National Marathon

After running the National Marathon last year, I had vowed to never run it again...until Mandy talked me into it this year because our 50K training schedule called for running 26 miles anyway. Perfect weather and great volunteers.

The good...

The not too bad...

The ugly...

Happy to be done...

Run-on Sentence of the Day

Kevin is going to be on the Capabilities Committee, there are 2 more possible candidates that maybe joining our team, so Dean will tell me what committee their going to be on upon receiving there information for the WIKI account.

Okay.
Talk later

Japan Day 9: Last Day

Slept in then took the subway to meet the Gerbers at their hotel. They were staying at a military hotel in Tokyo that offered a Sunday champagne brunch. I hadn’t realized how much I missed American-style breakfasts until I had that first bite of scrambled eggs and bacon. Steve was totally down with the soft-serve ice cream that he sandwiched between waffles. Even thought it was raining again, we headed over to Mori Tower to see if we could check out the view from the top. We didn’t realize we’d have to pay to go up so we skipped it and practiced more jumping poses in front of the building. (Yes, we were running out of places to see in Tokyo .)

We did venture over to Akihabara, the well-known electronics district in Tokyo . We wandered around some 8-floor store which was like Best Buy on steroids. The place was jam-packed with people like it was Christmas Eve. Personally, I had more fun in the grocery stores. Steve and I were both starting not to feel well, and since the Gerbers had to make the trip back home we decided to part ways at the subway station.

Shibuya Crossing

Japan Day 8: Food and Fun

Steve and I grabbed egg sandwiches at some coffee shop before heading into Shibuya to meet the Gerbers. We all agreed that the previous night’s dinner was a ripoff and that we would make up for it today. We walked across Shibuya Crossing which is this mesh of intersections. Walking across it doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but when you watch it from above you get a better appreciation for the mass of humanity that is able to make it across the street when the lights are red. The first stop in our food-fest was some Korean BBQ place. The great thing about hanging out with the Gerbers is that their appetites are about as voracious as ours. We finished the BBQ and decided to order a couple of rice bowls since all of us were still hungry.

Next stop was Asakusa to check out Sensoji temple. By this point, I had seen enough temples that unless they lit up or had gnomes dancing around them, they weren’t going to stand out. It was cold and rainy (again) so what better way to inject some sunshine than with some ice cream. I was still on the hunt for the wasabi ice cream my co-worker told me about, but had to settle for almond jelly since wasabi wasn’t an option. It tasted like amaretto and tasted yummier than the “jelly” in its name suggested. Steve decided to test out the rose-flavored ice cream and all I can say is that it did actually taste like roses. It was very subtle and one of those things you’d have to try to understand.

We expended some energy as the Gerbers attempted to teach Steve and I how to perfect their jumping poses.


Of course, all this jumping meant that we needed to stop by the nearest convenience store for some mochi-covered ice cream and some kind of Goldfish-like treat minus the cheese flavor that was filled with what tasted like the same filling used in strawberry Pop-Tarts. We trekked back to Shibuya and got a few laughs at some novelty store that was a cross between Wal-mart and Spencers. Imagine boarding the plane with one of these neck pillows.

Dinner was at a nearby izakaya (think tapas) where we dined on various types of sushi, dumplings, chicken and who knows what else, and mango sours to wash it all down.

Japan Day 7: Back to Tokyo

Waited for the morning rush hour to die down, then boarded the Shinkansen back to Tokyo . Hotel #3 was in the prefect of Ikebukuro – a few stops north of hotel #1. Our third room at the Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo seemed enormous compared to our previous accommodations. Bonus points for a real mattress and pillows that didn’t feel like concrete. The afternoon was pretty low-key and spent roaming around the area which was filled with the usual shops and mall that surrounded the train/subway station.

That evening we met up with Kim and her Steve, and their friend Byron. We were supposed to meet Kim’s friend from NJ and his friends who happened to be in Tokyo . Unfortunately our first attempt to get to the restaurant where we were meeting was fouled because we went to the wrong location. Since taking the monorail and subway back to where we were supposed to be would take too long, we hopped in a taxi to head back to Roppongi where the restaurant was. The taxi drivers wouldn’t let the 5 of us squeeze into one cab so we split up and of course, ended up getting separated. After about an hour of trying to find one another, we all finally ended up at the restaurant.

