Thursday, April 28, 2016

Friday Morning 3 K Run

As soon as I woke up, I went to a nearby park, and after doing some warm up, like jumping jacks and high knees, I started running around the quarter pie-shaped road that circumscribes the park.
Most of my systems, especially the cardio-vascular one, were still half-asleep, and I could not pick up speed for the first three laps, but halfway into my fourth I finally felt that things were fully in gear, and I was able to run my last lap quite comfortably.

The result of the workout this morning is as follow:
Warm Up: Jumping Jacks & High Knees
0~650 M: 3:33
650~1300 M: 3:29
1300~1950 M: 3:30
1950~2600 M: 3:28
2600~3250 M: 3:17
Total: 17:19 (equivalent to a 5:19/K pace)



Thursday Core Training & Night 3 K Run

Earlier today a friend of mine I met through a running race shared some useful information about the order of different types of exercise and its metabolic effect.

According to him, if you do muscle training first, and then do slow cardio such as jogging,
you build muscle more effectively, plus fat loss effect goes up, but long distance endurance is compromised.

On the other hand, if you run first, and do muscle training after that, you cannot build muscle well, but it's good for maximizing your long distance endurance.

Tonight I chose the former approach for muscle gain and fat loss benefit, because I already had a good running workout this morning.

First I did 6 sets of one-minute body weight core training.

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

I then went to a quarter pie-shaped road near my house that is 650 M long,
and ran around it five times in 16 minutes 17 seconds.

Each lap is shown below:
0~650 M: 3:33
650~1300 M: 3:24
1300~1950 M: 3:11
1950~2600 M: 3:04
2600~3250 M: 3:03
Total: 16:17 (equal to a 5:00~5:01/K pace)

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running "In the Rain"

I ran in the rain again this morning.
It was raining more heavily than last night,
but it didn't bother me.
The road was empty except for an occasional car or two.
I had my favorite quarter pie-shaped road all to my self.
I began to run slowly, and then picked up the pace gradually.

The result is as follows:
0~650 M: 3:31
650~1300 M: 3:23
1300~1950 M: 3:18
1950~2600 M: 3:12
2600~3250 M: 3:06
Total: 16:32 (roughly equivalent to a 5:05/K pace)

P.S. The title is a parody of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by American author Raymond Carver, and also "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Both are incredible enjoyable reads. I highly recommend my blog readers to check them out.

Wednesday Night 3 K Run in the Rain

I ran in the rain on Wednesday night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neAfyJFHRVk

The weather didn't bother me at all, because two weeks ago I ran Kasumigaura Marathon 2016,
where the weather condition was almost equal to a typhoon for a significant amount of the latter half of the race.

Tonight's result is as follows:

0~1300 M: 6:31
1300~1950 M: 3:17
1950~2600 M: 3:16
2600~3250 M: 3:12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neAfyJFHRVk

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Wednesday Morning Workout: Body Weight Training and 3 K Run

I worked out for 30 minutes this morning.
After a short walk to a park near my house,
I did pike push-ups to hit my shoulders, traps, and tri-ceps.
See the You Tube video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slviR_jy50Y

I then went to another park across the street to do lying pull-ups
to hit my arms, lats, and back.
I did 72 reps, which were divided into two sets of 36 reps,
which were further divided into four sub-sets of 12, 10, 8, and 6 reps.
There is a short rest of 8 seconds between sub-sets,
and a longer rest of 30 seconds between sets.
See the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTQjZJWJxfE&feature=youtu.be

Finally I left the park to go round the 650 M quarter pie-shaped road five times to cover 3.25 K.
Today's result is as follows:
0~650 M: 3:37
650~1300 M: 3:34
1300~1950 M: 3:30
1950~2600 M: 3:24
2600~3250 M: 3:22

This is equivalent to a 5:21~5:22/K pace.

Tuesday Night 3 K Run

Two hours after having a light meal at Katsugyo Ohedo Ueno Nigohten,
my favorite kaiten-zushi restaurant in Ueno, Tokyo
I hit the road to keep my legs from weakening and to maintain my cardio-vascular capacity.
I ran around a quarter pie-shaped road near my home five times to cover 3.25 K.

Tonight's result is as follows:
0~650 M: 3:27
650~1300 M :3:29
1300~1950 M: 3:15
1950~2600 M: 3:08
2600~3250 M: 3:04

This is equivalent to a 5:03 pace/K.

I will carry on with this pace awhile before aiming for a faster pace.
Experience has taught me that if you increase the challenge too soon,
there is an inevitable drawback.


