Not the Tunnel of Love

July 8, 1983, Friday

I left Tsuruga Station at 8:00am this morning. It was raining and quite cold. Last night, I had thrown a number of things away from my backpack and had others sent back home so that I could run with a lightened load.

Unfortunately, today's run had me go through some hilly terrain. Wherever you have hills or mountains in Japan, you are bound to be going through some tunnels. These tunnels that I encountered today were dark and dangerous, just like the ones in Kyushu. (See Photo) They are also damp, with ice-cold water dripping down on you as you pass through some spots. All you hear is the dripping water and the echo of your footsteps, which sound like someone is running right behind you. Drip...Drip…Pitter-Patter, Pitter-Patter, Pitter-Patter…Drip… Drip… There is also the smell of earth, moss, and, sometimes, mold. You can almost smell your own fear.

When I was running through these tunnels in the isolated mountain road leading to Fukui, I started to freak out a bit. I remembered the ghost stories that people used to tell me when I was a child growing up in Japan. Like the one about the woman who was jilted by her lover and committed suicide by hanging at the entrance of tunnel located on an isolated road. While I was thinking about this, the sound of my own footsteps started to play with my imagination. I picked up the pace in the tunnels, and the echoing sound of "another runner" picked up the pace as well. I never thought I could be spooked like that in the middle of the day, but believe me, the hard-falling rain, isolated environment, the tunnels--they all contributed to establishing a sense of urgency for me to GET THE HELL OUT OF THE TUNNELS!!!

I reached the city of Fukui finally, and stopped in front of Fukui Station at just before 4:00pm. I met up with Mr. Sato of the Fukui Marathon Club. We went to a restaurant to eat some Sukiyaki before going to my hotel for the night. I was glad to finish running through the tunnels today and celebrating by drinking lots of beer.