocari last year). Honey Stingers I think too - never touched them.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

That's a massive help - thanks Jigsy!

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http://www.howesgreg.com

Also did this year's race and thought it was pretty good. The only thing I didn't like, and it was unanimous among my friends who also raced, was the last 20km on the bike. Along a motorway, slightly up hill and into a headwind. No shade either. It was on one closed lane of a two lane carriageway that had cars, buses, trucks, motor bikes speeding past with one a row of cones to divide the lanes. Was glad the get off it in one piece. The swim and run were both fine.

Agree the post race food was not so good, but the soup was okay and we grabbed some bread for the hot dogs. And the kebabs from a tent just outside went down a treat. Was a 15 min walk away to a supermarket for post race beers.

My group stayed in Sandong,which had a bunch of hot spring hotels,a bunch of restaurants and shops and even a 711 with an ATM. Getting food was not a problem. There was even a karaoke place for late night post race celebrations. (have the photos to prove this) Was about 7km to the expo/registration/finish and 3km to swim start/transition. Both were easy rides. They put on a bunch of buses on race morning, so getting to the start was not an issue. Our hotel was right on the first section of the bike course. Would stay in this area again.

I am in Kyoto, so PM me if you have any specific questions.

Keren

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Keren
https://www.triathlonintokyo.org/
https://quintanarootri.com/ https://en-jp.wahoofitness.com/ https://www.worldtriathlonstore.com/

Keren,

Thanks for the info - it's really helpful! Hope to bump into you in a race some day!

Cheers
Greg

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http://www.howesgreg.com