Monday, April 25, 2016

Body Weight Muscle Training and Cruise Ks

To begin a new week with I did body weight muscle training and cruise Ks.

I began with two cardio warm up exercises: high knees and jumping jacks.
I did each of them for one minute. I usually do it only for 30 seconds,
but yesterday I saw a You Tube video by a monstrously ripped black dude,
and he recommended it for one minute, so I did it.
Jumping jack was all right, but doing high knees for one minute wasn't easy.
The last ten seconds were all low knees, I must admit.

Once the cardio warm-up was over, I changed the gear and cranked up the intensity
to do 36 dive bombs,
I began with 12 reps, and after that progressively decreased the number of reps
first to 10, and then to 8, and finally to 6 with only a short rest of 8 seconds between reps.
I could feel my shoulders and tri-ceps burning after that.

I then went to a small kids' park across the street to do lying pull-ups.
I did 72 of them.
The approach is exactly the same as in dive bombs,
except that with lying pull-ups I did two sets with a short rest of 30 seconds between sets.

I could feel my bi-ceps and back really tense and sore after finishing it.

Finally I went back to the quarter pie-shaped road next to the park to wrap up my workout this morning with cruise Ks.
I ran 3 K as usual.
Today's result is as follows:
1st K: 5:44.
Rest: 30 seconds
2nd K: 5:35
Rest: 30 seconds
3rd K: 5:40

When the running training was over, my stomach was flat, and I felt two pounds lighter.
I walked back home, took a quick shower, and had my usual breakfast
consisting of fresh fruits and veggies.
Today I had some fresh parsley, half a grapefruit, a whole avocado and dried nori seaweed, half an apple, some nuts and raisins, a glass of regular milk and soy milk, and a quarter of a melon, and a small piece of bread with cream cheese and nuts in it, and a cup of coffee.

By the time I finished it all, I had felt like a terminator ready to smash a bad guy.

Barefoot Run

I ran barefoot tonight.
I ran around the usual quarter-pie-shaped 650 M road near my house five times
to cover 3250 M.

Tonight's result is as follows:
0~650 M: 3:36
650~1300 M: 3:19
1300~1950 M: 3:11
1950~2600 M: 3:07
2600~3250 M: 3:08

The first lap is significantly slower than the following laps.
This is because it took time to get used to this new attempt.
The first few hundred meters were quite uncomfortable,
mostly because that part of the road had a poor condition;
the surface of the pavement is less smooth than the remaining part of the road.
But once that part was over, I felt less uncomfortable.

Barefoot running was more pleasant than I thought
because weight of shoes is non-existent.

Barefoot running was also beneficial,
because your body intuitively selects the most comfortable and efficient running form for you.
Even if I eventually choose to continue to run in shoes in official races,
I may be able to fine-tune my running form that is more efficient
even when I run in shoes.
I am thrilled to think about all the new possibilities that can spring out of this new attempt of mine.



Monday Workout: Cruise Ks & Sit-n-Kick Ks

Both Sunday night and Monday morning I was out of town and skipped my regular training.
So on Monday afternoon after coming back home,
I ran 6 K to make up for the workout I missed.

I ran my first 3 K in as cruise Ks, and the remaining 3 K as sit-n-kick Ks.
For details of the workouts, please check out my You Tube video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2o1_LjubOo

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Weekend Cruise Ks, Lying Pull-Ups, and 100 M Sprints

The morning after I skipped my running exercise at night I felt fully recuperated,
so I went to the nearby park and did cruise Ks six reps.
Today I aimed at my full marathon pace of between 5:20~5:40/K,
but ended up running slightly faster for all the reps.

Today's result is as follows:
Warm Up: Walk for 5 minutes
1st K: 5:16
Rest: 30 seconds
2nd K: 5:04
Rest: 30 seconds
3rd K: 5:09
Rest: 30 seconds
4th K: 5:11
Rest: 30 seconds
5th K: 5:10
Rest: 30 seconds
6th K: 5:21
Cool Down: Walk to a small nearby park

After doing cruise Ks I did lying pull-ups to hit my arms and back.
I did two sets of 36 reps divived into four sub-sets of 12, 10, 8, and 6 reps
with a short 8-second rest between sub-sets like below.

