
And then, more than twenty years later, I found myself listening to the stories of the intrepid individuals who actually raced it on foot in what was becoming something of a classic urban challenge in central Tokyo. They reassured me that although a few teams actually competed, mostly against themselves, many joined simply for the pleasure of a day out seeing neighbourhoods more usually hidden from the unadventurous eye. And so I thought
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June 2014, the northern route |
I'd try my hand (well, feet) at it. Living on the opposite side of Tokyo I decided on the solo start from Shibuya on a pleasant morning in June 2014. The route took me clockwise around the north of city but by 28km's I was flagging and feeling my age. Putting up my boots, I took the Hibiya line home but promised my self I'd be back to close the loop. One day.
And today, at 5.35am, I set off, this time heading south, to see if my feet were up to the promises of my mouth. Getting lost in the back streets of Meguro I resorted to Google Maps and found my way out of the rabbit warren of cul-de-sacs. After that I've always thought of Shinagawa as fairly flat but now know I was very much mistaken, those hills are high. And by 8.45, around Mita, I encountered the first teams running clockwise as they passed me by (nicely done by the way). And then around 10.15am I was standing on the very same spot where a year ago I'd paused and decided I'd tried my best but the knee joints weren't going any further. This year my wife and son had joined me for the final few kilometers, laughing with me as they saw me slowing and helping me on. And I'd made it. Took me a year. And about 10 hours, 35 minutes. But I'd made it. Good luck to all those aiming to run the roughly 50km in under a year today. Huge respect! Now, anyone up for Hachiko to the Gaijin Botchi?
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