Day: August 23, 2006

13 days until arrival in Tokyo, September 5 at 18H00 (local time)

The climate of the northern part of Honshu Island fluctuates: fog, sun, drizzle, thunder storms… All in one day.  Only the temperature remains fairly stable around 30° Celsius.

We spent the morning going through small cities.  There were lots of encounters on the road.  Things were quieter in the afternoon: we left the coast to enter the “bear” forest.  We gave it this name because of the numerous signs warning walkers not to go further into the dark vegetation.  Route 46 goes inland and Serge ended the day 1 kilometer before the pass.  Tomorrow a good descent awaits him and he will reach the sea on the East coast of Japan, the Pacific side.

Serge thinks about the end of the race every day: “I would give a year of my life to leave again for the same crossing.”  From the little experience I have, I’m always happy when I have finished the 21 kilometers of at “semi” and never for a minute would I think about running another one right away, because I’m satisfied with what I have just accomplished. I think it’s impossible to compare different types of races: the sprint to the short distance, the short distance to the long distance, the long distance to the ultra, the ultra to the transcontinental, the transcontinental to a race that would reach to infinity.  We talk about running, of course, but where talent and physical abilities differ, so do feelings.  Take, for example, a 1,500 meter and a marathon: the preparation is different, the race is different and the feelings at the end of the race will be just as different.

Once, Serge tried to explain to me that until you know the pleasure one gets from running so many kilometers, you can’t understand that you are able to ignore the pain. “You have to have experienced this phenomena once, from the inside, to understand.”  Even if I understand the fundamental idea, I still find it very theoretical.