Added a new feature to today’s Namsan hike.
Eun Oke consented to join me on this mornings walk. I asked her how long she thought she could walk. She figured maybe an hour…
Ten minutes in and she needed to rest after the climb to the Grand Hyatt…
But her presence gave me a new perspective on the walking experience. For example, I found the views much more pleasant…
Another short break on the climb up…
And another rest a while later. She was a real trooper though…
I was surprised it was her first time on Namsan since she was a child…
She made it two hours today. Not a bad start. Proud of her effort.
Now I’ve got some spare ribs cooking for lunchee. A good day so far!
Two hours is not bad at all if this is her first time (in a long time) working out this way. She does look as though she works out, so I’m wondering—is it more diet plus yoga for her, or does she include any strength/cardio in her routine? Assuming she has a routine, of course… I could be totally wrong to assume she works out at all. The world is embracing skinny jeans these days, but many Korean women have long been blessed with skinny genes and don’t need to work out much thanks to high-revving metabolisms.
How was she on the uphill portions of her two-hour jaunt? My experience, in hiking with Korean women, is that they’re fantastic on the level stretches, often walking much faster and much more efficiently (in terms of body mechanics) than I do; I’d say a lot of them walk at or slightly above 4 miles per hour, while I poke along at exactly 3 mph. But put these same ladies on a hill, and they lose steam very quickly: mountain hiking is a combination of strength and cardio, and it’s the strength part that many of these ladies are lacking. You can see it in their musculature: thigh muscles are slim, even tight, but there’s little development there to indicate strength.
Seungmin utterly fit the stereotype: she did yoga, but almost no strength/cardio, so she was slim, flexible, and well-balanced, but had no oomph to get her up a long set of stairs or a long uphill path. It could be that she didn’t want to break a sweat—a prissy, feline tendency that many young Korean women also share. (God knows how many women, on the creekside path that I currently walk, stink of massive doses of perfume to eliminate any possibility of natural body odor. The denial is strong in these ladies.)
Anyway, it looks as though you have a new walking partner. I envy you. And if she keeps this up, she’ll soon be matching you pace for pace as you chug your way up those impossible, ass-kicking mountain stairs.
I asked her the same question and no, she apparently doesn’t work out at all. And yes, she got winded quickly on the uphills. That’s when she needed to take a break, albeit, very short ones of just a couple of minutes. I could hear her heavy breathing as we climbed. Doesn’t help that she smokes. I’m trying to convert her to vape, but so far no luck.
Couldn’t entice her to do the stairs, but she did just fine on the relatively flat perimeter road. Said she felt good after walking, so hopefully she will keep it up. Of course, I only see her on Friday and Saturday, so I’ll remain a solitary walker most days.
Perimeter road! Yes, I recognized that location in one of the above photos!
She’s too young to have old lungs. Good luck converting her to the vape.