We don't want to leave Shigakogen

Whatever was in those mysterious Japanese pills seems to have helped, because I have been feeling better the last 2 days. Plus, I found that if I actually sleep all night with my mask on it helps with the sore throat. It helps to keep in some moisture because the air is so incredibly dry here (seriously, we hung up sopping wet clothes and they were bone dry by morning).

Our little room is cozy but dry!

With my energy levels back up, we skied our little butts off. Shigakogen has 21 different ski areas and 71 lifts and we skied all but 1 of them (you have to take a shuttle to get there and we didn't want to waste time on the bus).

Our hotel, Khuls, is perfectly situated in the middle of the various areas. We can ski right out the hotel door and be there for the first lift up in the morning.

selfies on the gondola

The terrain and the powder just go on and on. We never saw a single patch of ice.

Our rentals were included in our room rate. Both of our skis were great, and they even managed to find boots in a size 14 for Rory. My boots were back buckle boots straight from 1985. This is a terrible design for a person with huge runner calves, but small feet. Even when they were unbearably tight in the calves they were still way too loose inside the foot bed. Between the marathon and 3 days in those boots, I may not have any toenails left for my traditional celebratory pedicure when I get home.

We've been skiing hard, but also eating pretty well. We have settled into a routine with the Japanese breakfast buffet at our hotel. I go for a bowl of miso soup and a bowl of rice which I top with an egg, seaweed, and some picked veggies. Rory goes straight for the fish- he says the salmon is amazing- and then rounds out his plate with eggs and meats.

Can you guess what we've had for lunch every day? Noodles! Yesterday we both got the Ankake noodles at Takamangahara Mammoth. They were very thin crispy noodles topped with a stir-fry of shrimp, cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots. We got to watch the chef prepare it in a giant wok. Today we we went for our favorite udon noodles with tempura at Mt. Nishidateyama. Generally we find the food on the slopes to be way tastier, healthier, and cheaper than at home! The dinner buffet at our hotel changes slightly every night, but it is always amazing. There is always a mad rush for the sashimi, which is understandable, because the tuna is so fresh and flavorful. And the rice! At home I couldn't care less about rice, but here I eat at least 2 bowls a day. That sticky rice is just so darn good. We can't wait to enjoy one last feast tonight.

Tomorrow sadly we have to head back to Tokyo and then we leave for home Saturday morning. We would highly recommend everything about this portion of our trip: the Hotel Khuls, the village of Ichinose, and Shigakogen ski area.

Now if you'll excuse me, we have a bottle of sake we need to finish.

Happy Birthday Mom

It is still Tuesday back at home, but it is Wednesday morning already here, which means...... It is my Mom's Birthday!! Happy Birthday Mumise!!

I credit my mother with instilling in me this curiosity, sense of adventure, and determination that has led me to all my adventures around the world.

Skiing in Shigakogen

We just finished our first day of skiing and I don't ever want to leave here.

This morning however I was really questioning my ability to make good decisions. First of all I was a lot more sore than yesterday. Darn that 48 hours DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness for all you non-fitness folk.) I don't know why on Earth I scheduled a ski vacation directly after a marathon. Secondly, the cold that I started to come down with on marathon day is now full blown. I was up most of the night because I couldn't breathe at all lying down. I felt horrible. Finally, the weather forecast for the day was for temperatures in the 20's with winds picking up. I was apparently looking at the weather for the wrong town when I checked at home when I was packing because I decided not to bring my ski coat in order to save room in my suitcase.

I was really longing for my sick day comfort breakfast from home, some yogurt with honey and raspberry zinger tea. But it turns out miso soup, plain rice, and green tea also make a great breakfast when you aren't feeling so hot.

We are staying at the Hotel Khuls in the village of Ichinose. Unlike at home where there are giant resorts, here the ski area of Shigakogen is actually a series of small villages and individual tiny ski areas. But they are all connected so you can ski from one to another and your ticket is good at all of them. Instead of paper tickets, here you get a proximity card. So as you approach the lift the scanner automatically recognizes it and opens the turnstile to let you in. We need this in the US!

The snow is simply amazing here! I was a little worried because I felt my legs from the very first run. Usually I am good for a solid 8 hours of skiing and don't start to feel the burn until the end of the day or if I do a mogul run. But unlike in the marathon, the longer I skied here the better I felt. There are tons of groomed, wide open trails that you can just blast down. My favorite type of skiing.

