Ramen in Teshio

August 7, 1983, Sunday

8:00am start after taking pictures with the helpers working at the Youth Hostel. Haboro Youth Hostel is recommended for those heading up to this part of Japan. The food is good and the people there are super nice.

The day was cloudy and cool--perfect for running. I felt pretty good today running on the deserted road to the town of Teshio.

When I arrived in Teshio in the early afternoon, I was a bit surprised to find the town so quiet. I did not see a single person walking around in the streets of Teshio. It looked so deserted. A wind would come up and blow a piece of trash up in the air, and that was about the only activity I saw. I spotted an open ramen shop and decided to go in for a bowl of noodles.

I ordered my noodles in the small wooden ramen shack and began chatting with the ramen chef. He asked what I was doing, and I let him know that I was on my way to Wakkanai. I asked if he knew of a place in town that has rooms for the night. The ramen chef turned out to be the owner of the place and offered me the room upstairs. After eating, I went up the stairs and entered the small 6-tatami matted room stacked with comic books. As I rested, a male Ainu high school student came up to read some comics after eating his ramen. We talked a bit, and then he proceeded to concentrate on the comics as he entered the magical world of manga.

I took a nap and woke up in the late afternoon. For some reason, I just felt I needed to get out of this town. I just had to get out! It was just too gloomy for my taste. I made a quick decision--make a run for the next town of Toyotomi and try to make it before the sun goes down. I told the kind ramen guy "thank you" and let him know of my decision to move on to the next town. Then I started to haul ass all the way to Toyotomi.

Now, today's evening run was not a typical run. It was foggy and gray, the road ran through a heavily wooded area, there was no traffic, and I was thinking about bears. I ended up running like a madman. What I did all the way to Toyotomi was run in the middle of the road, sing out loud while running, and run like there was no tomorrow. I felt like I was flying! The running was effortless and I felt I had all my supporters pushing me along. I had the entire road to myself. In fact, to mark the road as my own territory, I even took a big leak in the middle of the road with my hands on my hips, like I was the Jolly Green Giant.

It was dark and kind of spooky during the last 10km into Toyotomi, but I made it there in one piece. I really was afraid of running into a bear or something out there. I found a ryokan near the Toyotomi train station, took a nice hot bath, and ate some good sashimi. To top it all off, I got to watch the World Championships Women's Marathon on TV before going to bed. Man, what a day!