Kanazawa. Golden week. marathon No. 6

from friday to sunday (5/2-5/4) rachael and i headed to kanazawa with another friend. we took the bus. it is a town about 4 hours by bus from nagoya. This was my 3rd trip and rach's first trip. Friday, we arrived around 2:00 and checked into our hotels. from there on, we went to the samurai part of the town. (kanazawa is really interesting-there is such a mix between new and old) we wandered around the old streets along a river and went to a house museum that has a beautiful garden in the back. then we wandered our way to the old castle grounds and the 3rd best park in japan. wandered around a bit more found a restaurant for dinner. got very lost returning to our hotel and then finally making it back, i went to bed to rest up for the following mornings marathon.

last year I also ran this marathon. its small. its along a river and you go up and back 4 times. the people from last year remembered me and i had a nice time actually being able to communicate well with them this year. it started our well. i did the first loop in 52 minutes (7 minutes ahead of schedule) the 2nd loop put me at 1h 55 minutes (4 minutes ahead of schedule) the 3rd loop put me at 2h58 (right on schedule) but also i fell like crap. the sun was hot. it was hot. there was no shade. i didnt train in the heat very much and i was feeling bad. i told rach i couldnt finish. she walked with me for 10 minutes. after that, i knew i had to finish...no matter how long it took. i decided to enjoy myself. to enjoy this race, and the fact that i can run. i talked to the other runners, cheered them on and encouraged them, chatted with the volunteers and smiled at everyone.

i felt pretty good and strong the last 10km. i knew i was going to finish. i just didnt know how long it would take. with 2km to go, i looked at my watch and smiled. i wouldnt be getting a PR but i would get a course PR. i took off. i ran those last 2km with everything i had left. i crossed the finish line in 4h 17 minutes. only 4 minutes slower than my best. i smiled. i did it. full marathon # 6 finished.....now only 94 to go to get to 100!!!! hahah.


after i finished, i rested for a bit (tried not to touch my sunburn-i got burnt badly! ) then rach and i headed back to the hotel. walking the 30minutes with a japanese women to guide her to the station (i love it that we were actually able to show someone to the station!!!) then i showered and got ready. rach and i walked to starbucks, talked and read books. then we headed to dinner. i was sleeping before 10pm.

sunday we got up, and feeling very good for just having run a marathon (each time gets easier) we walked and we walked. we walked for 5 hours (except for sitting down the 10 minutes before our tour and then again at lunch.) we went to the ninja temple. the ninja temple is awesome. its full of hidden passageways and staircases and traps. so cool. then we went to some shops and i got some nice gold leaf cups (goldleaf is famous in kanazawa.) we wandered around looking at things, then we went to a cute tea house for some dessert. by the time we left we had about an hour and a half till out bus, so we wandered around some more and then bough some dinner and got on the bus.....

overall it was a great trip to a great city. I look forward to next year!!!!! また来年