maandag 17 januari 2011

Kyoto - Trefle

Firstly, we will start doing our posts in English - for the foreign friends who want to follow us. Just to make sure they understand what this is all about, and then stop calling us crazy because then, they will understand (right?). That is how simple it is.

Now, yesterday was a confusing day. Dirk ran a trail marathon with a few other guys in Belgium (hey Dirk, why don't you write about this?), while I could only think of it/them. Reason: poor me (...) was in Kyoto. On a trip to Japan and a day off, I went to visit the cultural city. I arrived in Kyoto on Saturday evening, and started with a visit to the tourist office - useful if you have not brought any other source of information with you.

They were really helpful and gave me good tips. So, I decided to ask them for another piece of advice: where could I go running - say just in the case I would like to?... So I get a piece of paper, all Japanese, about... a MARATHON in Kyoto the next day. Wow, that was not really what I had in mind but hey, why not?! So I pass my evening strolling around in the beautiful city and wondering whether or not I should participate. I had my running shoes with me, but not much gear or supplies. Also, I was in Kyoto because of the temples and palaces, remember? I would not get to see much of that if participating in the marathon. So, should I? Well, I thought, why not.

Back in my hotel I wanted to find out a bit more about the marathon. Remember: the brochure was all Japanese and my Japanese language skills very (very) close to zero. Oops... could not find the brochure anymore, probably lost it somewhere. So on Sunday morning I went back to the tourist office for more information, which I got: the marathon was a RELAY marathon (Ekiden) for WOMEN only at a high national level... Don't know why the guy the evening before gave that to me???

So I spent my day cycling (in the snow!) from temple to temple, really fascinating. I finished my day by running an hour along the river in the snow, another beautiful experience. But a marathon: no, impossible, 3 things against me: I am not high level, not a woman and most of all, it was only a relay ;-)

It was a nice phantasy however (to run a marathon, that is)!

Wim

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