The November 6 episode of MBC’s variety show I Live Alone featured Minho taking part in a triathlon held in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province.
On this day, Minho challenged himself to complete the triathlon, which consisted of a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer cycling course, and a 10-kilometer run.
“I started because I wanted to challenge myself to the extreme. After participating in person, I also became eager to improve my record,” he said, explaining that his goal was to set a new personal best.
Minho aimed to finish the entire race in around two hours and 20 minutes. His plan was to complete the swimming section in under 30 minutes, finish cycling in around one hour and 10 minutes, and make up the remaining time during the run.
However, an unexpected incident occurred during the very first event. While swimming among a large crowd of competitors, Minho suddenly stopped in the middle of the race. He had been kicked in the face by a participant swimming ahead of him. Minho explained, “Because of the nature of swimming, some physical contact is allowed. There are even people who grab your shoulders and pull you. With everyone moving back and forth, some contact is unavoidable.”
He continued, “I got kicked in the face during the race, and it felt like I was bleeding. Every time I took a breath, I tried to check with my mouth, but the water itself was so salty that I couldn’t tell whether it was blood or not.”
Despite the incident, Minho immediately continued the race. By the time he finished swimming and headed to the transition area, the area around his eye was visibly swollen from the impact. When Jun Hyun Moo noticed the injury, Minho admitted, “I got hit, so it’s a little swollen.”
Even with the injury, Minho completed the 1.5-kilometer swim in just 26 minutes, achieving his goal of finishing within 30 minutes. However, unexpected problems continued during the cycling leg.
Heavy rain made the roads slippery, and several other competitors were seen falling during the race. Minho said, “I told myself that safety had to come first, rather than pushing too hard to improve my record and riding too fast.”
To make matters worse, the front gears on his bicycle also stopped working properly. “It was raining so heavily that the mechanism couldn’t shift gears properly,” he explained. “When you can’t change gears, you have to put so much more strength into your legs on uphill sections. At that moment, I really thought I was done for.”
Nevertheless, he encouraged himself to keep going, saying, “NO excuses, NO whining. Just keep going, Minho.” But another problem soon arose when his bicycle chain came off. Minho eventually had to stop at the 17.5-kilometer mark and put the chain back on himself, losing more than a minute in the process.
“My goal for the cycling section was to finish in around one hour and 10 minutes, but I ended up falling three to four minutes behind,” Minho said, expressing his disappointment. He added, “I’ve been doing a lot of running practice recently, so I thought I would have to make up for the lost time in the running section,” showing his determination to improve his overall result in the final leg.
Sources: Naver