[That, person] "Life is much harder than a marathon"

1. Even at

My body looked heavy to run.

It was difficult to find traces of the violent past on his body.

His waist was thick and his face was shabby.

The color of the face was far from the healthy tanned copper.

She looked younger than she was fifty-three, but she didn't look full of energy.

It was the first impression of a middle-aged man in front of Exit 3 of Cheonho Station on Seoul Subway Line 5, saying, "You are the member Yun Chun-ho?"

I don't know how many people remember the name Seokki Kim.

Would you remember if you were one of the three people who led the Korean marathon revival with Hwang Young-jo and Lee Bong-ju in the early 1990s?

The memory may be clearer if you say that he was a runner in the lead group with Hwang Young-jo and Japan's Morishita from the 1992 Barcelona Olympic marathon to the point of 34 kilometers.

At this point, marathon enthusiasts will think of his name and face, but there are still people who are tilting their heads.

If you say that this man broke the new Korean marathon record three times, and his highest record is the 5th place in all Korean marathons, it may be that there was such a great player.

Starting with the first place in the Dong-A Marathon in 1990, he appeared brilliantly as the morning star of the Korean marathon.

Since then, his record has been brilliant.

In 1991, the Chuncheon Marathon was 1st, the New York Marathon was 3rd in 1992, the Dong-A Marathon 1st in 1993, and the 1994 Dong-A Marathon 2nd.

He

was called the

.

In the four years since 1991, it broke three new Korean records.

He was a person who couldn't be proud of himself, but when he said that he was the only one who broke the Korean record three times, he was full of pride.

When he was recognized as a world class if he played within 2 hours and 10 minutes, he was a'world top class player' who played in the 2 hours 8-9 squad.

Kim Jae-ryong and Hwang Young-jo were standing shoulder to shoulder with him, and Lee Bong-ju was still running a few steps behind him.

Hwang Young-jo was an impressive player with his running appearance and actions.

He was sometimes referred to as coach Jung Bong-soo, the godfather of the Korean marathon, who was called a viper and insisted on his own training method.

His career was short, but thanks to the aura of the Olympic gold medal, he is being treated as a national hero.

Lee Bong-ju was a terrible practice bug, and he was lucky in that his grades came out as much as he tried.

Many people called him Bong-dal and treated him as a national star in his simple form.

Running to be 40 years old, the player's life was long.

During active duty, Kim Wan-ki was flat compared to the two.

The record was strong, but the personhood did not stand out.

The state law was not flashy, the personality was strong, and the behavior was not inconsistent.

.

Even if I watch the video of the Barcelona Olympic marathon running in the lead group with Hwang Young-jo and Morishita again, he doesn't catch my eyes.

The runner is beautiful.

That's what Kim Wan-gi looks like.

He had the sheer beauty of running.

He said that when running, he only thinks about running.

Like other athletes, Kim Wan-ki was a person who focused on the running behavior itself.

Long distance running is an exercise that pushes a person to the limit.

It is an honest exercise with no time to get involved.

Kim Wan-ki was the player who best showed the honest image of such a marathon.

He barely changed his expression while running.

It was the same when I ran forward and when I fell back.

Lee Bong-ju, who spent five years on the same team and ate hot pot rice, remembered Kim Wan-ki as a player.

"I was a gentle and silent senior. I liked it better than Hwang Yeong-jo, but it wasn't bad. In terms of skill, I wasn't lucky. I think Kim Wan-ki is like a soft bamboo compared to Hwang Young-jo's strong personality."

Perhaps because of his weak presence, people don't remember his frustrations well.

He was the leader at the Barcelona Olympics to the point of 34 kilometers, but he did not know that he passed the finish line for 28th time, and that he only gave up after running two laps of the track at the Atlanta Olympics, where he competed after four years of counseling.

For Kim Wan-ki, it may be more pleasing to remember that people don't remember his black history well than to remember breaking new Korean records three times.

Little do people know that he retired at the age of twenty-nine in 1997 or that he struggled to recover several times after retirement.

