Inspired by the wonderful writer Murakami Haruki I've decided to write this little text about my first 10k.
Please keep in mind that I am not a professional runner at all and that I am by no means a very good runner. I just love doing it!
After a very long and stressful day of walking around for over two hours due to getting lost, I decided to go for a run. Whilst in Cambridge I used to run about two to three times a week by the river, under the trees watching the boats and the dogs. Cambridge is such an agreeable place to run, the air is good, and the surroundings refreshing and charming.
It is fun and exiting to run in a new place!
So I changed into my running shorts and a tee-shirt and my running shoes. Armed with a bottle of Japanese Alps water and my ipod, I took the Tozai Line to Ootemachi where the imperial palace lies.
I had been running there once last week and was impressed by the number of runners, but I had been too busy making polite conversation with a runner who had helped me, to get a good impression of the scenery.
I left the subway at Ootemachi and walked to the exit A10, climbed the stairs and walked out onto the street.
After a few meter's walk, there lies the palace.First you only see roadworks and an enormous crossing but, once you managed to cross the road and not get run over by the many taxi drivers, you arrive at your destination. In front of you, a lake, and in the middle a dark island surrounded by stone walls.
It has a holy darkness which didn't strike me at first, but only much later as I was running and saw the moon and Venus in the sky above the palace.
There are many runners and the majority of them are incredibly quick.
I'm impressed by the men as they have perfect outfits and a good running style. Some of them wear Marathon tee-shirts and seem to run like it is nothing, overtaking me with no effort.
But I have decided to take it easy. I want to run 10km for the first time so I try not to raise my pace and keep on running at the same speed. It is not an easy thing to do.
First the path goes uphill for a few kilometers, I pass a closed bridge and discover the moon and Venus in the sky on my left. It is a little after 7 p.m. but the sky is already dark. The night falls early in Japan. I wave at the moon, amazed by what I see. How glorious I feel to be in this place.
After the turn, the path which was going up goes now slowly down. With the island where the emperor lives still on my left I try to keep the same pace, I need to save energy.
I don't know if I can run 10k. Will it be hard? The most I have done until now is maybe about 7k once or twice with John.
On my right, I can hear people shouting behind trees, are they playing baseball?
I keep on running trying to maintain my pace. I get overtaken by an old woman and many men, speeding like the wind.
It's amazing how much the running style is different from in Europe.
In Japan good runners, who run marathons have usually very good running style and their muscular legs tell me that they run a lot.
But I can't help noticing that a lot of women run like they walk, in a stiff manner.
The ones who run marathons have good outfits and a good style. They are long, thin and muscular and powerful, it's impressive.
But the other ones seem to wear a yukata and geta as they barely raise their legs and move their upper body very uncomfortably. It is painful to observe them, although I do it with curiosity wondering how they are able to keep up.
The path leads me to a larger route and in front of me I see proud and tall buildings. Those are governmental buildings, as my old runner friend had told me last week. I can see Ministries and the Police Department. The buildings and black and tall and full of little lights shining gloriously. They seem to say, 'here we are guarding the palace, you thought that this would be easy, but no, this is not a joke'.
On my left the peaceful island, undisturbed and eternal. I see some Japanese pines as well. They seem motionless, like a painting.
Sometimes the darkness is such that I can barley see where I run.
I think that I'm almost done with my first round, but no, I am mistaken, the round is far from being finished.
I pass under two gates and run on a flat part for some time, trying to maintain my pace and sustain my energy as usual. But it seems so hard to do.
The gates are called Sakurada-Mon. It gives me goose pimple to think that I am running on such ancestral grounds. After all, it used to be the seat of the Tokugawa Shoguns for two years.
I continue my run and arrive to my starting point.
After that point I just try to run without thinking too much, telling myself that if I get tired I'll walk for a while, that it doesn't matter if I can't do it, that I have all the time in the world.
In front of me is a girl in a pink tee-shirt with no sleeves and long gloves which are covering almost all of her arms leaving only a little big of flesh compressed by the elastic. I run behind her and her partner for a while but decide to over take her.
Like I said before most of the women have interesting running outfits. A girl appears in front of me. She is wearing a yellow mini skirt. She and her partner have the same pace as me and we run almost together for a while, me behind them.
As she starts to move her arms in a circle, to loosen her upper body (I thought that she needed to do it) I can see now that she wears shorts under her dress. As her partner starts to imitates her, I overtake them.
I'm well over 8 k now and my energy seems to flow. The headphones in my ears sing to me alternatively and randomly French, Japanese and English songs. I'm so happy here, I want to jump around like a rabbit.
A girl who looks Russian keeps on overtaking me and stopping for a while now. She is wearing jeans shorts and flat back shoes. Her legs are long and seems soft and smooth. Her ponytail jumps up and down as she runs. She stops and fiddles with her ipod and starts to walk for a while. But after 5 minutes she overtakes me stops again and fiddles with her ipod again and walks.
Some groups overtake me a few times, their running pace is confident and quick. They move in a group like bees, invisible and giving each other energy.
I can't help once again being amazed.
The tall and monumental buildings appear again.
It is amazing how much this city is a constant mixture of beauty and ugliness, old and new ancestral and modern, rules and chaos.
I reach my finishing point. My heart is beating fast with excitement.
I walk slowly for a little while, do some stretches and drink my bottle of Alps water. I check the watch on my ipod, I have run for a little over 50 minutes.
Then, I wait for a while, observing the runners. It is time to go home. I dry the sweat out of my face with a hand towel I brought.
I cross the street slowly and happy but tired. In my body I can still feel my blood vessels and my heart pumping, with excitement. My legs are fine nothing hurts. I'm surprised.
I think of Monsieur Dubousset, my doctor, and wonder what he would say.
The train is crowed with people going back home.
At Monzen nakacho, a man gets in the train. He reeks of alcohol. It makes me dizzy. I suddenly feel light-headed. I need fresh air and sugar. My eyes are all black and funny, I'm going to faint.
I try to concentrate and turn my head into the other direction, away from his breath. But his breath is powerful and I feel even weaker.
Luckily I'm almost at destination, Toyocho is not far away, which is very convenient. I get off the train and sit on the floor by the wall for a while. The blackness in front of my eyes disappears and I stand up and start to walk home which is conveniently only a few meters from the station...
