Saturday, April 18, 2020

the Bundang walk: better late than never

The 10-to-2 time frame became the 3-to-7 time frame, but I did indeed walk down to Bundang. Here are some walk stats:


I haven't walked this much in a few weeks. This is, in fact, the longest walk I've taken since my February 13 mishap, a.k.a., my stress fracture. I popped some pills before today's walk, and while I had achy feet at the end of it, the walk wasn't bad on the whole. I plan on walking from Incheon to Yangpyeong at the end of this month (sorry, Daniel, but I'd rather stay local instead of risking infection by riding around in a train or bus for a lengthy amount of time... maybe later this year!), so today was a good test of what my foot can endure. Keep in mind that my right foot remains slightly swollen, so at a guess, it's not completely healed. The bones, at least, feel fine, and today's walk seems to show that I can withstand four days in a row of 25K to 35K treks.

The walk to Bundang from where I live is almost a straight shot due south. I started today's walk at 3 p.m., which means the sun was already in the western sky, i.e., to my right as I faced south. I was a bit worried about sunburn, but this proved not to be an issue. I had my toshi on my arms, so they were shielded, but my ears and face—which were exposed—didn't burn.

The trail leading over to Garak Market and Jamshil was blocked off:


The detour wasn't a problem because I was headed left and downhill to the Tan Creek trail, anyway. Nothing along the Tan Creek was blocked, and crowds of Koreans were out taking advantage of the lovely weather. I always inwardly sneer at all the fair-weather pussies who never show up when the weather starts to turn cool in the fall, and who disappear entirely when we're on the verge of winter.


A shot of one of the tributaries to the Tan Creek:


Spring has sprung, which means little buds of hope start to appear:



More crowds:


Farther along, I saw some major construction happening in/on the creek:


The sun is low in the sky at this point (6:23 p.m.), near the end of my walk:


While the route doesn't take you out into nature, it's rather pleasant:


And here's the jinggeom-dari that I crossed to head over to Jeongja Station:


It was a good walk. I was able to do it without stopping and without pausing to take a drink of any sort. All of this bodes well for my upcoming four-day trek. I just need to log a few more small-scale walks to get my feet used to the stress and strain of distance walking again. Ought to be fun. I'm glad I got my walk in today; tomorrow's supposed to be rainy.



4 comments:

Daniel said...

Four consecutive 25k+ days bode well for the upcoming trek, but keep an eye on that swelling. Good call on staying local, the metropolitan area is gorgeous this time of year anyway. No real reason to add to the considerable logistics involved. Can't beat a good pair of toshi.

John Mac said...

Looks like a great day indeed! I was really struck by the "normalcy" displayed in your photos. It was good to see people going out and about and living their lives. I miss that!

So, are you planning to do a couple of consecutive walks of similar length? Just wondering how your foot might feel after back-to-back walks.

Kevin Kim said...

John,

I think my foot's gonna be hurtin', but it'll survive. I have a break coming up from April 29 to May 5, and I plan on using 4 of those 7 days for the walk. It'll be... purifying.

Kevin Kim said...

Daniel,

Will definitely watch the foot. I'll stop the walk right away if the pain becomes unmanageable. Thanks.