No one knows that he is currently working as a daily construction worker or that he is working to become an environmental sanitation worker in Seoul.

When I heard that Bong-ju Lee and Young-jo Hwang each paid 100 million won for corona donations in March, I suddenly thought of Kim Wan-gi.

Hwang Young-jo is active as a marathon director of the National Sports Promotion Corporation, and Lee Bong-ju is a public relations director for the Korea Athletics Federation and often sees his face in television entertainment programs.

The two are still as active as they were in active duty, so there is no time to be forgotten by people.

Compared to them, Kim Wan-ki is already forgotten.

At the time of the Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​I remembered him as he was running back several kilometers ahead of the Montjuic Stadium.

How does that person who used to run honestly live?

I guessed that I was a leader in a school, a business team, or a local government.

Since retirement, there have been few articles that can tell you about his current situation since the article that he is attempting to recover in 2000 and 2004.

I asked a few people to say hello to him, but no one knew him.

The latest picture of him meeting Hwang Young-jo at a marathon in 2014 was reflected in the media.

It was difficult to get a contact information and sent a text message to him asking for coverage.

As I texted, I looked closely and found that the last digit of his phone number was 42195.

His love for the marathon was expressed by phone number.

There was no answer to the text I sent on Saturday morning until 7pm.

When I was thinking about calling, I got a reply from him.

He still thanked him for remembering himself as an athlete, but his life was far from being successful and he refused to be interviewed, saying that it was not a model for others.

However, between the lines, I felt traces of contemplating whether to respond to the request for coverage.

I called him right away.

He said he wasn't the one he was exercising in the past, but his voice was strong.

He said that he was getting older and gaining weight, as if it were his fault.

Writing an article is later, and I asked to meet first.

After examining several times, he said,'I haven't committed a crime...

'And accepted the interview request.

I asked to meet at Cheonho Station.

He said that he liked dinner time.

He drank soju at a fairly fast pace with little touch on the snacks.

When I asked for the amount of alcohol, they said it was two bottles of soju.

When I asked where he belonged now, he said he was in the marathon agency.

He added that most marathons have been canceled this year due to the coronavirus, and are experiencing difficulties.

After his retirement, he started talking about life.

In 1998, the year after his retirement, he tried to recover, but he gave up due to a chronic injury.

In 2000, I lost my weight and started practicing again.

Winning the short marathon, he seemed to have succeeded in his resurgence, but he collapsed due to injuries and conflicts with his team.

In 2004, when he was 36 years old, he tied up his sneakers again after having an enemy at Dongyang University in Yeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, but his recovery efforts ended with little success.

It wasn't just trying to run again.

He also lost a streak in the career front.

He managed or was involved in restaurants, sporting goods, marathon chip makers, and marathon agencies, but did not achieve good results.

While he walked back and forth, the metallurgical metallurgical metallurgical metallurgical metals lost a lot of the wealth he had accumulated during his career.

Business failure led to family discord.

Around 2006, I was confined to a difficult situation that I even thought extreme.

After the divorce proceedings were finished, he had 3 million won left in his hand.

Gosiwon and inexpensive ryokan traveled.

There was nothing I learned or knew other than running.

At the beginning of his retirement, there were several proposals for leadership, but he refused because he was immersed in the business, and no team welcomed him when he looked for leadership positions.

Occasionally, the only income was the cost of labor at club meetings and marathon competitions.

He had to do anything to eat and live, but there was really nothing he could do.

Even after that, it was a series of hard battles.

The license plate was confiscated because he could not afford to pay the taxes levied on the car.

Believing in the words of an acquaintance that he would take care of a car without a license plate, he received 300,000 won and handed it over.

An acquaintance removed the parts and illegally scrapped the car.

There was no car, but the tax came out to Kim Wan-gi, the borrower by name.

The amount to be paid has increased to 7 million won.

He was chasing the ward office and the police station, complaining that he was unfair, but there was no other way.

His only property, his hometown, Seonsan, was also faced with confiscation.

Someone advised me to go to the

, and the

.

The first money I received as a construction worker was 80,000 won.