1st Set
12 reps
Rest: 8 seconds
10 reps
Rest: 8 seconds
8 reps
Rest: 8 seconds
6 reps
Rest: 8 seconds

2st Set
12 reps
Rest: 8 seconds
10 reps
Rest: 8 seconds
8 reps
Rest: 8 seconds
6 reps
Rest: 8 seconds

I wrapped up the exercise this morning with 100-M sprints.
I originally aimed at 5 sets flat out, but had a headache after the 3rd,
and felt slightly pukey also, so though I did continue until the 5th,
but the last two were quite lame.
The result is shown below:
1st 100 M: 15.04
2nd 100 M: 15:11
3rd 100 M: 14:77
4th 100 M :18:71
5th 100 M: 17:31

I couldn't have felt deader right after the workout.
But after taking a shower I couldn't have felt more rejuvenated.






Saturday Night Leisure

I skipped the evening 3 K run this Saturday night.

There were three reasons.

First, I had a slight symptom of common cold.
I had a small lump on the left side of my throat near the root of my tongue.
I usually do not have a symptom like this.
So something was off.
I thought I was tired.
Exercise is not something you should do when you are tired.
It is a rest that you need.
So I gave one to myself.

Second, I wanted to watch a DVD.
I wanted to see either the latest of the Star Wars series,
or the latest of the 007 series.
The former wasn't there yet,
but the latter was available,
so I rented it and enjoyed seeing it at home.
I liked it a lot, because it wasn't too geekily high-tech;
there was a lot of primitive combat which draws out a strong quality of Daniel Craig.
I liked it also because Bond Girls were unequivocally attractive,
surpassing my expectations set by many of the early works from the series.

Because I rested enough,
I feel strong enough now on Sunday morning as I am writing this.
I am going to hit the nearby park to enjoy slow jogging.





Friday, April 22, 2016

Weekend Morning 3 K Run

Today is Saturday.
I have a much earlier start than usual.
So in the past I would normally go straight to work after breakfast.
But today I ran in the park near my house.
When I exercise in the morning, I usually start doing it without eating anything because I usually feel fully charged with fuel from the meal from the previous night.
The only thing I always have, though, is a glass of water so as not to get dehydrated.

When I reached the park, it was already populated with quite a few locals, lots of them elderly, and some slightly younger.

I ran around the 500 M track 6 times at my full marathon pace of between 5:20 and 5:40.

The result of the exercise this morning is as follows:
1st K: 5:38
2nd K: 5:24
3rd K: 5:16

After the exercise I quickly hit a shower and had a large piece of apple, avocado with dried nori seaweed, and a mix of soy and regular milk for breakfast.

It was just a short workout for 16 minutes and a half, but I feel significantly more energized now than I usually do when I do not do any exercise in the morning.

I hope to carry on with it for a while.

Midnight 3 K Run

I hit the road to cover 3 K before going to bed.
Tonight's result is as follows:

0~650 M: 3:22
650~1300 M: 3:11
13:00~1950 M: 3:15
1950~2600 M: 3:16
2600~3250 M: 3:17


Thursday, April 21, 2016

Lying Pull-Ups and 3 K Run

This morning I went to a park near my house to do lying pull-ups on a playing castle for kids.
I did two sets of 36 reps (divided into four chunks of 12, 10, 8, and 6)
with a rest of 8 seconds between chunks, and one minute between sets.
Two sets are doable, though the last few reps of the last two chunks were tough.
I will carry on with this routine for a while.
When two sets become too easy, I will consider increasing the number of sets.

After that I hit the running track across the street and ran 3 K.
Today's result is as follows.

0~500 M: 2:40
500 M~1 K: 2:36
1~1.5 K: 2:32
1.5~2 K: 2:28
2~2.5 K: 2:25
2.5~3 K: 2:28

Midnight 3 K Run in the Rain

After coming home from work I ran 3 K in the rain.
It's funny I did it, because in the past I would normally skip my running training
when it rained.
I changed my attitude
when I ran the most challenging marathon race this past Sunday
in a condition that was pretty much equal to a typhoon at some points.
When it starts raining in a race, 
you have no choice but run through the rain.
Even if winds blow like crazy, you must continue to run against them.
Run I did to the finish this past Sunday though a combination of heavy and cold rains
and strong winds and cramped leg muscles and pain in the knee
nearly made me call it quits.
The experience made me realize 
that rain isn't reason enough not to run.
So I decided to run tonight though it was still raining slightly.
How was it?
Oh, it was hundred times easier than Sunday's race!
Not just because the distance was much, much shorter,
but also because I no longer have that mental block
that rain is something you should avoid if you can.
No. I no longer think that way.
That rain is something you just live with is how I see rain now.
Therefore I will run, come rain or shine.

