Compared with most people, I am very lucky in the opportunities I get. One skill I have developed over the years is to grab opportunities when they arise and seek to enjoy the moment. This weekend was a good example of luck and of seizing the moment. I am in Japan for just under a month, a mixture of work and pleasure. Although I am in reasonable running condition, I have a tricky 50km trail race in a couple of weeks, and I could do with sharpening my running.
On Saturday I had two running events I wanted to take part in. The first was the Futakotamagawa Parkrun and the second was a hill repeat session that the club I run with when I am in Japan (Namban Rengo) hold on Saturday mornings.
The Futakotamagawa Parkrun starts at 8 am (unlike the UK Parkruns which start at 9 am). To get to the Parkrun by public transport is not super easy from my Airbnb and would take about 45 minutes. Also, both running events are only about 5km, so the total distance for the day would not be a good contribution to me sharpening for my trail race. So, I decided to maximise the benefit of the day by running to the Parkrun (just over 11km along the Tama River), which would bring the day to a useful 21km. However, to get this benefit, I needed to get up at 5:30, consume coffee and pizza for breakfast and be out of the door by about 6:20 am.
At the ParkRun I was delighted to see some old friends. The Parkrun itself went well. This was the sixth time I had run this Park Run, and all my previous runs were all between 22 minutes, 18 seconds, and 22 minutes, 46 seconds (it is a flat course). This time I ran it in 23 minutes 5 seconds. This was my slowest ever Futakotamagawa Parkrun, but it was my fastest ParkRun of 2024. I was first in my age group, and I was happy with my age grade score of 74%, so overall I am happy.
After ParkRun, I caught a train to Aoyama Itchome, grabbed a coffee and sandwich and met the hill repeat runners. There were lots of friends there and some new faces too. The group run round the Akasaka Palace every week (and have done for almost ten years). On two of the hills, we do an effort session, running up the hill four times as quickly as we can – so the whole loop incorporates eight hills efforts.
After the hills is the best bit, drinking coffee, sitting and talking to the people you have been exercising with.
However, the day was not finished. A friend of mine was also visiting Tokyo this week, so we met up in Asakusa, had Japanese deserts (mine was matcha anmitsu), and visited the tourist sites of Nakamise Street, Kaminarimon, the Sensoji Temple, and the amazing shops in the Kappabashi area (everything you could want to stock a domestic or commercial kitchen, and windows full of plastic imitation meals to display in the front windows of restaurants).
Today (Sunday) I pushed outside my comfort zone in a different way. I have recently started doing CrossFit in the UK, and I speak a little Japanese, so I decided to try a CrossFit session in Japan and did a drop-in session with CrossFit Roppongi. In the end, this was more comfortable than I feared; the coach spoke English, and the drill today was not too technical. (a series of deadlifts followed by 300 lunges with 6 Russian kettle swings every minute). To help with my preparation for my trail race, I then ran the 14km back to my apartment with my rucksack full of clothes, CrossFit shoes and gloves, towels etc. Most of the run was very urban, but from time to time, I was delighted to see patches of green, flowers and even koinobori (the fish streamers). I did interrupt my run to buy a slice of pizza from one of the bakeries. The run was made a bit more challenging by the temperature. When I left the UK just over a week ago it was about 10C, today in Tokyo was 26C.
Tonight, I will be tidying up and packing as I am heading off to Hiroshima for a few days cycling with friends as part of Golden Week (a series of holiday in Japan that all fall in the same week).
As I said at the start of this post, I am lucky. I am lucky to be in good health, to have finances that allow me to do things, and to have friends that make these visits so much fun. But, if I have a skill, it is in seizing the opportunities when they come, being willing to enjoy them, and being willing to be outside my comfort zone. For example, I am lucky to be healthy enough to run, but I run well and easily because I work at it.
