June 27, 1983, Monday
Sunny/partly cloudy day. The 70km run to Gotsu today started off with a "Bang" from a starting gun at 8:00am sharp. This imaginary starting line was made in from of Masuda Station. It was a tough running in the heat of the day. Man, 70km is a long way. I've learned to take my time on the run, and have started to intersperse the running with some walking to break things up. I know that some strange things are happening with my body as it adjusts to covering these extremely long distances. Although I’ve run long distances like this before, my body has not experienced this kind of volume on a daily basis.
My body seems to be wasting away. (See photo. Even though the photo to the left is in black and white, you can see how dark I've become, and how thin my arms are. I will never forget the smile on the old man's face as we both ran the last few kilometers together into the city.)
I finished the run in front of another train station in Gotsu at 4:15pm. The press was there, waiting for me at the train station. They made me run around the parking lot not once, not twice, but at least three times so that they could get a good photo of me breaking the tape at the "finish line." Man, I was pissed off! Maybe that was why I had to do it so many times. I probably looked like I was ready to punch one of the photographers in the first couple of photos. I may have even gathered up enough energy to do a drop kick, like one of those pro wrestlers on TV.
Later, I checked into my hotel room and had an interview with the Hochi; one of Japan's sports daily newspapers. Later in the evening, there was a party with the running club. I hope my hosts don't catch on that I am not as sociable as I should be. It is hard to describe how I feel...I appreciate the support from these folks, but at times I just think about sneaking off to be on my own. Is this the result of fatigue, or am I just being a jerk?
4 comments:
Not a jerk, just total fatigue. I am surprised though. I would think that running the long distances alone would make you crave social gatherings.
I know it sounds kind of strange, but I think it is more of a desire to be left alone knowing that nobody would understand what your mind is going through.
Maybe a social gathering of ultramarathoners would have been a different story.
I understabd your feelings in here. When i did the tour of Taiwan, i cycled few days in a row with somebody. You canbnot imagine how much i wanted to be left alone again. And when it happened i just felt so happy and complete again.
I think when you start to do something alone, you want to do it alone, or elseway you would have started with somebody, wont you ?
You are right, Pirem. I am glad to know that you understand. This was experience provided me with another important lesson that I learned on this journey.
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