Run fast

Internet access is hard to come by so I will have to keep this brief.  Race went ok I suppose considering the course, weather, hamstring, and basic laziness since SGM. Finished 8th overall with a 1:12:46 and with that I won a bag of potatoes. The marathoners had be miserable because there was a downpour for the entire race and about 45 degrees.  The winner of the half ran an amazing time for the course (1:07:00) and he walked away with not only potatoes, but rice and onions. Lucky guy. Iain Hunter also ran a great race and finished 5th in a 1:10:45. Amber Green finished second in the women's race in ~1:25.  My time would have put me in the top 3 or at least the top 5 for most years so I guess the competition was a bit tougher this year. I started off with a pack of 5 but they dropped me slowly as we started up the canyon.  Iain passed me shortly thereafter and for the rest of the race and battled with a couple of young guys on a local team.  I ended up beating one but the other guy who was only 18 out kicked me at the finish. More memorable than the race was the pre race festivities which included calisthenics and food vendors serving steak and fish on a stick, sausages and brats, ramen soup, and my favorites, bread with whip cream and bananas. Amazingly I saw several of the runners eating the fish and steak skewers...which makes me wonder how they felt at mile 13. Overall Japan has been a great experience.  The culture is very different than ours in many ways, although you can sense that western culture, for better or for worse, has influenced the economy and younger generations of late.

 Rainy finish

Iain at the finish 

Amber at the finish

These were the bento boxes available before the race.  The thought of eating fried prawns before a race didn't sound appealing to me.

 Pre race beverages, meat skewers and calisthenics

The plan was to meet Iain and Julie at the Red Rooster sign for a 10 mile run.  I arrived on time and after waiting 10 minutes I realized that there was probably another Red Rooster sign in the city so I took off on my own.  I ran an out and back along a super narrow busy road and somehow on my way back I took a slight left when I should have taken a right and for the next 1.5 hours I wandered aimlessly through the city with no idea where I was going.  Notice below that the finish below is not the same at the start.  After trying to get directions at the 7-11 and from a highschooler who was late to school I just sat on a pole at an intersection and almost started to cry.  My hip hurt, I was hungry, nobody could understand me and needed to get back to the house within a hour because we were leaving for the airport.  Fortunately I came to my senses and decided to walk back to the one recognizable building I could see, the townhall, where I knew somebody could probably speak just enough English for me to explain that I was lost.  As luck would have it right when I got there the mother of the host family called the station and 10 minutes later I was in the car headed back to the house. At least I am now tired enough that I shouldn't get too restless on my 13 hours of flights home.

Starting to feel normal again after the long day of traveling. No running until this weekend because the hip was acting up in Japan and it's cold outside.

Checked my email today and saw this deal on the Garmin 310xt.  This find was more impressive than my workout this morning.

LINK

Felt terrible yesterday but today seems to be better.  Still took it easy and ran 6.6 miles on the TM at the gym.  The last mile I picked it up but I regret doing that because my chest felt very tight and it took longer than usual to catch my breath.