Kim’s friend chose this restaurant called Gonpachi because it was the inspiration for some of the scenes in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movie. The restaurant served tapas-style Japanese food. Totally overpriced and overrated. I had about 6 bites of various appetizers and 3 beers and was starving when we got the bill which ended up being about 5000 yen/person. That’s about $60/person. Maybe most of the food ended up on the other side of the table – who knows. Steve and I opted to skip the club scene and caught a taxi back to our hotel since the subway was no longer running. Taxis in Japan are expensive; it cost us about 850 yen (about $8) just to get into the taxi. Once back at the hotel I chowed down on some trail mix and beef jerky we had packed.

Japan Day 6: Never Mind Nara

We decided we needed a slower day on Thursday after feeling like we had been on the go since we set foot in Japan. We originally had planned to take the Shinkasen to Nara (an hour away), but decided we didn't need to see the big Buddha and shrine there. Instead we stayed in Kyoto to check out Kinkakuji (not to be confused with kinky coochie as Steve and I joked), the golden temple.

Tacky huh? I think I prefer the hazmat orange. I turned my back for a minute to check out the vending machine and when I went back to Steve, he was surrounded by students again wanting to practice their English. Here he is pointing out to the boy where he's from.

This little guy was on a dual-purpose field trip: check out the temple and practice English. He even gave Steve a card he made to thank him for his time.

We needed to stop at the post office to exchange some money so we took the train back to town. The post offices here serve as what we consider a post office and a bank. And their train stations aren't just stations, they're malls - big malls. It was close to my feeding time so we grabbed some yummy shrimp okonomiyaki at the mall.

Fushi Inari was our final destination for the day. There are thousands of torii gates that go on for about 4km. We didn't realize this and walked a good half hour before thinking to find out how much further we'd have to go to reach the end. Walking uphill was not on our agenda so we turned around figuring it'd continue to look the same. Only one side of the gates had writing and we joked that it probably said something like, "Sponsored by Bob's Pizza." I told my co-worker who lived in Japan this and turns out we were close. It's considered good luck to sponsor a gate so the backsides actually do say something about who sponsored the gate.

Japan Day 5: Hiroshima

We hit the road early on Wednesday to make the 2 hour train ride to Hiroshima. First stop when we got there was a visit to Miyajima which is about 30 minutes from Hiroshima's train station. It took us a bit longer to make our way to Miyajima since it took several rounds of charades with multiple employees at the station to figure out which train we were supposed to take to get to the ferry. The upside is that our rail pass covered both the local train to the ferry and the ferry itself.

If you get there when the tide is up, the shrine at Miyajima appears to be floating in the water. Glad the water was up when we got there, otherwise it'd just look like a shrine in the mud.

Next stop was Hiroshima Peace Park. Steve and I grabbed some goodies at a bakery and had lunch outside. After a quick visit to the restroom, I came out to find Steve surrounded by a group of students. I guess they spotted him as a visitor and wanted to ask him various questions to practice their English. One of the girls was their designated spokesperson and asked all the tough questions: "What is your name?", "Where are you from?", "Do you like Hiroshima?" Steve was a little iffy on how to answer the last question since all he could think of was the atom bomb and told them it was his first time to Hiroshima. The whole interaction was very cute.

On our way to the museum we passed a group of 100 or so students and many of them excitedly waved and gleefully shouted, "Hello!" A few actually said, "Herro!" which made me giggle but to be fair, it's far better than any Japanese words that I tried to say.

Even though it was the end of winter, it wasn't obvious in the Peace Park. The memorials were simple. The A-dome building which survived the bomb seemed out of place with the growth and activity around the park. It wasn't until we went into the museum that we were reminded of what happened here. Some of the artifacts and pictures from the museum were hard to look at: burned clothes pulled off a middle schooler, the charred remains of a tricycle that a 3-year old was riding, pictures of civilians who survived but were burned to the point where they were unrecognizeable. Heart-wrenching stuff that makes you reconsider that whole "eye for an eye" philosophy.

Thanks Peggy!

After a frustrating day at work filled with conversations like this:

Co-worker: I have nothing to do on project A.

Me: How's the user guide for project Z going? Can you put the files on the network so I can help when I have some downtime?

Co-worker: Oh, I'm 100% on project A so I don't haven't had time.

Huh? Didn't you just tell me she had nothing to do? Argh.

After a day filled with "I'd like to bite you til you bleed" moments, I came home to find a "thought of you" package. Definitely the brightest part of my day.

Japan Day 4: Castles

We decided to take advantage of the hotel's breakfast buffet on Tuesday morning. The buffet had the usual assortment of pastries (danishes, croissants), and cereal, but also had a few not-so-standard breakfast choices such as corn chowder, salad (as in the lettuce and carrot variety), and potato salad.

We then hopped back on the Shinkansen and headed west about an hour to Himeji to check out the Himeji Castle. The castle had everything you'd expect: moat, walls, hilltop view, and numerous gates.



