Nisu Haito, Mr. Jeff

Translation: "Nice fight, Mr. Jeff."

Furusado ekiden today. 1 team from elementary track club, 1 from elementary baseball. 12 from the boys and girls of all 6 Nakayama Jr. high classes. 1 from the Nakayama fire department. 5 or 6 from the different areas of Nakayama. 1 from the Nakayama women's running club. 1 from the SDF reserve. There were 2-4 more teams that I couldn't remember. Plus us, the Nakayama Jr. high teachers.

The race was won by the boys of 3A, who had the top 3 runners on the ekiden team plus 1 more member, all of them run at sub 6 pace. I don't know what place we finished, but it was definitely lower than 15, which was where our team was at after I finished the 4th leg. I don't know my time either(the official results will be printed in the town paper tomorrow), but I have a feeling that it was definitely faster than my goal of 13 minutes. I was feeling good, and fast.

I got the baton at the 23rd place, and you can imagine my frustration when I saw Morrita-sensei, the baseball coach, was JOGGING the last 200 meters of his leg, which was not even a mile (1.5km I think; though to be fair, there was a slight incline). We were slower than 2 girls' teams (3B and 2A I think). So much for all the training I did to keep up with the fast guys--they must've been at least 5/4 mile ahead of me when I started. Still, individually it still felt good passing runners (including both of the girls' teams, naturally) and moving up 8 spots. I started out really fast, probably too fast because I was so pissed off at being so behind. Gradually I settled into my pace and breathing. In in Out out In in Out out easy and steady like something else. Then my right shoelace came loose at about 3/4 mile right after I passed one of the men's area teams and the 2A girl. The thought of stopping and lacing vanished and lost behind me as fast as the next guy that I passed. I was out of step briefly trying to catch this mid-age guy who's lean but bald and donned in pink and purple (observation: I was watching him during warm-up and judging from his physique and shoes--Mizuno Wave Maverick--he must've been an experienced long-distance runner; it seems the longer a guy has been running, the uglier their choice of clothing), but I got it back together after I passed a pack of 3. The woman from the running club was the toughest, she heard me coming in and we hung together for maybe 1/8 mile before I "fuck it" and with four OUT OUT IN IN I kicked and looked back over my shoulder only once maybe 200m before the exchange point--I didn't see her.

Of course I still have to pass the baton for the next 2 joggers, but I did my share. After I finished, the boy from 2B, Takashi something (runs ekiden and long jump), who had never approached me before, came over, congratulated me, "Nisu Haito, Mr. Jeff," and we slapped five. The best complement I can receive, from one runner to another, and from one Japanese (who collectively seem to rank preserverance above all positive individual traits) to another. Although "速い, Jeff" (Fast, Jeff!) feels pretty damn good too (from 3B's Sakie, or Haruna--the one that looks like a cabbage--do not question my mnemonics).

I have tomorrow off, so it's a nice bath and sake tonight. Feels good to be running again.

So what's next? All this talking about racing is making me ambitious again.

Although I (3:52:XX) am proud to boast that I am faster than P. Diddy (4:14:54) and Oprah (4:29:20), I have never admitted publicly that I, though trained against and aimed for him, am still a good 8 minutes behind George W. Bush (3:44:52). And I ran an easy one in Silicon Valley too. It's a little bit too late to start training for the Great Wall Marathon (5/21/05), but Arctic Marathon (8/6/05, Greenland) or Everest Marathon (11/1/05, Napal) sound just about right with 10-12 months to go. I did the Silicon Valley as a farewell to Stanford and unemployment, what shall this one be?

I wonder if all this big talk was just caused by residual runner's high. Perhaps I should aim lower and gun for Bush's 5k time (20:20).

I swear, last random thought of the day: perhaps my reluctance to vote against Bush is caused partly by my inability, due to no lack of trying, to run faster than him?