Izumo, Japan

Time: 67:33
Distance: 10 miles

After a short late morning flight from Haneda Airport (Tokyo) to Izumo the team got together for a run. As an aside, we showed up to the flight 30 minutes before, checked baggage, got through security and scurried to the gate with enough time to take off without too many hassles. We were a little rushed b/c we were late but the Japanese airport system is much more efficient than the U.S. Steve Sundell lead our run b/c he was on the trip last year and new the area. We ran west with the wind at our backs on a bikepath that ran along a small canal. It was great being with a group of guys excited about running. The pace was pretty brisk considering we had just been traveling for the previous 36 hours. We were well into the run when it started getting hot with out shirts on. Apparently, it is not cool to run shirtless. Steve found that out last year when a police officer stopped him. At one point we ran past a little old woman pushing her own wheelchair. Courtney blurted our "Konichiwa" and she responded as any little old Japanese woman would with a soft but high pitched "Ko ni chi wa." We figured she must have been 112 years old and next in line for the Guinness Book of WR oldest person.

The run ended up taking us about 30 minutes out to the ocean. Ben Stern and I ran down on to the beach and touched the water to say we had done it. I think it might have been the Sea of Japan. Maybe not. Steve and Max King continued on to get in a 100 minutes while Ben, Courtney, Jon Marcus and myself headed back. Tarpy, and the Harvard guys had turned earlier. On the way back Ben wanted to do some "brisk" running as Vin Lanana calls it out in Oregon to get a bit of a workout in. He took off and once he had about 60m on me I took off in pursuit. It was nice turning the legs over. I was trying to simulate running with a big gap like it would be in the Izumo Ekiden. On the way back I past Ben and caught the Harvard guys (Alasdair and John Traugott) and Tarpy. We ran together for a bit before coming upon some Japanese students walking home from elementary school. We got them all wound up. A few tried to slap our asses, some chased up, one said in perfect English "nice to meet you." Tarpy ran up to a few raising his arms screaming "GODZILLA." They screamed. I high fived a few. It was a pretty cool experience.