We even got to go down the giant slalom run from the Nagano Olympics!

For lunch we stopped at the Prince Hotel West where I had my umpeenth bowl of noodles. Seriously I may come home having turned into a giant udon noodle. But they are just so good and there are so many variations. Today I had seaweed, mushrooms, and a little veggie tempura cake on top. 

We enjoyed the fact that most places had some sort of English translations, so we had some idea what we were ordering. Our favorite mis-translation of the day was "curry of child." We guessed they meant a curry dish FOR children, but just in case we didn't order it.

 Mid-afternoon Rory wanted to shed some layers (while I underpacked for the weather, he totally overpacked). I used that as an opporuntity to get a vending machine coffee because that thing totally amazes me. The same machine sells cold water and soda and hot cans of coffee and tea. The hot beverages comes out hot and the cold ones come out cold. I don't know how it works!

After skiing I went in search of some sort of cold medicine in the few little convenience stores in town. I finally found one that had some medicines. At first they thought I was cold so they tried to sell me hand warmers. Finally after faking a cough and blowing my nose they understood better what I wanted. At least I think they did, but I really have no idea what I bought because the box is all in Japanese. Rory is also making me wear a surgical mask, like everyone here wears, so that I don't pollute our room with germs. I look pretty awesome.

I just enjoyed another blissful soak in the Onsen and now we are off to dinner. I still haven't seen a snow monkey.

Bye for Now!

Kier

We made it to Ichinose

I was surprised, and thrilled, this morning to find that I felt pretty darn good. Probably the best I've ever felt after a marathon, which was fortunate since I needed to be able to get myself and my suitcase from Tokyo to the tiny village of Ichinose, in Shigakogen, near Nagano. This involved a walk to Shinjuku station where we got on the metro. We made the mistake of going during morning rush hour and it was absolutely insane. There were people moving in every direction all over the station. There was a metro employee standing by the doors and helping to shove people into the already packed train. I can't believe we both got on with our giant bags! Thank heavens for Japanese courtesy and manners.

We took the metro to Tokyo station where we had to find the shinkansen, or bullet trains. The shinkansen was amazing. It travels at 200 miles per hour, so we made the 300 mile trip to Nagano in 90 minutes! We got to see the country fly by.

It even looks fast!

riding in comfort

 In Nagano we had a 2 hour wait for the bus. Since the lockers were all full, we dragged our bags all over the place trying to find a good spot for lunch.

We then boarded a bus for the trip up into mountains. We had no idea we were headed to such a remote and beautiful place. The bus just kept climbing up and up, stopping at one point to put chains on the tires. We were soon towering far above Nagano. After stopping in several other little ski villages we reached Ichinose. We found our hotel easily (although pulling our suitcases in the snow up a hill definitely reminded my legs that they'd run a marathon the day before).

The hotel is adorable and looks out over the slopes. We are at about 2,000 meters of elevation and have a stunning view of the mountains all around us. They warned us when we checked in not to leave the windows open or the monkeys might get in. That's not a warning I've ever gotten before and I really hope to see a snow monkey! I tried putting a banana in the window to lure them, but Rory made me take it out. I suppose a midnight monkey attack wouldn't be that fun.

Since it was too late in the day to ski today, we decided to just take it easy and head to the hotel onsen, or hot baths. This was quite a cultural experience. We started by putting on the robes they provided for us.

We learned quickly that men and women have separate facilities, as I opened the curtains to the men's bath to see a bunch of naked male butts! Once I was in the correct onsen, I tried to follow the lead of the other women. I took off my robe and then squatted on little stool in front of little sitting showers. In order to not pollute the public water, everyone washes and scrubs themselves at the little showers first. Then I got to enjoy the hot pools. Ahhhh. Bliss on post marathon aches and pains. But I was a little paranoid that I would make some terrible breach of onsen etiquette.

Dinner is served right in the hotel, which is awesome because we can go right in our slippers! We had piled our plates high with all kinds of sashimi, noodles, rice, tempura, and salads and had already started to eat when the hostess came over to tell us they had prepared a special hot pot for us. Oops! We didn't want to be rude, so of course we ate that too! It was fun- they had little sterno heated pots of boiling water and we dropped vegetables and beef into the water to cook and then fished it out with our chopsticks.