His life as a marathoner was successful no matter what anyone said.

He set Korean records three times and participated in the Olympics twice on behalf of the country.

In recognition of such achievements, he received an athletic medal.

However, I was told that he was a domestic player because he did not perform well in international competitions.

Listening to that word still hurts my heart.

His two Olympic appearances were an opportunity for him, but he could not make use of this opportunity.

He accurately remembered the Barcelona Olympic marathon course and the situation at the time.

When running with Hwang Young-jo and Morishita of Japan in the lead group, it was 200m apart from the second place group.

I thought that at least I could win medals at this pace.

Then, while trying to catch up with Hwang Yeong-jo's striking uphill at the 29km point, he suffered damage, and at the point returning to the 34km curve, he fell out of the lead group and lost his pace with a feeling of bending.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics resulted in collapse.

Lee Bong-ju was ahead of him in the Olympic selection, but his record came out better during the practice process.

Director Jung Bong-soo also saw Kim Wan-ki's gold medal more likely than Lee Bong-ju.

Above all, he was determined to pay off the sadness of Barcelona four years ago.

The amount of practice was enough and the body wasn't bad either.

Training in the Australian field was also smooth.

But from 20 days before the game, I felt pain in the Achilles tendon.

Since then, I haven't been able to properly digest my training.

On the day of the game, he ran two laps of the track and withdrew.

He said with a glance asking for consent.

Tears were seen in this passage.

His tears were sad, but it was difficult to sympathize with his words.

Isn't it his responsibility in the end for not being able to create a perfect body? The Olympics representative is representing the country, but he only gave up after running two laps in the playground...

The person concerned might have been confused, but couldn't shake the question that it was the best he could show.

He often looked simple and weak.

I wondered how this kind of person could endure the hard training and make results.

When I was running as a leading group in Barcelona, ​​I thought I could win a prize if I went

this man's

.

I thought this person could be a person who worked out with a natural genius rather than a willingness or perseverance.

"You haven't heard the words "It's poisonous, it's bad, right?"

He said he had finished the official competition ten times.

Then, when I asked how many races I gave up on the way, I gave up four or more times.

His acquaintance, who once loved and cared for him a lot, once said this.

"If I die, I have to run and die. How do I abstain from it?"

He replied.

The 1990 Asian Games in Beijing is also a game that remains unfortunate for him.

In the spring of that year, he won first place in the Dong-A Marathon.

After winning the first official tournament, he became confident in the marathon and was in excellent condition.

But three days before the game, he got lost in downtown Beijing while returning from the training ground to his accommodation.

After wandering for hours in an unfamiliar city, I finally returned to my accommodation.

Coach Bong-soo Jeong and the other squad were upset when they thought he had been kidnapped by North Korea.

At that time, his condition collapsed, so he couldn't win the championship he thought was separated and ended up in 5th place.

Lee Bong-ju said that if Kim Wan-ki had won that time, his marathon life would have changed.

.

When he wanted to postpone responsibility to someone, he turned to Yun to account.

His marathon master coach Bong-soo Jeong also said a lot of things, but he didn't blame him for his failure.

The media called him a marathoner of luck and said he himself was bad luck.

Saying he is the a lot more than four hours during the conversation

it was the word.

After that, the words'God, I don't know why my fate is so harsh to me' would have been omitted.

Kim Wan-ki looked forward to the words of bad luck and seemed to want to explain his present appearance.

She tried hard enough, she tried hard enough, but her luck didn't follow her, so her life didn't work out like everyone else.

Although he nodded, there was also a point where he thought that he would be liable for his luck.

This man described running as his own nature and instinct.

When I was in elementary school, I liked getting first place at an athletic meet and riding a pencil and drawing board in a notebook, and in junior high school, I ran for the fun of eating bread and milk from the sports club.

The record was not excellent.

When I was in middle school, it was about 5th in the ranking.

"The fifth place in Tokyo?"

"No, within the military."

When I said that it wasn't a natural genius because it wasn't a nation, it wasn't a unit, and it was ranked 5th in the county, it was said that it was because I didn't receive systematic guidance or ate well.

