Run Forest Run

So, yesterday was a holiday (surprise surprise) - it was sports day! Not sure exactly what that means, but I figure since it was sports day I would do something sporty and run in a local 10K. It was my first race in I do not know how long. It felt good to be back in the race element and my time was not too shabby considering I did not really train (54 minutes). However, I was OUT OF SHAPE! I was trying to keep up with all of these athletic, skinny, fast Japanese people and I was huffing and puffing 90 percent of the time. We did one loop and ran it twice for the 10K distance. On the second lap, you had to wear a red sash around your body which was pretty annoying. I think I was the only person listening to OAR, Beastie Boys and Black Eyed Peas on my Ipod shuffle. The cheering section was quite different than what you see in the US. In the races I have run in the US, I would encounter live bands, loud Boom Boxes, people handing out doughnuts, and sheer entertainment along the way as people dressed up in Elvis costumes would run past you. In Tokyo, these little old men would shout "Hai" (means "Yes") as I ran by, almost like military style, which I guess was supposed to spur me on. The only person dressed up was a man in his 50's wearing Minnie Mouse ears...hmmm...I will let you sit on that one. I imagine the cheering experience would be quite different if it had been a bigger race. Here are some other fun noteworthy differences... The race started promptly at 9AM. However, at 8:20 the bells at the local school rang to start the ceremony of sorts. Three or four people from our ward spoke. Then, two girls in cheerleader costumes and one guy came to the stage and led us in organized stretching. I kid you not! And because we all follow the rules in Japan, EVERYONE was doing the organized stretching. I had to chuckle to myself. Speaking of following the rules, in my race packet I was given a T-shirt along with this large piece of plastic with my race number on it. I had no idea what to use it for so I took it back up to my apartment (the start was literally behind my apartment building - definitely a nice perk of the "local" aspect of the race). When I came back down to listen to the speeches (which I had to because you do not break the rules in Japan, even if you only understand .2 % of what is being said) I noticed everyone had put their large pieces of plastic on the ground. Then, they put their belongings on top of the plastic. Then they went and ran the race. Did you put it together? They leave their belongings on the mat, go run for a hour or so, come back and their belongings are still there. Nobody steals here, or worries about it. It is against the rules so you simply do not do it. It is amazing. You really have to be here to see it, but you will see women at parks leaving their purses open on the bench and chasing after the kids, and nobody will touch their belongings. Another fun thing is that I messed up at the start of the race. I think I was the only gaijin (foreigner) in the race. My friend's husband was running as well so we were talking as they lined us up at the start. Before I knew it, not only was I the only gaijin in line, I was the only FEMALE in line. First they lined up the men, and then they lined up the women. Oops. Oh well. I moved myself over to the right a few steps and was suddenly in line with the women.

You want to know the best part of the race? Coming up on lap two and seeing my sweet little Miyako-chan on Daddy's shoulders waving at Mama, with the K Man chilling in the stroller...and seeing the bright smiling face of my Dutch friend and her son cheering me on. Such an encouragement to me. I do not know how many races I have run while Kan and I have been together and have begged him to come watch. I even finished across Neyland Stadium for a half marathon one year and he came to see me, but missed me finish by about 10 minutes. :( I had low expectations of seeing him this time around even though it was literally in our backyard. He is not a morning person and getting up to watch the kids was asking a lot. But I think having the kids with him is what got him to the race - he was probably looking to do anything to get outside of our apartment with the two of them and was probably tired of answering "Where's mama?" :) It was really sweet to see my precious family cheering me on. Love them!