The foreigner special olympics ...

Do me a favor as you read this blog. Cue up the song "Chariots of Fire."

So there we were. It was Korean Thanksgiving and Marissa and I each had three nice weekdays off.

And as a bonus, there was a Monet exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art. I was two weeks into my knee injury, but I was going to be damned if we missed this exhibit, especially since it was scheduled to close the day after Korean Thanksgiving.

We made it to the subway station and as we walked out, I saw him.

Another foreigner on crutches. He had an accent and was British/Scottish/Mexican/Irish/South African/Australian or Kiwi. I can't tell them apart.

We were heading out the same exit. It was on. Neither of us said anything, but made eye contact and understood. One of us would be the first one up the stairs.



Korea's not bad when it comes to handicapped access, but it's not great either. Most of the subway stations have elevators or escalators, but they take out a different exit and it's an easy way to get lost.

My competitor in this foreigners special olympics was on two crutches as I had been the week prior. That gave me a clear speed advantage. He also was sporting a left knee injury but fractured the bone versus my partially torn tendon. That's about a wash in my opinion.

However, I had the speed advantage of one crutch and a brace versus his two crutches and splint.

And away they go ...

I started the race pacing myself. It was a big set of stairs and I didn't want to tire myself out. About halfway though, I realized I had this guy. He was moving slow and too cautiously. Then I was off. I easily outpaced him in the second half.

Reaching the finish line.

Winning that race up the stairs my seem like a small, petty victory, but it meant the world to me. After two weeks of having old people walk faster than me, I was finally faster than someone.