Open Road, Fast Cars

August 5, 1983, Friday

Started at 8:00am for a long stretch of running--65km today. It was the hottest day since I arrived in Hokkaido. The temperature was about 35C degrees. The first 4 kilometers were covered with Mr. Shima. Man, my legs were still hurting, even after the day of rest. The heat really got to me, too, especially after the recent cold days of running.

At one point, when I was on the road, I was about to pass out from the heat. It was kind of tough today, running with my brain frying under the hot sun. The cars scream by you in Hokkaido because of the wide open, uncrowded roads. In fact, I heard that Hokkaido has the most traffic deaths per capita compared with other prefectures due to this reason. People just go crazy with all the open space. I certainly didn't have any people slowing down to chat with me today or any of the days while running in Hokkaido. Running here is really different from the running in Kyushu and Honshu due to the less-traveled roads.

By the way, I must admit I am really getting tired of this routine. I just can't wait until the day when I can wake up in the morning without having to worry about the distance ahead of me that day. Just about every morning, I have been waking up all tired and sore with the realization that I must cover a certain distance, which was usually longer than a full marathon. How nice it would be to wake up and just stay in bed all day.