Recap Jan 6, 2024 Disclaimer: This is written from a quite subjective perspective.

Phase 1 - PT..? Following the boss’s command to meet at Yafit Studio by 11 AM for a workout session, I arrived to find… no trainer. Apparently, the “other trainer who would be there” that he mentioned was me. Nobody else knew except the boss. The boss, who I think is one of the few people in the world with a P-type personality several times stronger than mine, said, “Alright, self-proclaimed 20-year fitness expert Jay Lee, teach us how to work out!”

Suddenly becoming a one-day personal trainer, I quickly came up with several workout routines and somehow managed to have a fun hour-long session. There were a few exercises I had casually taught the boss when he followed me to morning workouts in New Jersey. Back then, he couldn’t quite get the movements right, but now seeing him execute them flawlessly, I could clearly see all his hard work paying off. Plus, Sung-kyung hyung, who said he was working out for the first time in 7-8 years, performed the movements so well you couldn’t tell there was any gap. I guess his muscle memory from his Seoul National University physical education days was instantly recalled and engraved in his muscles.

The boss sweated buckets, and to replenish all that lost sodium, we went for sundae-guk (Korean blood sausage soup) after the workout… (only the boss ordered the extra-large size)

Phase 2 - Sudden Acceleration Right after the workout ended, we suddenly decided to go to a ski resort. It was such a P-type spontaneous suggestion from the P-type guys, and being 99% pure P-type myself, I boldly accepted the proposal. I had only worn casual workout clothes for the gym, but we ended up heading straight to Hoengseong right after the workout.

After arriving in Hoengseong in no time, while Sung-kyung hyung passed out for two hours from the morning workout plus yesterday’s fatigue, the boss suggested we go grocery shopping for a meal. We went to the famous J-Mart in Yongpyong. He definitely said we were just buying food for one meal, but… he went into sudden acceleration mode, spent 200,000 won, and then said, “Let’s use this for tomorrow’s lunch too.” (There’s so much good food in Hoengseong though ㅠㅠ.. but it was delicious)

So after eating two bowls of rice with spicy soft tofu ramen with gochujang and big rice bowls, we headed out to go snowboarding…

Phase 3 - On-boarding…

The scenery at Yongpyong Ski Resort was absolutely beautiful. Seeing the resorts at the entrance of Yongpyong reminded me of the academic conferences I enjoyed(?) every winter at Yongpyong during my graduate school days.

There were times when I gave oral presentations well after drinking all night, skiing or snowboarding, and then sleeping for just two hours… suddenly feeling dizzy.

In the moderately cold weather of 0~3°C with light snow falling, we got on the lift.

I confidently locked up my snowboard deck on my left foot and went up, but… shockingly, while sitting, my hand couldn’t reach my right foot that was on the deck…

Now that I calculate it, it had been over 8 years since I last snowboarded, so why was I so confident… I remember when I first tried snowboarding, it took me 3 hours just to stand up.

It was embarrassing in front of the guys waiting for me, but I did hip flexor and psoas stretches right there and tried to lock up again, but it wasn’t working well.

This damn body… even when my abs contracted, I almost got cramps from the planks I did in the morning.

With the same tension as being left with a 1.51m putt right in front of a conceded line during a golf bet, I concentrated intensely and successfully locked up!

However, the next problem was not being able to stand up. Yes, I couldn’t reach the middle of the snowboard deck while squatting.

But recalling old memories, I managed to stand up by flipping my belly 180 degrees using my abs(?) while wearing the snowboard.

Phase 4 - Snowboarding! And..

Rather than embarrassment, I thought “men need guts,” and the snowboarding I did after struggling to stand up was so good it made me forget all the embarrassment.

Flying through the perfectly timed falling snow and tumbling down to eat snow was pure happiness.

What was even luckier was that Sung-kyung hyung used to be an instructor who taught ski and snowboard instructors back in university.

Learning the twisting technique for direction changes from hyung in a crash course, I somehow absorbed it into my body fairly quickly and had a really fun time snowboarding.

For right turns, the core twist like a golf backswing, for left turns, the twist like a golf follow-through… (this is what happens when you’re obsessed with golf)

Anyway, it was so much fun.

The boss was smoothly skiing on his newly acquired advanced skis, and Sung-kyung hyung, claiming it was his first time in 10 years, was cutting through the snow like some kind of missile…

After enjoying 3 hours of night skiing, we returned to our accommodation, ordered some decently delicious dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken) for pickup (in addition to the 200,000 won worth of groceries), and had a great time drinking good alcohol at the accommodation.

Recap end.