Today's result is as follows:

0~650 M: 3:26
650~1300 M: 3:22
1300~1950 M: 3:10
1950~2600 M: 3:12
2600~3250 M: 3:12



Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Morning/Midnight 3 K Run & Lying Pull-Ups

For the last two days I have been running 3 K both in the morning before going to work,
and in the evening after coming home from work.
It's something I want to continue after my running race season was over
with Kasumigaura Marathon this past Sunday.
By training hard for a series of races I have developed a solid habit of running.
Keeping this habit seems more important than finishing a race at the time I aim at.
I'm not sure if three is the good number.
But I will continue it awhile to see how my body responds.

I've been doing lying pull-ups (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNT8h-Qnsnk) alongside to strengthen my arms and lats that have gotten significantly weaker since I stopped doing muscle training to avoid unnecessary weight gain for long distance races.

I've been doing it 36 reps everyday that is divided into a set of 12 reps at first, then 10, and 8, and finally 6 reps, with an 8-second rest between reps.

Earlier today when I timed this exercise, it only took me a minute and ten seconds
including rests. It's an incredibly efficient workout, considering how fast you get to wear out your arm muscles. I might want to do it at night as well on my way back as there is a small park in my neighborhood that has low iron bars perfect for the exercise. It will be nice if this also becomes my regular new fitness routine.



Friday, April 15, 2016

3K Run (Last Training Before Kasumigaura Marathon 2016)

On April 16, Saturday, I did a 3 K run in the morning.
This marks the last training scheduled before Kasumigaura Marathon on April 17.
I aimed at my 10 K pace of 4:30/K for all of the three Ks I ran.
The purpose of this training is to stimulate my leg muscles
as well as cardio-vascular system.
The distance is limited to 3 K so as not to create unrecoverable fatigue.

Today's result is as follows:
Warm Up: (1) a short walk + jog for a couple of minutes; (2) 30 seconds of jumping jacks;
              (3) 30 seconds of high knees
1st K: 4:16
2nd K: 4:26
3rd K: 4:19
Cool Down: a short walk back home for a few minutes.

After hitting a shower I had 'hatsugatsuo' or lean spring bonito sashimi, brown rice, and 'udo' picked from my backyard cooked in sweet and salty sauce with 'wakame' seaweed, sliced onion, and beaten egg. Tonight I am going to eat two to three servings of curry and rice to fully load myself with enough energy to run 42.195 K.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

3 K Build-Up

Three more days to go before Kasumigaura Marathon.
I did 3 K build-up training to stimulate my leg muscles as well as cardio-vascular system.
In 3 K build-up (in my case) you begin the first 1 K with a relatively comfortable pace,
and slowly increase the pace as you increase the rep.
Today I ran my first K at my full marathon pace of between 5:20 and 5:40/K.
Then I ran my second K at my half marathon pace of between 4:40 and 4:50/K.
Finally, I aimed at my 10 K pace of 4:30/K for the last K.

Today's result is as follows:
Warm Up: Jogging for 2 minutes
1st K: 5:11
2nd K: 4:41
3rd K: 4:19
Cool Down: Jogging for 4 minutes and 30 seconds

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Transparency and Trust

In The Japan News dated April 13, Wednesday I read an interesting article entitled "OECD had calls for tax info sharing, leadership from G-7".

According to the article, while there have been some political upheavals triggered by so-called "The Panama Papers" across the globe, the most important thing is transparency and beneficial ownership. Namely, people must declare the source of the revenue, and who owns the stocks in the companies that made profits.

The article also says that the most significant thing is that Panama, which has been the only large financial center that has refused to join the global financial summit, is now saying that they are going to join.

What I find interesting is the names of some Japanese companies are allegedly in the papers.

In my opinion, if transparency is so important as pointed out in the article, those Japanese companies must prove legality of any dealings documented in the paper. Also, if there should be anything against law, they must meet legal obligations accordingly.

This is because leniency to big corporations is enough to demoralize Japanese tax-payers who have been storing up mistrust and resentment toward law-makers who demand a salary raise when most commoners suffer cuts, and also towards bureaucrats who engage in active spending of the remaining budget when many households are struggling to make ends meet.

For example, if the names of the Japanese companies listed in the paper are for any reason not revealed, that is already a big blow to the ruling coalition government, because it would come across as protection of a potentially crime-ridden company by the government at the sacrifice of the essential human morality of honest and integrity.

