Race the Base

Sunday morning the sun came out after a very rainy saturday, enclosed in the US military base in Misawa I ran my first 10k in Japan. After a difficult few weeks training in the ridiculous heat it all paid off, I was placed 18th in the 10k race with a time of 52minutes 15seconds. The key to it was not knowing where the heck the finish line was and thinking every kilometre was the last, that and the glee soundtrack on my ipod ;) There was also a women who inspired me, she was pushing a 3year old in a pram and her t-shirt said ‘you’ve just been passed by a pregnant woman’ we overtook each other several times but damn I made sure I crossed that line first. No way she was kicking my ass!


Myself and Jackie felt amazing, a big tick on our to-do list for the year was successfully complete!

The Miasawa airforce base is so odd, its more like a village/small town enclosed around a barbed wire fence where thousands of Americans live their American lives. They have wall marts stacked high with reese-buttercups and candy corn. It was so bizarre, everything they need is shipped over to create this American world for them to feel at home in. I excuse myself if I offend anyone but damn they are big people! After being around the tiny Japanese then crossing a gate to see so many XXXXXL, it was hard to keep my mouth closed! The families live here, the kids go to school and some never set foot outside the fence. There was a strange feeling about the place, every building is painted cream and brown, I felt like I was imposing, I did not feel real and I don’t know how they live in this caged enclosure.