Our Last Day Before Traveling

We had a great last day with our host family (The Iwamas).  They took us to make fake food.  It is mostly done with wax.  Adrienne has a real talent for making fake food.  Her parfait looks good enough to eat.  However, I would not recommend it.  The pictures show how we made some of it.  Then, we went to Gujo City to see a castle.  It was beautiful up there. 

We had lunch at a take-out place.  I had a teriyaki hamburger that was so good.  It had some horseradish sauce on it that I really liked.  We also sampled some other traditional Japanese foods.  After that, we went to a paper museum and made paper.  See the video and photos.  Our family has been so kind to us.  They’ve treated us to so many activities.

In the evening, we had a final banquet.  The food was really good and came in many servings.  I think we went through about 6 different courses.  It was fun to visit with everyone for one last time.

Now, we are about to leave for our flight.  We will have some great memories from our time here.

Race Day!

Adrienne’s Race

Great first ever half marathon.  Actually, the first time I have ever run that far in my life.  Yesterday they asked if we wanted to do the half or full marathon or the Mayor’s walk.  I had been thinking it would be fun to do the half, but was nervous about committing to running it with no training.  Everyone convinced me to do it so I did.  Great day!  I wasn’t prepared clothing wise so Lisa and Julie let me borrow some running tights and gloves.  It was raining and I was cold, but soon warmed up.  My first half was 58 minutes and I felt great so decided to go quicker for the second.   I had to stop two times to tie my shoes as the Japanese runners were worried that I was not stopping to tie them.  It was fun to high five the school kids that were lined up along the road.   I ended up with a 1:47 which got me through the finish line in time to go and see Iain’s award ceremony.  I am glad I did it.

Iain’s Race

When the gun went off a lot of runners took off very fast.  The eventual winner ran such a fast first mile, I thought he would die off and not finish.  A group of about 8 went ahead of me and I let them go a few seconds ahead.  By the end of the second mile, I had passed a couple of them and was running with Fritz, the overall winner in St George.  We had fun with the school kids, high fiving along the way.  Fritz struggled today and I went ahead to stay near a group of 5 that was chasing the leader.  One of them moved to try to catch the leader and ended up second in the end.  I stayed about 5 seconds behind the rest them until the turn around.  It was an out and back course up and down a canyon.  When I caught them, one of them threw in a crazy surge for about 5 seconds, then came back to the rest of us.  I mostly lead down the canyon.  It felt great today with the temperature just right and the rain on us.  When we got to the bottom, I was hoping at least one of the three would have been dropped.  However, they were all still right there.  Each of us had the lead at some point.  With about 3 miles to go, two of them moved ahead of me a few seconds and one of them dropped behind (I found out he is 40.  It’s difficult for someone so old to keep up with me).  I tried to close on the other two, but couldn’t quite do it.  So, I ended up 5^th (I was 3^rd last time), but had nearly a 3 minute personal best for that course with a 1:10.  I was very pleased with the day.  I won potatoes, rice, a nice plaque, a medal, and a couple of nice certificates.

Other Things about the Day

Before we started, we were asked to say a few words to the runners that were gathered.  Julie’s host family had prepared her a paragraph in Japanese.  She did great considering she had never learned any Japanese before.

Before the race, a group led the athletes in warm-up calisthenics.  That was very entertaining (see the video below).  We probably would have run faster if we had participated.

Also before the race, the mayor of St George prepared the crowd for the mayor's walk by having us all sing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" (see video below).

Amber Green, the St George overall winner, finished 2^nd.  I was very impressed with that.

After the race, we had some food including a banana covered in cream and sponge cake (kind of like a giant banana Twinkie).  Adrienne tried “Fish on a Stick”.  Amber bought it and had people try it.  The fish are swimming in a tank, you choose one, they put a stick through it, then cook it.

Ready to Rock and Roll

 On the start line with my wife (that was the best part)

 With Lisa, the one who loaned her a visor and tights.  Julie loaned her gloves.

Finishing so fast the camera cannot keep up.  She was still smiling all the way through the finish.

J

The sign says "Congratulations Finishers!"

At this race, many people dress up.  Here is a small sampling of some costumes.

We started the day with another short run.  On the way, we saw this sign that tells people not to let their dogs poop on the ground.  I'm not sure what other options they have, but Japanese people seem to be very obedient.

We toured the race course and took some pictures while we were out there.  Here is the race poster and a bridge where the half and full marathons separate.  There is also a photo of us in front of a Buddhist shrine.  Sometime this morning, Adrienne got thinking about doing the half marathon and once she brought it up, everybody talked her into it.  So, she will be a half marathoner tomorrow.  I feel nervous about her doing it more than myself.  At least we'll see each other at some point since it's an out-and-back course.

The next pictures are at the lunch we had at ski resort with the rest of the delegation and 15 students from St George that won a writing contest to come on the trip.  The Japanese students in front will be coming to St George in January to visit the schools there.  We got a photo with the mayor of Ibigawa.  He was the mayor when we did this trip last time.  He is very friendly and happy.

After lunch, we went to the Iwama's parents house to pick persimmons.  They are a hard kind and were very good.  The had the persimmon flavor, but a texture more like an apple.

 While touring the marathon course, I took photos of some signs that are already out.  The course is lined with these signs of encouragement.  The city is so excited for the race every year.  This year, there are about 6000 marathoners and 3000 half marathoners.

We are very tired from the 28 hours of travel yesterday, but the day was good.  We met the Japanese hosts right when we arrived to Ibigawa.  Most of the delegation from Utah got delayed in LA, so there were only 7 of us last night to be introduced.  The mayor of St George was supposed to say some words upon arrival, but he was still delayed.  So, this picture is of me doing some thank you's for him.  Fortunately, we had interpreters, so I didn't have to do it all in Japanese.

We have a great host family, the Iwamas.  Here is our bedroom.  I liked the touch of having blue and pink beds.  We had an okay night's sleep, but we woke up a little in the night.  We went on a short run together in the morning.  The houses and gardens are fun to look at.

We had a good breakfast with our family, then went to the Heian Jingu Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.  Lunch was a buffet of Japanese food.  We met up with the rest of our delegation there.  There was one more runner and a few others from St George.  The rest of the photos are from the sites we visited.  We're pretty tired now, but will make it until at least 9pm before going to bed.  Tomorrow, we'll drive the race course and have a banquet at lunch.