We opted for a to-go lunch of pastries so that we could get back into Kyoto. Both of us ended up loving the various pastries that we ate while on vacation. They were inexpensive and Mmmm Mmmm good. Today's assortment included some roll that had bacon and cheese baked into it, one with red bean paste, one with dried cranberries, and another filled with some kind of custard.

Back in Kyoto we checked out Nijo Castle. We probably should have seen this one before Himeji Castle. Nijo looked quaint (if you can call a castle "quaint") since it lacked the grandeur of Himeji.


The final stop for the day Kiyomizudera, a buddhist temple with a huge wooden deck. To get to the temple you have to walk uphill along this road filled with shops. You tend to forget about the climb since there's plenty of distractions along the way. The temple is at the top of the hill and almost seems to smack you in the face with its bright color that was a sharp contrast to the hillside background.

By the time we finished checking out the temple and walking back down the hill, we were both pretty spent after all the walking we did. We walked around a bit to find a restaurant we could both agree on and settled on one not far from our hotel. (Since neither of us could read the menus, our search involved finding a restaurant with either a translated menu or plastic replicas of their dishes in the window.) Tonight's dinner consisted of miso soup, and a rice bowl topped with fish. Steve's fish appeared to be breaded then fried. Mine appeared to be cooked within an omelette. Since the restaurant didn't have much to offer for dessert, we "settled" for crepes again.

Tsukiji Tuna Auction

Japan Day 3: Fish Market & Traveling to Kyoto

Ever eat a tuna steak and wonder what it looked like before ending up on your plate? We woke up at 4 a.m. Monday to head over to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Before I go into the fish market, I have to give kudos to the hotel desk attendant who was nice enough to walk outside and flag down a taxi for us and to the taxi driver. The taxi driver who was dressed in a suit and tie was so polite and patient with our inability to speak Japanese; he even apologized for not speaking English which made me feel like a complete tool. Riding in a taxi here was like having a limo and your very own chauffeur.

Anyway, when we got to the fish market we roamed around a bit checking out the various shops/stalls while waiting for Kim and Steve. One of the shops we visited us encouraged us to try their various samples. Not sure what I ate, but I figured if it wasn't moving, I was okay. Most of it was fishy with a few sweet-tasting things that I think were beans. It was a cold morning and the shop owners were nice enough to give us hot tea knowing that we were tourist and probably not going to buy any of these mystery foods. Friendly folks...

We finally wandered to the tuna auction where they only allow visitors in for about an hour each day. It was pretty interesting to watch the different buyers inspecting the tuna with flashlights and picks. I'll post a separate entry so you can hear one of the auctions taking place.




After the tuna auction we strolled around to check out the various goods at the fish market. I love seafood but I can totally understand why environmentalists are worried about Japan's overfishing.



Sushi at the fish market is supposedly the freshest you can get so we dropped in at one of the tiny sushi joints that seats no more than 8 people for breakfast. Yes, breakfast. My parents used to serve us fish for breakfast growing up, so that part I'm used to, but sushi breakfast was new even for me. It was tasty, but definitely more expensive than the sushi go-round (about $38/person) and it wasn't all-you-can-stuff-in-your-face. Oh well. It was still an interesting experience.


After checking out of the hotel, Steve and I headed to the train station to board the Shinkansen for Kyoto. The Shinkansen is Japan's high-speed bullet train. It got us to Kyoto which is about 288 miles from Tokyo in about 2 hours.

When we got to Kyoto, it took us a bit longer to find our hotel than we expected. Not many streets in Japan are named, and most of the buildings aren't numbered so finding any place is a challenge. We finally got checked in and took the bus to Nijo Castle only to find that they were closing up for the day.

For dinner, Steve wanted to "eat like the locals" so we went into a diner-like restaurant and ordered what appeared to be their special. The dinner consisted of miso soup, salad, rice, and some marinated beef strips which had way more fat than I like on my meat. To make up for the less than satisfactory meal, we dropped by a corner crepe stand for dessert. My chocolate crepe more than made up for dinner.

