Sea of Japan

Time: 64:36
Distance: ~8.5 miles

"I slept like a baby, woke up every two hours and cried," that's basically how you could describe my first night of sleep. I may have slept the worst of the entire group, but I bet I accomplished the most work. During the night I watched terrible Japanese television shows, maybe it wasn't terrible, but I couldn't understand and the graphics were at least bad. I will say that while the people of Japan look incredibly fit and healthy, there are no obese people that I've seen at least. I suppose there are sumo wrestlers, but I'm yet to see any of those guys. Besides, aren't they athletes in the same way Albert Hainesworth is an athlete? My point is that a lot of the late night television is similar to ours in the US which is of course... infomercials. Meagan would love it. I saw two adds for fitness machines and both were for core strength, and another for "removing that unwanted hair." Clearly the Japanese want to be us, but do it better.

When I felt like it was a reasonable hour (4:30 am) I got up and made some Starbucks Via and unpacked my clothes. I decided to go down stairs around 6:30 and wait for the first person to arrive at breakfast. It was Yoshi who I have met three times before. I believe he works or volunteers with the Japanese equivalent to the NCAA. I ate the "American breakfast" which consisted of toast, eggs, fruit, salad, and soup. I also drank an obscene amount of coffee.

An hour after breakfast the team convened in the lobby for our run. We ran from the New WelCity Hotel to the Sea of Japan. There is a bike path that runs through the city and makes it very convenient to travel by foot or bike. Everyone touched the sea before heading back. Some guys took an "onsen" (sp?" which is a natural hot bath while I watched the Giants defeat the Braves 1-0. Take that Billy Shue!

Lunch was buffet style so everyone was able to find a little of something that they liked. The big hit of the meal was the ice cream which Ben was convinced had a little butter in it. He might have been right. It was so rich and delicious. Afterward some guys went upstairs to watch a movie, others walked into Izumo and I took a nap. It's raining here so getting out to see the sights has been put on hold.