Mall Rats in Izumo

Time: 45:49
Distance: ~7 miles

W/u: 21:19 for ~3 miles
W/o: Cruise mile, 800, 2 x 400
C/d: 15:06 for ~2 miles

Last time I left you the team had an interesting meal down in the New WelCity Hotel restaurant. All of us returned to our respective rooms to try and find some sleep. I failed miserably as I woke up at midnight, 2:00 am, 4:00 am and finally decided to get up at 5:30 am. I'm not sure why, but I think this is the worst adjustment to Japan time that I've had to make. I along with Yoshi and John "Johnny Photogs" Deputy were the first three down to breakfast on Saturday morning. The two Americans ate the western style breakfast while Yoshi had a more traditional Japanese spread which included fish, rice, radishes, egg and soup.

The rest of the team joined us downstairs eventually and we got to have a good running conversation. And by running, I mean it was all about running. Johnny Photogs is the official photographer for John Hancock during the Boston Marathon. He also knows the owner of the Boston Red Sox (who just purchased Liverpool) and many other big time sponsors of sporting events. He was here last year taking photos to document the trip and this year he's playing more of a chaperone role since Jack Fultz (former Boston Marathon winner) wasn't able to come due to health complications. Mr. Fultz has been coaching this team for over a decade so I'm sure the race officials will find is peculiar that Ben Stern is filling the void.

After breakfast we returned to our rooms and prepared for our runs. We drove over to the track stadium and ran a few laps around the athletic fields before getting to work with a light workout. It was cool running in a team atmosphere as Frank, Mike, Sam, Zac, Bobby and I all ran a mile together, followed by some 800s or 400s. The goal was to stretch out the legs and feel fast for Monday's race.

Splits:
4:51.20 (90), 2:18.37 (89), 66.56 (92), 65.06 for 13:54 total and 2 miles total.

I felt decent, but not fantastic. That will certainly have to change come Monday if I want to run respectably. It's been decided that I'm running the 4th leg again this year which is 6.2k in distance. Last year I ran 20:00 minutes which is about a minute slower than I wanted and felt absolutely terrible doing it. However, I got deathly ill two days later which is my poor excuse. I presented my case for the second leg which is the shortes (5.8k) but was shot down as Ben really wants the two Princeton Towers to lead off. Right now the line up is going to be Frank (8.0k), Mike (5.8k), Zac (7.9k), me (6.2k), Sam (6.4k), Steve (10.2k).

When we were done training it was time to head back to the hotel for a quick shower and then lunch. We all piled into our bus and drove over to You Me which is a huge mall. It's the first time that I've been in You Me, but I've seen it a couple of times before. We wandered around until we decided to eat at the Food Court. It was very similar to an American food court but all the places served Asian cuisine, minus the McDonald's that some guys chose to eat at. I'll admit that I had a McFlurry. While we were eating a girl from the states came up to us and asked if we were American. Her name was Sarah and she was doing a year abroad, living with a host family and teaching at a high school. She almost never sees English speaking people in Izumo so she took the opportunity to hang out with us. Sarah has only been in Japan two months and doesn't really know the language which means she sometimes goes days without speaking. It sounded a little lonely, but she was fun to chat with for the couple of hours we were at the mall.

The next stop on the day was the Taisha Shrine which is a must see when you come to Izumo. It's one of the oldest, if not the oldest shrines in all of Japan. I've been twice before, but it's always relaxing to visit the sacred grounds. It's also amusing to throw coins into the big ropes hanging in front of some of the buildings. I can't really describe what I mean by this without photos, so you will have to wait until I'm back and on my other computer.

The final important activity of the day was to go on a course preview. The race starts at the gates of the shrine and runs downhill through the city. Each guy took a turn at the front of the bus scoping out the leg he will run come Monday. By this time I was getting sleepy and took a brief nap on the bus. I also fell asleep when we got back to the hotel and missed the first 30 minutes of dinner. Whoops. When I did get down to the restaurant most of the team was eating steak strips that we each got to cook ourselves on a small filled with sauce. I ate quickly so I didn't hold up the team. Yoshi handed out our bib numbers, fumbled through some of the requirements for race day and released us for the rest of the night.

Before sleep most of the team went down to the "onsen" which is more or less a spa. You first have to ceremonially wash off before entering either the mineral water or bubble water. Basically it was a bunch of skinny athletic Americans chilling naked with older Japanese dudes. We were pretty proud of ourselves if you know what I mean. By the time we left I was exhausted and ready for sleep. I made it another few hours watching MTV and more recent Snoop Dogg videos before finally passing out.

Tomorrow is going to be relatively low key with the race's opening ceremony being the highlight.