A Surprise Whale Watching Trip

We were returning from Tonaki yesterday on the fast boat, most people asleep or sick. Only Emina and I were healthy and not tired, just sitting staring off the back of the boat. Suddenly Emina yelped and pointed - she had seen a whale tale flip out of the water off the back of the boat. Then we saw it again, and again. A worker on the boat ran up to the bridge to let the captain know. My prayers came true and the captain turned the boat around. We arrived after the whales dove, but they came up within about three minutes and this was their first showing:

[I photographed a breach on my first ever whale watching trip two years ago. Since then I have been on 12 consecutive breachless trips, until yesterday]

[there were three whales and they were pretty playful]

I think we saw about five breaches in the fifteen minutes we hung around. It was amazing.


That picture above is almost my dream shot. A sunset in the background would complete it. The framing could be nicer, as well, but I purposely shot this wide angle so that I could achieve my desired result by cropping - I can make a photo smaller, but not bigger:

Tonaki Island

Today was a national holiday that unfortunately didn't fall on a Monday or a Friday. Since all the teachers were stuck on the island, they put together a trip to another island some 30km (20mi.) away.

We hired two boats to take us and I was on the sail boat for the outbound trip.


I thought it was cute how my tiny friend Emina made this bench work for a nap. When she woke up I asked her why she didn't just take the extra space on the bed where I slept. She explained that in the captain's pre-departure speech, he said we could sleep in the port berths, but the starboard berths were set up for guests who are coming in tonight. Guess which side I was on?

[They grow seaweed on wide-webbed nets strung between those stakes!]

Tonaki was sort of a treacherous island and I couldn't help but think how different my life would be if I had been placed there instead of Zamami. Marathon training would be miserable.



There was this awesome [free] museum [that prohibited photography] about Tonaki. They even had a half-excavated skeleton! It was here that I started to realize that Tonaki has done a better job than Zamami at appealing to tourists (even though I'm sure our annual tourism numbers dwarf theirs).


All of the road/pathways were immaculately clean. ALL of them. It was such a clean village both in terms of what was seen on the ground, but also in straight corners and well-kept households. Zamami looks like a decrepit ghost town (with people) compared to this place. Tonaki's village was utterly beautiful. Also, they had nearly all of their paths lined with those tall, leafy trees for shade during the hot months. A brilliant idea implemented many years ago and everybody is reaping the benefits now.

[Cleaning every Mon/Wed/Fri at 6:30am. Rakes provided. (No wonder this place is so clean!)]

Most all of the houses in the village were traditional Okinawan style and in good shape. This picture shows four in a row. Those roofs are a unique element of an Okinawan house; another is that all the interior walls are made with nice, exposed wood.

While my time in Tonaki was interesting, the excitement of the boat ride home eclipsed the whole day on the island. See tomorrow's post.

English Passports

Last April, at the beginning of the Japanese school year, I instituted an English Passport program. Every elementary student at my three schools got a laminated passport with their name on it. If they were able to complete the tasks of their respective grade level, they would get a certificate marking their achievement.



I also gave each class a large piece of paper with a [rough] translation of the passport tasks for their grade.


I've had about seven students complete the program, which is sorta depressing, but I also haven't pushed it as hard as I should have (since they have to complete the tasks outside of class - so during breaks). But this past week saw the first certificates get handed out. I wasn't able to get the principal's signature in time, but I was able to do the presentation in front of the whole school which elated the kids who received certificates.


This boy wrote in his class journal about receiving his certificate and how he wants to learn to speak English really well!

Tokashiki Marathon (as a warm-up for Sunday)

Yesterday's Tokashiki half-marathon was my first and only test this year before Tokyo. Tokashiki is a neighboring island in the Kerama chain, so Zamami sent a boat across for the ~20 participants from our side of the islands.

My training plan called for 16k (10 miles) at marathon pace, so I took the first 5k sorta slowish (25 minutes, 2.5 minutes off marathon pace), then stepped it up for the last 16k. I passed somewhere around 40 people to finish in 27th place (of 380, I think). My time was 1:34.57, which is almost exactly marathon pace, which means I ran the last 16k 2.5 minutes too fast.

[my friend Cliff set his half-marathon PR with a 2:15, beating his goal by 15 minutes!]