Back at the hotel I decided to check out the hotel onsen. An onsen is basically a hot spring bath. The catch is that you go into it nekked with your fellow women peeps (guys go with their guy peeps). Yes, I know publicly nudity isn't for everyone. If you had asked me ten years ago if I'd ever do this, my answer would have been, "Hell no." Now that I'm older and perhaps a bit more uncaring of what the world thinks of me, I figured I'd give it a try since (a) it's part of the Japanese culture, (b) everyone looks the same in their birthday suit, and (c) I'm really never going to see these people ever again. The way it works is you undress in a locker room type area before entering the bathing area. The hotel had about 5-6 shower areas with stools where you're supposed to get yourself squeaky clean before actually getting into the bath (they even have shampoo, conditioner, and soap dispensers there). There were 3 other women showering when I got there so I basically did as they did - although that was probably the longest shower I've ever taken in my life since I didn't want to look like the dirty tourist who didn't clean herself enough before getting in the bath. After you've stripped away every speck of dirt and oil from your body, you mosy on over to the bath "tub". This one was about 20' x 12' and about 3' deep. I have to say that the water temperature was right on and that my tired legs began to forgive me for constant beating they were taking the last few days. After about 10-15 minutes, I noticed that the showering area was starting to get a bit crowded so I took that as my cue to get out. All in all it was a good way to end the day.

Japan Day 2: Tokyo Marathon

Good thing this was a "fun run" because I actually considered not starting. It was about 35-40 degrees at the start and pouring. Everything I had on (jacket, shirt, shoes, socks, hat, etc...) was absolutely soaked before the race even started. We stood in the starting corral for at least 20 minutes. My uncontrollable shivering had me worried about hypothermia and I was seriously considering dropping out. Fortunately (I think) the gun went off and we started the 26.2 mile slosh-fest; actually they measured the race course in kilometers so I guess I should say "42.2K".

It took me about 5 miles to finally feel warm. Too bad that's when Steve decided he needed to take a potty break. We skipped a few potty stops because the lines were incredibly long (20-30 people), but finally stopped at one at around mile 6. There were about 40 people in line so we spent about 15 minutes waiting. By the time we started running again I was back to shivering.

Miles 6-15 were a bit of a blur. I was a bit agitated because I couldn't warm back up and the course at mile 15 seemed no different than what it looked like at mile 1. Tokyo is a completely urban course. While it does pass a few sites such as the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Tower, it all looked the same to me.

The 4 hours of sleep I had gotten the 2 nights prior to the race where starting to catch up with me in a bad way. I needed to take a bathroom break around mile 16 but was so worried about getting cold again that I didn't want to stop. This resulted in me not drinking anything for a few miles which I knew would result in me being dehydrated which would lead to cramping. After almost having a meltdown at mile 18 (thank you jetlag for making me an emotional mess), Steve convinced me to stop at a restroom stop at mile 19. It was another 15 minute stop but fortunately when we got back on the course, the sun was starting to break through the clouds. In case you're wondering, they don't take any time you spend in the bathroom or at the rest stops into consideration. Once you cross the start line, the clock doesn't stop until you cross the finish line.

Miles 19-26.2 were the best miles of the race for me which is absurd since these are typically the hardest miles for everyone. I guess the first 19 were so miserable that I was just relieved to finally feel normal.

My experience with the Japanese people so far was that they were very polite and quiet. No one carries on loudly and no one talks on the phone while on the subway; heck, they even have signs telling people to put their phones on vibrate or turn them off while on the trains and subways and people do. Having said this, I was really surprised to see these mild-mannered citizens cheering wildly along the entire course. I got high-fives and fist-pumps from more spectators than any of my other races.

This marathon was part Halloween parade, part all-you-can-eat buffet, with a splash of running. Spectators were handing out all sorts of food: everything from candies and pastries to what looked like corndogs. I had to laugh at Steve since he seemed to be treating it like a buffet sampling whatever foods he thought looked interesting. Whatever he didn't stuff in his mouth, he stuffed into his running belt as if he were trick-or-treating. It's no wonder he had heartburn towards the end of the race.

The number of costumed runners in this race was far beyond any other race I've ever done. We saw a guy in a full business suit, Winnie the Pooh, Michael Jackson impersonators, several Minnie Mouses, and an assortment of anime characters. At one time we had Santa, a tiger, and a moose running in front of us. A girl we met got a picture of someone dressed as Jesus carrying a cross. They may seem serious out on the streets, but it's good to know they don't take their running too seriously (click here for a sampling of pictures).

We were exhausted after the 3+ hour commute to our hotel which was less than 8 miles from the finish so we showered, grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant, and called it a night. Yes, it takes a looooong time to get anywhere in Japan.

We're back

And I have no idea what time it is. We left Japan on Monday, 3/8 at 11:10 a.m. After a 12-hour plane ride (not sure why it was 2 hours shorter coming home than going), we landed at Dulles at around 9:30 a.m. Monday which is before we left.

Obviously I didn't blog about our daily adventures so I'll try to provide a quick recap in the next week or so and will also post pictures.