After our battle through China, we arrived in Japan very down and wondering when things were going to improve. Up until now the yellow team had been so strong and reliable, how things can change so quickly. Things kept going down hill for us in Japan also, with Laurels leg becoming so painful that she has been recommended to take some rest, this is so difficult for her as she is such a determined girl, I know she would run through it if she felt there was going to be no long term damage. Rudy also is still suffering with his hip/quad, this also has forced him to take some rest, as he is barely able to walk never mind run, but like any other insane runner, and he really wants to carry on through the pain. What is it about runners being so stubborn when they are told that they need to lay off for a wee while. Luckily I’m not one of them. Things were to get even worse for Rudy when he came down with a sickness bug, spending most of the flight to Japan with his head down the toilet.

My runs through Japan were really nice, the scenery is so lovely, even running through the cities you can still see the surrounding mountains covered in trees. Any spare land around peoples property is filled with fields of rice and vegetables, people here seem to have a great respect for there surroundings, this is clearly shown by how clean and tidy every where is. The locals are so friendly and helpful with great service where ever you go, this is one place I could definitely move to, and as a bonus I would be classed as quite a tall person, that would make a change.

The third run I did has to be the best run I have ever done in my life so far. It began on a small hill just outside a small village, with a tunnel 400m from the start, my legs were a little sore when I set off, but this soon disappeared from my mind when the run really got going. Passing through this first small tunnel the road just kept going up, till the road started to zig zag up the side of one of the many huge gully’s cut out of the mountains. Running past trees at ground level and then a few turns later being able to look through the tops of them, the rock features were stunning, with a small burn/river cascading down the gully with countless waterfalls and bridges. The climb carried on for around 9km, till I eventually reached another tunnel, this time I was not able to see the other end, after running for a while I came across a notice on the wall reading 1.35km to the end, this was the middle. As there was very little traffic on this section the only noise was the echo of my feet pounding the road. Eventually light and a lovely greeting of a line of blue hydrangeas along the side of the forest, very nice. The only thing left now was the run back down the other side of the hill, always the worst part of any run for me as it really hurts my legs, but the scenery was so stunning that this didn’t matter, the finish was back in the bottom of a valley with bamboo growing on the side of the road measuring around 3inchs thick, amazing stuff.

So after one more run it was off for our final leg of this amazing journey, the USA, what delights did we have to look forward to there I wonder.