I look about as good as I felt in this picture- which was exhausted and sick. 

Tomorrow skiing! There is so much snow here- the snow banks tower over me- so I think it is going to be amazing!

Tokyo Marathon

I should probably wait awhile before writing this post in order to gain some perspective and not let the not so great end of the day color the whole experience. But I am stuck in bed unable to do anything else, so I am not going to wait. This is going to be a long one...... so settle in.

I woke up super early again and finally got tired of tossing and turning and just got up at 5:30. So I had a long leisurely time to get ready, foam roll, and do some sun salutations. I was hoping we'd beat the crowd to breakfast, but apparently everyone had the same idea, because we had to wait in line just to get in. We went to the combo Japanese/Western buffet, and I was tempted by all the yummy Western stuff I hadn't had in the Japanese breakfast we've been having. But, I know not to try new things on race day so I just grabbed some toast and a banana to have with the peanut butter I brought from home.

ready to run

 I left the hotel around 8 which I thought was plenty of time since the race started at 9:10 less than a block from the hotel. I needed all that time! The race has 40,000 runners, so even though it was incredibly organized, it was a long slow shuffle through the medal detectors, past the bathrooms, past the bag drop, and then back up and around into the corals. I probably walked at least a mile.

Runners at the bag drop

 Everyone was so polite though- there was no pushing or shoving, everyone just shuffled ahead quietly. I had a throw-away sweatshirt and I was so glad because it was only about 40 with a little wind. I planned to wait and toss it a mile or so in, but before the start everyone else started taking theirs off and walking over to give it to a volunteer. I didn't want to be the rude American I did the same. Mistake! They played the national anthem (which is hauntingly beautiful), did a bunch of talking, and then the starting gun fired. 15 minutes later I finally reached the start!

The confetti was totally gone by the time I got to the start

It was crowded and slow going so I couldn't settle into the pace. I don't know if I would have anyway, because I felt terrible from the very beginning. My throat felt like it was swelling shut and I had a sick heavy feeling like something was sitting on my diaphragm. I also really had to go to the bathroom! They had frequent bathrooms on the side of course, but the lines were so long. Finally I just sucked it up and stopped and got in line. I wasted more than 5 minutes, but since it's not like I was trying to win the race, it was totally worth it.

So many runners means long bathroom lines!

From then on I just focused on keeping my feet moving forward. I amused myself by looking at the costumes. I saw Jesus, running almost naked and barefoot with a giant cross on his back, a team of power rangers, Shrek (in a giant rubber suit that I can't imagine running in), a bunch of geishas, a transformer, and many others.

There was also great entertainment along the course. There were various martial arts groups, dancers, cheerleaders, and musicians. My favorite were the Japanese drummers. Their beat totally picked up by pace.

There was water every 2-3 k and sports drink every 5. They served a Japanese drink called Amino Value. I tried it at the expo and really liked it, but again didn't want to mess with anything new on race day so I stuck with water. Unfortunately, the water was way after about 20 tables of Amino Value and it was a mess trying to cut in to get to it. What completely amazed me, is that every single runner walked their empty cups over to the trash instead of just tossing them all over the ground like they do in every place I've ever been. Just another example of the incredible neatness of the Japanese people. There was no gel along the course, but they did have food stops that included sweets, bananas, tomatoes, and bread. The tomatoes baffled me. I have never heard of tomatoes during a race and it did not sound appealing. By 35k though, I was tired of Gu Chomps and decided to try the bread. It looked like a soft little roll and I took a big bite. EWWWW it was filled with a brown bean paste. I knew I couldn't spit it out (see comments about neatness above) so I swallowed that one bite and then held on to the rest until the next trash can. There were also spectators passing out every variety of food along the course.

spectators passing out food. Photo credit: howibecametexan.com

I didn't feel good the entire race, but time went by fairly quickly until 35k. My Garmin died at 14 miles (I think it's time for a new one) so I switched over to my gym boss. I lost track of my overall time, but thought I was still pretty well on pace for a 4:30, so I kept pushing it. Around 37k we hit the bridges that took us up over Tokyo Bay. After a flat course up until this point, the hills threw my legs into a tizzy. My right quad especially starting twinging on the uphill and then locked up on the downhill. It continued contracting painfully and then locking up for the rest of the day. I was counting down the kilometers and just pushing to the finish.

