Sunday long run in the snow

That snow I reported on Saturday morning, well it just kept right on snowing all day until about 8:00 in the evening. I think we got something like 20 cm of snow over the day. I had to venture out in it to attend a seminar in the afternoon. It wasn't exactly fun, but good to experience it organically rather than just from the living room window.

Sunday morning was yet another opportunity to interact organically with the snow. The day broke fine and clear...and cold. I knew there would still be snow on the ground in Yoyogi Park, but felt obliged to go check out whether a run was posible. (Some Namban friends were organising a run at the Imperial Palace later in the day, but just too late for old fogies like me and Gareth).

I took the train to the park arriving right on 9:00. It was carpeted, blanketed, covered, you name it, it was white and snowy. The clear blue sky and sunshine made it stark and pretty. Despite the fine weather, there was still snow cascading down from above as the trees began to awaken and shake their canopies free of this icky cold stuff.

The paths still had a continuous layer of mostly trampled down, icy snow. I stood at the start line, alone, cold, contemplating whether it was runnable, and whether Gareth would be joining me or sensibly staying curled up warm in bed.  Then I looked down the path and off in the distance coming towards me was a figure clad in white, almost like a snow hare, only much bigger. And not quite as fast. And not as cute. (I just put that to see if he reads the blog!)  Aftter many minutes of watching this forlorn figure painstakingly making his way closer, I eventually came to realise that it was indeed my friend and destined companion for this frosty sojourn. As we stood discussing the conditions, a familiar face came loping towards us. Motozo!! What are you doing here? You are normally not out of bed at this time even on a 20 degree day -- it couldn't be! It wasn't! It was Philip, a nissei Japanese-American who happened to look exactly like Motozo until he took off his beanie, scarf, and goggles (OK, the goggles and scarf are an exaggeration). Motozo's reputation remains safely intact.

With no further ado, we then commenced our run. And despite it being a little uneven underfoot, with less than perfect traction, we were still able to move along at a reasonable 5:30/km or so. It was so pretty around the park, and our feet actually stayed dry doing 3.18-km combo loops. So in the end, it was actually a really nice run. We were joined by Chiba-san for a while and then Rebecca, who after a couple of laps tagged her husband Richard to exchange child-minding duties. (Said children were intent on ambushing us with snowballs on each lap, making it a sort of a cross between a long run and Skirmish.)

All up I ran 23km at about 5:30/km. With the slower pace, the leg pretty much behaved itself. And somehow, despite not running Saturday, I managed to end up with over 70 km for the week. So all up, a fairly successful and pleasant outing. I'm not sure how much it will contribute to my Kanagawa half campaign, but I am not stressing about that and will just try to get to the start line without pain and enjoy the run and see what happens.