On Feb. 13, Saturday, 2016 I ran home from my office, which is over 40 K away.
I left my office building at exactly 6:00 P.M.
I ran up a steep hill behind the building at a comfortable pace and ran along a side of the Diet building to reach the moat around the Imperial Palace.
Running awhile along the moat the bright neon lights from the Sukiyabashi area came in sight.
After passing several intersections I found myself running among crowds of people
in the most fashionable area in Tokyo--Ginza.
The streets were packed with couples enjoying a happy time together
on Valentine's Day.
Once off Chuo Street and into a narrower street leading to Hamacho,
the number of pedestrians gradually became smaller and smaller.
In no time I hit the Sumida river, and after taking a few turns,
I was on Route 14 that connects Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture.
With the Sobu Line on my left I kept straight along the national road.
Running along Route 14 was nice and pleasant.
At every two kilometers or so I saw a lively shopping district that had developed around a station.
Though I didn't take any break just the prospect of a shopping area appearing every now and then gave me a sense of security.
Around the 20 K mark after departure I had to make a choice.
Route 14 split into three ways.
One was a toll toad and you couldn't take it unless you were driving.
Another was the regular extension of Route 14.
But this was kind of a detour into Chiba.
The last choice went all the way to the entrance to the toll road,
and took a right to go through a minor road to cross a river to get into Chiba.
I had never taken that route, but since it appeared to the shortest way,
I decided to take it.
But this turned out to be a big mistake.
I was checking my route on an app called Navi Walk on my cell.
It had been a useful tool most of the time,
but that night my mind was unclear from fatigue
and I took a wrong turn and ended up running extra 5 K without realizing it
until I came home.
Meanwhile it started raining and winds got harder.
I felt lonely and miserable, running where I had never run before.
I started feeling thirsty, but a convenience store was nowhere to be seen.
I had no choice but going on.
Almost two and half hours after departure
I took my first break at Lawson's in Myouden.
I finished a bottle of Pocari Sweat quickly,
and started again to aim for Yoshinoya Beef Restaurant in Nishifunabashi
where I was planning to have dinner.
The way to the next rest point looked easy on the map,
but when I reached an intersection on a toll road,
passage looked blocked by construction work,
and I was afraid that I had to turn back the way I had come.
Luckily after roaming around for several minutes
I was able to find a temporary sidewalk to take me over to the other side of the toll road.
The restaurant was not for ahead.
But then the rain got harder, and the temperature started coming down.
I untied my windbreaker that I had wrapped around my waist, and put it on.
It made a big difference, and now I felt less cold.
An hour after my first major break in Myoden I finally reached Nishifunabashi.
I filled my stomach with a bowl of rice with sweet and salty boiled beef on top.
My app said there was 19.2 K more to go.
There was nothing unfamiliar anymore from there to home.
I had run the same route before.
But it was night, and the weather was bad.
Plus I had already run more that 20 K.
There was a world of difference between running the same distance afresh
and doing it after already running almost the same distance.
However, the remaining Ks turned out to be much much harder than I thought.
One reason was I was more tired than I thought I was.
There was a party on Thursday.
I had a little too much too drink.
Plus, I hadn't had enough sleep on Friday night.
With all these factors combined with the bad weather and late hours,
I wasn't as focused as I usually was at races.
But I didn't want to give up.
So I accepted all the unfavorable factors and decided to go slow.
With a little more than 10 K remaining,
my right knee started hurting.
The same happened in the full marathon in Tateyama earlier,
and at that time I overcame it by changing my running from,
taking wider strides and landing on the heel to allow the cushion of the sole
to absorb the landing shock instead of having my knee do the job.
But tonight it didn't work as well as it had at the race.
In no time my right knee started hurting,
and from that point on I had to stop at every 100 meters,
to bend and stretch my knees.
This significantly slowed down my pace,
and when the lights from my hometown were finally in sight
it was already over an hour later than my originally estimated arrival time.
But who cares?
I was finally going to make it.
I wanted to cry with pain, but tears never came out.
Instead I found myself laughing like a mad man,
because I was just so happy the journey was finally going to be over.
I passed some construction works fixing the road.
I almost hugged one of them with job, but of course I didn't.
I passed a few gentlemen smoking outside a ramen shop,
and imagined their smoke-filled degenerate lungs and felt an overwhelming feeling of superiority.
In no time I was standing by my scooter parked near the station.
I put on my helmet, started the engine and headed home.
Compared with dragging my legs in pain, riding the scooter was like
traveling on Monkey King's Flying Nimbus.
I literally felt like I was flying in the air!
What did I do after I got home?
Well, my eyes are getting heavy, so I would like to write about it later.
No comments:
Post a Comment