Finally, we rounded a corner and I saw the 42 k mark- almost done. I ran across the finish. I'd done it! Time to relax. Or not.

So began a long, silent, terrible march. First we walked to get our finishers towels, then walked until we came to the medals, then we walked until we came to bottles of Amino Value, then some more until we came to bottles of water, then some more until we got some bags of food. Then we finally reached the end of that stretch and I figured we would turn the corner and head into the meeting area. So wrong. First we had to walk back the entire length of the stretch we'd covered since the finish, this time on the other side of the barrier. Then we headed inside to the giant room for baggage. Even if we weren't getting bags, we still had to walk the entire length of that room. As we entered the next room, the men's changing area, I started to feel really bad. I inherited my mother's family's propensity for passing out easily so I know the symptoms well. I started feeling nauseous, sweaty, and seeing black spots. I plunked myself down in the middle of the changing men and laid there for a couple minutes. I didn't want to get up, but I just wanted to get to Rory, and I didn't see any other way to get to him than to get up and walk. I slowly snaked my way through that room and came into a long hall. On the moving walkway, I started getting dizzy again, but made myself hold on until the end of it. On the other side, I made it halfway to the medics before I hit the ground.

I woke up to 2 panicked, and very young looking, medics hovering over me. One of them had to run all the way back to the finish to get a doctor. When the doctor finally arrived he took my vitals and then sat me up and made me drink a whole glass of a liquid rehydration solution. My stomach was not impressed and roiled with every sip. But I finally finished it and they got me in a wheelchair and started me toward the family meeting area. I still had 15 minutes before our agreed upon drop dead time when Rory figured he'd missed me and would head back to the hotel.

I figured I was good until we got to the elevator. About 25 mothers with strollers were in line and I was not given priority. We waited and waited, but finally got in the elevator and then finally made it to the family reunion area. I lost it when I finally saw Rory. I sobbed into his arms for a few minutes about how awful I'd felt the whole race and then finally composed myself. We slowly made our way out to bus, stopping one time for me to lie on the floor so I didn't pass out again.

On the bus on the way back to the hotel (which thankfully they had for the first time this year- I couldn't have made it to the metro), I concentrated on not passing out or throwing up. Back at the hotel, we ended up in a packed elevator heading back to the room. I stood in the back, really working not to throw up. As we got out, I warned Rory that he needed to run ahead and open the door. Naturally, the key wasn't working the first few times, but finally the door opened and I rushed into the room and threw up.

I've since taken a heavenly bath and then a short nap. I'm okay if I don't stand up, but as soon as I stand, I get dizzy again.

On the bus I heard  people talking and all of their watches measured the course as long,  with many of them measuring over 27 miles. Add in the miles I walked to get to my coral, to get to the starting line, and then the death march to the family waiting area, and I covered over 30 miles.

I just checked my time and finally, there is something to be happy about. They have me with a chip time of 4:35, which includes the 5+minutes for the bathroom stop. That is my second fastest marathon to date!

I eventually recovered enough to go get some noodles

Day 2 in Tokyo: Odaiba

Jet lag and race nerves combined last night to leave me wide awake at 3 am. So please excuse me if this isn't the most coherent- it's already been a long day!

After hitting up the Japanese breakfast again (seriously, I am going to start eating rice, tofu and chicken for breakfast at home; it makes me feel so good), we headed out on our own. Yesterday we had the comfort of a bus driver and a tour guide, but today we were solo. Our trepidation is justified- the station by our hotel, Shinjuku station, is the busiest train station in THE WORLD. There are floors and floors of trains and buses and subways and it is insanely crowded. Miraculously, though we managed to find our first subway, get off at the right station, switch trains, and then get off at the right station again. Go us!

We spent the morning in Odaiba which is across Tokyo bay from central Tokyo. It was really pretty crossing over the bay on the above ground metro and seeing the harbor and beaches. We spent several hours at Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Sciences and Innovation. We saw all kinds of amazing things. I was fascinated by fabrics that stay constantly cool or constantly warm. We got to go inside an actual deep sea submarine and see how much a styrofoam cup shrinks under the deep pressure of the ocean. We got to try our hands at laparoscopic surgery (p.s. you don't want either of us as your surgeon). By far the coolest thing was Asimo, an adorable robot who can run, play soccer, and dance.

