August 3, 1983, Wednesday
A sunny and hot day in Hokkaido. I had a late 11:30am start after going to Iwamisawa with Mr. Sawabe. I met up with the Iwamisawa runners and ran with them to the outskirts of the city. I reached the town of Sunagawa at 6:30pm today after 60km of running in the hot sun. I felt good though, quite a change from some of the other days. Running under the hot sun also gave me a chance to get myself tanned again.
Mr. Shima met me along the way and after the run, took me to his ryokan. I can't believe that this man is 76 years old. This is the same person who ran the length of Japan four years ago. His running form is excellent and his appearance does not reveal his age. I asked him why he ties tiny bells on his shoelaces and he tells me it is to scare the bears away when he is running alone on the deserted roads in the area. OK, now he has me worried.
By the way, I ran with a group of about 50 kids earlier this morning. They were kids that came out to Mr. Sawabe's early morning rajio-taisou (radio exercise) group, the kind that seems to exist in most Japanese towns during the summertime. I enjoyed running the 1.5km distance with the little kiddies and shaking each child's hand immediately after the run.
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