Hitting the Wall

June 13, 1983, Monday

I left the hotel in Yatsushiro at 8:45am to cover the 45km to the city of Kumamoto, the one famous for its castle. My legs are very sore and feel very heavy. I can barely pick them up. The distance in the first two days was just too much.

Although I mixed in a lot of walking with my running, I was still only able to manage 30 km today. I had some major stomach problems. In fact, I felt very sick with a terrible headache and diarrhea. I decided to pack it in after 30km to make up the 15km into town tomorrow. Mr. Inoue of the Kumamoto Running Club picked me up and took me to a capsule hotel. It was my first time to stay in this kind of hotel. If you are not familiar with capsule hotels, it is a bit difficult to describe. As shown in the photo, these "rooms" are not very big, but they are big enough for an adult to sit up in. There is a TV and radio in each capsule. Valuables can be put in a locker. Showers are available in a separate shower room that is not capsule-size. I felt so sick that I just checked into my little hole after the shower. The way I feel is not exactly the same as hitting the wall in a marathon race. I know that something other than plain fatigue is causing me to feel this way. However, the result is still the same. I dropped out from finishing my planned distance today.

I really need to recover quickly. I'll have to revise my schedule. This is the price I pay for biting off more than I can chew in the first couple of days