Running in Circles

Today was my last chance for a long run before my half-marathon in two weeks. Next weekend Tom and I are doing our annual Tokyo Thanksgiving day cooking extravaganza and besides, it would be a little too close to race day to go very far. I've done all the other long runs with Tom which has been really nice. I've previously always trained alone, which was really my only option, and been fine with that. But this fall, having someone along to help decide the course and to distract me with conversation has been really cool, too. So, I was really dissappointed when Tom pulled out today with a sore groin. I was on my own. Once I got myself out the door I really enjoyed myself, which was a relief. It was a beautiful fall day in Tokyo. It probably was in the 60s and really sunny. The trees on the path circling the Imperial Palace were all yellows and oranges. It was beautiful, I wish I'd been able to take some photos to share. I did three laps, which is about nine miles, and then ran from the palace back to my apartment which is probably another two. It felt really good although by the third lap of the palace I was getting a bit bored of the scenery.

Not that I could really complain. There were some other crazies out there running a FULL Marathon! My jaw dropped when I read the bib of a guy running/stumbling forward ahead of me. That would be about 10 laps around the palace. Ten of the most annoying laps on Earth, in my humble opinion. Running around the palace is lovely, but it isn't the best running course I've found (it can't even touch the lakeshore running trail in Chicago). For starters, the mileage (or kilometer-age?) isn't well marked (ok its marked for a while... but then it never ends?). But the worst part is that it isn't really a dedicated running trail. We have to share it with the tourists (gasp!). It sucks, because tourists have this ingrained tendency to spread out as completely across the path as possible and are utterly oblivious to the fact that there might be other (faster) people coming up behind them (or in some cases, Right Towards Them!).

Another case in point: on Sundays, they shut down the major road that leads around half of the palace, so people (families, biking athletes, etc. etc.) can use the street for biking. Such a fun idea, but (typically) they have squeezed all the fun out of that one, too. Bikers must be on the correct side of the (divided!) street and they have to stop at the red lights, even though there is NO traffic since the street is Closed. Pseudo traffic cops whistle and yell if any biker attempts to break these rules, or if a pedestrian tries to cross without a crossing signal (even if there are no bikes), or (this is my favorite part) a runner or walker wants to run or walk on the emptied street. Thanks! Even more fun is the fact that though pedestrians aren't allowed on the street with the bikes, the bikes are still allowed on the path/sidewalk... and for some reason many of them still choose to bike there. Between the tourists and the bikers there is NO WAY IN HELL I would ever, EVER want to run 10 laps on the thing. Kudos to them though, I hope each and every one of the brave souls are tucked in with a keg of beer tonight.

I did really enjoy my run though, tourists and bikers and lack of company aside. I'll let you know how the race goes in a couple weeks.

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The novel is going well. I was getting bogged down in details of all the hikes, so I've fast forwared to a major outline point that sounded more interesting than the intro to the story. I'm enjoying the writing process still. I've fallen in love with my new (as of this summer) Vaio laptop and its 2kg weight. This weekend I typed in a park while the running group ran (I was watching their bags... and productive!) and on the 29th floor of Tom's office building with a spectacular view of downtown Tokyo below me (he was working... I was writing!). It was pretty neat. I've now cracked 20 thousand words. I expect to make it to the halfway point sometime this week!

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Tom and I went to see Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" last night. I love Tim Burton and I love Johnny Depp. Together, they are pure magic. I loved them in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and had been waiting for "Corpse Bride". It was worth the wait. I highly recommend both of these movies. Then again, my favorite of all time is still "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Anyway, it was a really cute flick with great music.