On the other hand, if the government dictates that whichever companies that were involved in illegal tax avoidance should pay their penalties, it will be a great opportunity for the ruling government to regain public trust.


Monday, April 11, 2016

New Employee Training

On April 11 I went to a mid-size city in Aichi Prefecture to give a seminar to new employees of a car manufacturer. It is a world-renowned company whose annual sales probably far exceed GDP of several small countries all combined. And I was there to show them how to improve English communication skills.

The seminar was challenging in terms of a number of factors.
First, the size of the audience was huge. There were 720 people. It was the largest audience that I had ever addressed.
Second, there was a clear numerical goal given to the audience, and my mission was to set their minds on it so that all of them could achieve it by the designated deadline.
Also, the audience was of a mixed level.
And finally, I had to convey everything in 85 minutes, which is almost 30 minutes shorter than my regular presentation time.
Careful planning and enormous concentration were required for a successful delivery.

Once the seminar started, the audience participated in all of my activities with a positive attitude, listened to my lecture attentively, and took notes so as not to miss important points. I gave everything I had got that I learned from all the great teachers I met in my life.

The seminar ended in a flash! Or at least it felt like it ended in a flash.

I was walked into a waiting room for the guest lecturer, feeling numb.

A couple of minutes later, three people from the HD department came in with bundles of questionnaires in their arms. They, me and my attendant surrounded a table and had a quick review session, each of us going though a selected bundle of questionnaires and sharing comments that were of note.

The leader from the HD department was pleased with a generally positive tone of the questionnaires. I was glad, though not completely satisfied as I found some negative feedback among advanced learners that it left a little to be desired in terms of learning methods for advanced learners. That's something I must work on for future seminars.

All in all, the seminar was success. THE biggest seminar in my entire career was over. I never felt so deeply satisfied with one event. I was thankful that I had this job, and renewed my motivation to do a good job no matter how challenging the situation may be.



Thursday, April 7, 2016

Cruise Ks

The night I came back from a two-hour corporate seminar I wanted to refresh myself,
so I decided to hit the road.
Today I did Cruise Ks.
In this training you repeat a 1 K run with a short interval between reps.
I did 5 reps today, aiming at my full marathon pace of 5:20 for each rep
with an interval of 30 seconds.
Today's result is as follows:

Warm Up: Slow jog for 46 seconds.
1st K: 5:15
Rest: 30 seconds
2nd K: 5:13
Rest: 30 seconds
3rd K: 5:08
Rest: 30 seconds
4th K: 5:10
Rest: 30 seconds
5th K: 5:07
Cool Down: Slow jog for 4:25

I felt like a new man when I hit a shower after the run.

About Music and One's Attitude Toward It

On Yahoo News I read an interesting article about music marketing.
According to the article people are becoming less interested in paying to listen to new songs.
While the article partly attributes it to music's free online availability,
it also suspects that one's attitude toward music is fundamentally changing.

For example, the article divides music listeners into four categories:

1) Those willing to pay for music
2) Those only interested in music if it's free
3) Those only interested in music that's free, and that they are already familiar with
4) Those uninterested in music

The article argues that while Category 1) is surely diminishing over the course of time,
that Category 3) and 4) are becoming more and more dominant.

The bad news for the industry is that Category 2) has been slowly diminishing
even with the teenage demographic, which traditionally has been the most important target.
The article suspects that young listeners nowadays have already been surrounded with an overwhelming amount of music, and they don't hunger for more.

The article concludes that something needs to be done in order to tap this most potentially lucrative market.

To be honest, I am surprised to read the article, because when I look back on it,
my teenage days and early twenties couldn't possibly have existed without music.
I would stay up all night making cassette tapes with my favorite songs in them,
with a prospect of listening to them with my favorite gal while driving, of course.
Music is always inseparably associated with my romantic memories of the past.
But then, why the gradual decline in the interest in music among the young demographic?
I don't know.
That's for the industry to figure out, because if they don't, they will be in big, big, trouble.


Wednesday, April 6, 2016

5K Jog + Lying Pull-Ups & Alternate Ks + 100 M Sprints

I divided my running training for Wednesday into two segments:
one for morning and the other for evening.

My morning training consisted of a 5 K jog and lying pull-ups.
I did this before breakfast.
The main purpose was to relax my leg muscles
that had been significantly fatigued from over 30 K run this past Sunday,
but that was then slowing recovering.

