Half Marathon Madness.

So there is a lack of pictorial evidence of todays events as we were both running.  But it was a good day.  The Mrs. and I were up at 5:45 with a plan to sneak out of the house by 6:30.  The Mother in law was going to drive us to the ferry terminal.  Nice plan.  Only all three of the kids were up by 6:00, dang it.  Fortunately the middle child put on a video which managed to get the youngest spell bound.  And we snuck out the back door. 

Uneventful trip through town to the ferry.  We arrived on Sakurajima in plenty of time to check in, get our numbers on our shirts and our chips on our shoes and watch the opening ceremonies.  In Japan you always need to have the speeches before an event, the mayor, the head of the event committee, that sort of thing.  My ankle was feeling pretty tight after the warm up but it has been tight for the first three or four kilometers of every run recently so that wasn't a big deal.  A couple of trips to the washroom later and we were lined up and ready to start.  We lined up according to what finish time we figured we could make.  Apparently everyone else took half an hour off their probable finish time.  Our first two K were pretty slow as there was no moving through the wall of people in front of us.  Kilometers three through five had us slowly moving up.  That was when I got the wave ahead.  See in my mind I was leading us through the tangle of people so that we could get up to speed.  The Mrs. just saw me wanting to get going.  I kept turning around to find her and make sure we were together.  However, at the five K mark she just waved me on.  So I went.  I am not very good at participating without trying my best.  It is just who I am.  The bonus was that from that point forward because we had started so far back and made such poor time I was passing people all the rest of the way.  Which gave me a total boost.  I even managed to catch the two guys who over took me after kilometer 8, before we got to the end.  However, one guy did pass me with less than a kilometer to go and I didn't manage to track him down.  However, I did manage to finish just under 1:45.  Pretty darn happy with that.  My last couple of Ks were definitely under five minutes.  My last may have been sub four and half.  The Mrs. finished in 1:53 and change.  And looked pretty fresh to boot.  I on the other hand was gasping and had to have help removing the chip from my shoe. Well the volunteer offered and who was I not to accept. 

Post race we ate our free meal, it was a standard bento and was more than satisfying. We also went for our free onsen.  However, with the rest of the 5000+ people going for their onsen it was less leisurely bath, more conveyor belt type factory style bathing.  I at least got to soak in the hot pool.  The ladies side was so crowded the Mrs, just had a shower and got out.  First time I have ever spent longer in an onsen than the Mrs.  After that we caught the ferry and then street car back to Kagoshima Central station.  We picked up some treats for all those stuck at home and caught the train back to Ijuin.  We didn't call and instead walked the four k home.  Gluttons for punishment.

All in all a great day.  It was kind of like a date, no kids, adult activity.  I don't know if I need to run 21.1 k ever again.  My left achilles is really bugging me now and I think it will be worse tomorrow.  But it was still fun to have done it and I think the Mrs. may found something she enjoys. 

Oh yeah, when we got home the boys were napping and the daughter was still in her pajamas.  This is at 4:10.  Slow day at home.

Love out.