Sunday 5 K Run & Reunion

I ran 5 K this morning.
I ran my favorite 2.5 K circular route twice.
Today's laps were as follows:
1st: 12:12.41
2nd: 11:29.35
Total: 23:41.76.

After the training run,
I quickly hit a shower,
got changed,
and left home to meet an old American friend of mine and his wife
in Central Tokyo.

I was supposed meet them in the lobby of the hotel they were staying at
at 12:00 noon,
but I got there about ten minutes earlier.
No sooner had I called the friend on an internal phone,
than he answered it.
We exchanged a few quick words to express to each other
how excited we both were about hour reunion
after more than twenty years.

He and I first met when I was 20 and he 18.
That's 30 years ago.
We were both students at Purdue University in the State of Indiana
which is in the "in the Mid West region of the US.
I was a temporary exchange students
who took several classes in anthropology and linguistics.
My friend eventually got his degree in agricultural economics.

Soon after I called him,
he came downstairs to the lobby to see me.
He was by himself.
We excitedly exchanged greetings, which was then followed by sincere hugging.
Soon we were joined by his wife,
and soon after that the last of our party, Yoshi,
a mutual friend of ours joined us three.

We left the hotel to head for Shinbashi,
where the American friend wanted to get some help with his pre-paid SIM card.

After visiting a smart phone shop,
we took a walk through Ginza and eventually all the way to Tsukiji,
where we dropped by a Japanese restaurant and enjoy having
bowls of steamed vinegar rice topped with fresh seafood.

Once our stomachs were filled,
I took another short walk back into Ginza,
and made a stop at a mont-bell shop in Kyobashi,
where the American friend's wife wanted to do some window shopping.

After window-shopping briefly in Kyobashi,
we walked through Yurakucho to Corridor Street,
where we dropped in at a bistro and had dinner.

All throughout the walk and dinner,
we just talked and talked
about all kinds of stuff
from our jobs, family, hobbies, health, politics, philosophy, anthropology, agriculture,
to name a few.

Time flied,
and before we knew it, it was late.
Before walking the American guests to the train station,
I quickly showed them to my birth place near JR Shinbashi station,
where a karaoke building now stands.

Then came the moment of farewell.
We promised to meet again somewhere, sometime,
but not too far ahead,
either in Japan again,
or in the US.
Hopefully in the US,
because it seems more fair
as they came to Japan this time.

All in all, it was an awesome re-union,
which lifted my spirit tremendously.
I kept on thinking and speaking in English for 9 hours,
but my mind is more fulfilled than tired.
I felt some of my vocabulary was still occasionally not quite appropriate,
and my grammar a little bit broken,
but 90 % of the time my English was sufficient
for me to get my message across to the old friend and his wife.
I was very happy about my improvement in the language.