My evening training focused more on keeping the regular marathon pace on the one hand,
and on increasing my ability to suddenly change the pace when necessary.
I did alternate Ks at my full marathon pace and my half marathon pace.
I wrapped up the evening training with 100 M sprints.
I aimed for five sets, but felt a sharp pain in my right hamstring in my third rep,
so I quickly called it quits before doing the fourth.
At this stage of training I didn't want to take any risk.

The result of today's evening training is as follows:

Warm Up: 1 minute jog
1st K: 5:16
Rest: 30 seconds
2nd K: 4:33
Rest: 1 minute
3rd K: 4:55
Rest: 30 seconds
4th K: 4:49
Rest: 1 minute
5th K: 5:07

Rest: 5:17

1st 100 M: 15.02
Rest: 2 minutes
2nd 100 M: 14.69
Rest: 2 minutes
3rd 100 M: 17.96 (pain in hamstring)

Cool Down: 2:50

Sunday, April 3, 2016

30 K Run

Two weeks before Kasumigaura Marathon I went for a 30 K run as scheduled
in order to develop muscle and tendon endurance.
First I had breakfast consisting of an orange, a small piece of apple, a cup of soy milk, half an avocado, which I ate with dried 'nori' seaweed.
There was no staple or equivalent in the fridge,
so I decided to skip it and get some along the way.
I left home a little past 8:00 am to head for my first destination, Massaki.
On the way there I stopped by Mini Stop to eat a cup of pudding
to fuel myself with sugar and protein.
Ui-san, my friend from elementary school days, offered to accompany me on his bike.
I was running down a long stretch of road leading to the destination
when I saw a man on a bike with flashy green paint on it.
It was Ui-san.
He read a post I had left on FB and went to Mini Stop to find me,
Unfortunately, he couldn't find me, and left the convenience store to go ahead and catch up to me.
But in fact, I was still there when he thought I had already gone.
So when he could find me anywhere along the road,
he stopped and decided to wait awhile to see if I would come.
Once he and I got together, I decided to change the route
so that the journey together would be more enjoyable to him.
I suggested running around Inbanuma Pond, and he consented.

Massaki and Sakura Fureai Park is connected with a cycling road.
There are many cherry trees along the road, but flowers were not in full bloom yet.
12.9 K from home we arrived at Sakura Fureai Park.
It was crowded with visitors who were there to enjoy seeing tulips.
Also, there was an aid station for a long-distance race.
I asked one of the aid workers what kind of race was going on.
He said there was a race called Eco Slow Marathon was going on.
As I listened to him, runners passed by me one after another.
Most of them were people from abroad.

Soon Ui-san and I left the park and headed for our next destination, Futago Park.
As we proceeded along the cycling road, we saw many runners participating in the Eco Slow Marathon. Many of them waved their hand and said hi to me as they ran in the opposite direction.
By the time we got to Futago Park, the sun had come out, and it was getting hotter.
I took off my long-sleeved shirt and continued to run in a short-sleeved one, wrapping the long-sleeved one around my waist.

Between Futago Park and the next destination, Massaki, there is a spring,
where you can drink fresh spring water.
Though my breathing became rougher, and legs became heavier,
the prospect of the fresh spring water was enough to keep me motivated.
When Ui-san and I got to the spring, a number of people were waiting to fill large bottles with the spring water.
I get their permission to cut the line to hydrate myself.
I put the cold water over my head, on my arm, and gulped a few scoops.
It was extremely refreshing, and the building pain was forgotten for a moment.

When we passed Massaki, and were back in a residential area of the town of Yuukarigaoka,
I was dehydrated and hungry, and my vision was blurred and my throat was dry.
Fortunately, I was able to reach a convenience store before I became completely out.
I bought a bottle of mineral water, and a doughnut.
It didn't take me longer than a minute to finish a 500 ml bottle of water,
and I munched the doughnut like a man who had not eaten anything for three days.

The water and food gave me the energy to carry on with the endeavor.
There was 5 more K to go.
I was no longer able to pick up speed, so I steadily put forward one leg after the other finally to reach home almost four hours after I left home.

I quickly took a shower and changed into comfortable home wear.
I put myself between two blankets on my futon.
I felt pain here and there in both of my legs, but the comfort of lying in futon was so indescribably huge, I couldn't stop laughing for almost half a minute.

Later, when I checked the distance of my run on Google Map,
it was almost 34.6 K that I covered.
No wonder I was more exhausted than I thought I would be.
Anyhow, I achieved my goal, and I am happy about it.
Next week a couple of good training sessions are scheduled.
I am looking forward to completing them to become a stronger version of myself.