Born as the youngest of 4 boys and 5 daughters from a poor farmhouse, there were not many options for him.

He was gifted for running, and it is his blessing to notice it early.

Most of all, I liked running.

Naturally, the goal was to become a long-distance athlete.

He graduated after five years after going through three high schools.

At the end of his second year in Jeongeup Nong High School, he re-admitted to Namwon Sang High as a first grader.

It was because I wanted to learn to run properly.

Namwon Sanggo was a prestigious track.

Not to mention classmates, one-year juniors became seniors.

The introverted he was even more silent.

I was only immersed in practice.

From here, I finally received systematic running training and my eating was improved, and my grades improved.

The Namwon Sanggo track and field team was famous for training on Mount Jirisan.

Once a week, I jumped up and down the Banyabong Peak of Jirisan Mountain and Nogodan.

His long-distance talent began to blossom through training to run 30 kilometers for short and 40 kilometers for long.

Namwon Sanggo set a new record of 2 hours and 9 minutes in the national high school reversal marathon, where he played as his second runner in 1987.

Although it is a reverse marathon, the high school track and field team broke the 2 hour and 10 minute period, which was called the wall of evil, attracting great attention at the time.

He was chosen as the best player in the competition.

Coach Bong-soo Jeong of the Kolon Marathon team was watching him like this.

Nearly three hours after I started talking, he suddenly said that he had submitted an application to the Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management Corporation.

After drinking two bottles of soju, he was moderately intoxicated.

"Are you picking a (marathon) coach there?"

"No, it's a general public official. I couldn't, but I did (application)"

"Then, it looks like they are recruiting public officials related to physical education."

He emphasized the words'regular workers' and'public servants'.

It was said that the Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management Corporation selected an 8th-class full-time beautifier and submitted an application there.

The first document screening has passed and is preparing for the written test on October 15th.

When I asked if there was no age limit, it was for 50 to 60 years old.

270 applied for 40 people.

He said he did not expect much because there were many applicants who received additional points like national merit.

Kim Wan-gi said that it is necessary to give extra points to people like him who have set new Korean records three times and have received a medal.

Kim Wan-ki was recently asked if he had any intention of working as a coach in the athletics department of a local middle school.

He said that he wasn't likely to pass because of the fierce competition for the US Dollar Examination, but he seemed to think about where to go for two seats if he passed.

Of course, if you want to make use of your specialty, you will have to choose the middle school athletics coaching job, but there is a minimum wage level and living in a local area is a concern.

The pay seemed to be the biggest problem.

"Are you a bad credit right now?"

I asked because they said they would be seized to their hometown Seonsan because they could not pay the taxes and environmental improvement charges levied on cars.

Kim Wan-ki said he was trying to avoid being a bad credit.

At the end of that he said:

I could feel his bad economic situation during the conversation, but I didn't think he would work as a construction worker.

He dared to meet him in the evening to meet him after finishing work that day, and there was a manpower agency he attended at Exit 3 of Cheonho Station, which was designated as the meeting place.

Even if it wasn't alcoholic, he would have said about his situation as a daily worker, but it is probably because of his alcoholicity that he said this passage for a long time and repeatedly.

He took charge of the work he was working hard on in the field, and was recognized for his sincerity, so he was happy to call him even on a rainy day, and showed a briefly organized work record in KakaoTalk.

The date, the day of the week, and the job site were written.

Last Saturday and Sunday, he also worked at CJ-related construction sites in Chungmuro.

If I work a day, I get 130,000 won.

When he talked about living as a construction worker, he laughed frequently, saying,'I forgot all the past,' and stole tears every time he said'What are you in your life?' like a chorus.

* The day after meeting him, he sent Kakao talk like this.

"I did not continue to work in construction, but because of this corona (marathon-related) I had no job, so I was forced to full-time."

It seemed to me that he said he was working as a construction worker.

his team, Kolon, he earned an annual salary of 30 million won, and he repeated special moves whenever he set a new record.

His salary was more than twice as much as his peers.