For lunch, we once again relied on plastic food replicas and a lot of pointing and gesturing to order. What we get isn't always exactly what we expect, but it is always good!

We then enjoyed a sunny walk down the Central Promenade to Mega Web, a Toyota showroom of their advanced technology.

Our tour guide told us that the Japanese love to dress up and she wasn't kidding. All over Odiba there were teenagers in crazy costumes doing role play games and taking pictures of each other.

Next we hopped on the subway again to head to East Shinjuku to check out a shrine and the red light district. Unfortunately, this time we didn't end up quite where we wanted to. People here are so incredibly friendly and helpful. Seriously about 5 people stopped to ask us if we needed help in the 5 minutes we were standing outside the station consulting our map. We decided to scrap our original plan, enjoy a leisurely snack, and just head back to the hotel. I'd already spent way too much time on my feet and needed to get my race stuff in order. In just a few minutes we are meeting the Marathon Tours group for a pasta dinner and then it is an early bed time to rest up for race day tomorrow!!

Hello from Tokyo!

Hello from Tokyo, where our day is ending while yours at home hasn't even started. That 14 hour time difference is hard to adjust to.

We got to Tokyo Thursday afternoon, after leaving Maine early Wednesday morning. The trip went smoothly, but it was long and we started to get a little loopy by the end.

Luckily, everything here is incredibly well organized so, even exhausted, we easily got through customs, got our bags, and found the bus to take us to our hotel.

The most exciting thing about our hotel is the toilet. I will  be sad to get home and not have a heated toilet that plays music.



We went to the Marathon Tours reception last night and then called it an early night since we'd both been awake for 24+ hours.

This morning I intended to go to the hotel gym, but when I got there I found a line out the door. 3 treadmills and a 45 story hotel full of marathon runners is not a good combination! Instead I headed outside for a shake out run. The hotel provided a map with a 2k route and I had some idea where I was going from exploring a little last night. There were so many runners- it got me excited for the race!!

Then Rory and I hit up the Japanese breakfast. We both fully embrace the when in Rome concept, so we wanted the authentic meal. We tried a little of everything: fish, rice, tofu, pickled veggies, and some fruit.

After breakfast we met the marathon tours group for a city tour. Our first stop was Asakusa where we visited the Sanja-sama ("Shrine of the Three gods"), one of the most famous Shinto shrines in Tokyo. 

We visited the shrines and then walked down the shopping street toward the main gate of Asalusa. Rory got a sweet Koi tie to bring home.

Of course also had to stop at the incense burner as inhaling the incense is supposed to bring health a good luck. 

After a delicious lunch of different types of skewered veggies and meat, we headed to the Tsukiji Outside Market. I LOVE markets and this one didn't disappoint. There was amazing fresh seafood, including these enormous crabs!

Tons of different varieties of tofu and egg cakes.

The merchants at the market were not pushy or rude like some places I've been, in fact they were so friendly. They offered us tastes of everything! I had no idea what I was getting, but I tried a bite of everything. Many of those bites I then quietly spit out when they weren't looking. 

Our next stop was in Ryogoku at the Sumo museum. Unfortunately there wasn't a sumo tournament so we didn't get to see any live sumo, but we learned a lot at the museum. Sumo is really a lifestyle with young boys coming to train at the stable and often staying involved with the sport for their whole lives. The techniques utilized in the matches are really complex!

These guys are absolutely massive, but the sport is really about agility and tactic more than just size. 

Our last stop was the marathon expo. It was at the Tokyo Big Sight, an expo building. It was HUGE but very well organized. I got my number, timing chip, bag, and t-shirt in less than 10 minutes and then spent time exploring the expo (aka tried to interest Rory in running related things).

For dinner we set off on our own to explore the warren of streets near Shinjuku Station. There were so many restaurants, but very few had English menus. Luckily, most of them had pictures or little replicas of the food outside, so we had some idea what they served!

We ended up choosing a noodle place, where we got to choose our broth, type of noodle, and then toppings. We are already getting good at using chopsticks and then slurping up the broth!