Whenever a new record in Korea or a new competition was set, the prize money was not small, and at the time of the marathon sponsor Lee Dong-chan, Kolon was spared a huge amount of encouragement.

He received 30 million won for the limited express competition and 20 million won for a considerable amount of domestic competition.

When winning the marathon, tens of millions of won came in at once as prize money, invitation fees, and encouragement money.

He said he made hundreds of millions of marathons.

Some of the apartments in Gangnam were money to buy.

His social life began by opening a restaurant with a loved one.

I was confident that there was nothing I couldn't do if I worked with the heart of running a marathon.

The collected funds were also sufficient.

At first everything went well and there were many people who helped.

However, society was difficult.

I thought marathon was the hardest thing, but social life was harder.

Many people passed him.

He had never been lazy, sinned, or wanted unfair advantage, but he kept falling behind.

In life's marathon, he was clumsy, hesitated, and often lost pace.

He expressed his situation as he was running the tail of the tail and was on the verge of falling behind.

I wondered if I would envy Lee Bong-ju and Hwang Young-jo who succeeded in the marathon to run fast in the life marathon.

He said he was not envious.

He said that, but how can he forget the days when his flowers bloomed, and he is not envious of the achievements of his colleagues who once ran behind him.

He's almost cut off contact with sports figures.

Even Lee Bong-ju, who he pointed to as his closest colleague, was unaware of his current situation.

Lee Bong-ju asked the reporter about his circumstances, saying that he had been in contact with Kim Wan-gi for several years.

He had various feelings for Hwang Young-jo.

A colleague who ate a pot of rice for several years, a junior who learned from the same director, and above all, was the most powerful competitor, so it would be natural to have a variety of feelings, and it wasn't just a good thing between the two.

I asked him what he felt when Hwang Young-jo won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics.

"How would it be if you were me?"

"Well...it wouldn't have been good, but...the competition between the two was so fierce."

It was the most memorable part of the conversation over four hours.

There seemed to be feelings that only people who crossed the line of hate and hated had an emotion that could be shared.

After Hwang Young-jo returned to Korea after winning the gold medal, the reporters did not end at the Daechi-dong camp for a while, so Kim Wan-ki and other players could not sleep properly.

I was angry at that time.

He was surprisingly eloquent.

Even if he didn't ask questions, he led the story first, and even though he didn't rush to answer, he continued to speak impatiently.

His words had no pretense or exaggeration, but he seemed to have been prepared in his mind.

Sometimes I seemed to teach the other person and sometimes I spoke like admonishment.

He couldn't stand the brief silence between conversations.

It seemed a little anxious to meet the reporter.

As the conversation matured and the drunkenness rose, only then he released the words from his heart rather than the words that had been arranged in advance in his head.

He said that it is because running is good, and above all else, there is no area to succeed unless it is running.

He said that it was so hard to live that he once had an extreme thought.

However, he said that he managed to manage himself by thinking about his active duty days when he passed the pitfalls of death several times.

When I asked if I wanted to run again, of course I did.

However, he said that he cannot run quickly because he has gained weight and weakened his muscles, and he can run one kilometer at a pace of about 5 minutes.

For me, whose goal is to run a kilometer in 6 minutes, I told him that it was a great speed, and he said with a smile.

He was also a marathon champion when explaining the tricks of running, saying that anyone can run a full course of the marathon if it is not unreasonable.

He remembers not only his own record but also the records of other athletes, and he had his own thoughts on why the current Korean marathon was sluggish and what to do about it.

He was the one who did the best marathon and now loves marathon more than anyone else.

I once thought about living in Jeongeup, my hometown, and farming camphor ginseng in Seonsan, but I gave up because I didn't want to get quiet at night.

He still liked Seoul brightly for twenty-four hours, and said he was still young to go to the countryside.

I don't know if he will work as an 8th-class beauty salon, a middle school athletics coach, neither he nor me, nor will he continue to work at the construction site for the time being.

I hope he finds the body and mind to run wherever he is.

Like his wish, to run with the blind once again.