With the exception of the usual stomach roiling and adjustments in the first 5k, I felt super. I cruised through the finish line with no aches and my heart rate dropped back below 100 within minutes. It was a promising tune-up for Tokyo.

[my certificate]

[the elevation chart for the hilliest run in Okinawa]

Here were my numbers:
Distance: 21.1k/13.1 miles
Time: 1:34.57
Heart Rate Average: 165
Heart Rate Range: 74 - upper 180's
Ascent/Descent: 1500 feet (~480m)
High Point: 682 feet (~310m)
(Just for comparison, the ascent/descent of the FULL Tokyo Marathon from last year was 320'.)

-----------------

Then today I still had my long run of the week at 32k (20 miles). I woke up to and began running in rain and heavy winds. I didn't run hard, just got the miles in. I put my head down and focused on this being the last big run of the year. It rained for the first 2:20 before clearing up for the final 20 minutes. It felt pretty darn good to finish this run and complete 53k (33 miles) within the last 24 hours).

Numbers:
Distance: 32k/20miles
Time: 2:39.48
HR avg: 144
HR range: 88-166
Ascent/Descent: 1390'
High Point: 259'


Now, the taper: the best three weeks of running this year.

Freeing A Deer

I may have solidified my hunter/wild animal handler reputation today. I was at school on Geruma when I heard about a deer. Some teachers were going to see him so I joined along. When we got there, though, it was not a pretty scene.

It was a buck that got his antlers caught in some netting meant to serve as a crude fence against the deer. He'd managed to wrap the netting around his antlers and neck enough that escape wasn't going to happen and death by suffocation was approaching. The buck was in panic mode and was freaking out.

I was surprised that nobody else saw the situation the same as me - I thought "rescue", they thought "let's get out of here." I plead my case to the vice-principal, citing my work on a cattle ranch in Montana as the experience necessary to work with this deer. The VP said "cowboy?" to which I responded "yes!" because it seemed like the right answer. So he gave me some rope and we went back together. I made crude lariats and we attempted, from opposite sides of the deer, to get him to step in our slipknot circles. I succeeded first in catching a leg, at which point I pulled hard and knocked the deer off his feet. I quickly tied his rear legs together to try to control the kicking, then tied a front leg to the rear to immobilize him. But this meant that he'd lost the elevation which had previously kept him from strangling. Luckily the VP had a knife so I set out going at the thrashing deer's neck with a knife trying not to kill him. Eventually I freed up his wind pipe then went back to tying him up. (The vice-principal insisted on not letting the deer free at this point because he wanted the whole school to see the situation. I wasn't really a fan of this but I kept it to myself.)


After getting the deer securely bound I wrapped my jacket around his head to cover his eyes and hopefully get him to relax. Then we went back to school for lunch and cleaning. After 1.5 hours I finally got the okay to go back and release him (four students went to see the deer, but left before the release).

The VP trimmed all the net from his antlers while I worked on freeing his legs. I expected this to be dangerous, but I was able to contain his legs with relative ease.

The release was actually a bit anticlimactic. He jumped up and tried to sprint, but his bearings were all whacked out and he only went a couple meters before collapsing again. He didn't get far before realizing he was best-served resting first. I knew this was an important stage of what must be a very stressful ordeal for this deer, so I hurried the teachers along to give him alone time.


After my fifth period class the VP reported that the deer was not doing well and he expected him to die. I was pretty disappointed, but not sure if I was surprised. I took one last trip over before I had to catch my boat. The deer was still laying down and obviously alive, so I approached to see what was up. Turns out he had thrashed around some and got his rear legs intertwined in even more loose netting - to the point that he couldn't stand up! So I untangled him and got him standing again. He still acted drunk so I backed off enough that he could just stand there without also trying to get away from me. When I left he had sat back down, but he had his head up and looked alert to me. I expect that if he didn't get much more disruption that he'll survive.

Tokyo Banana

It was a sign - the meaning yet to be deciphered - that today at lunch we were given bananas with Tokyo Marathon stickers:


The message says that the power of the bananas will be used to support the runners.

The Third Kingpin

The description of this week's Monday run from my training plan:

Five miles easy. The last of your three kingpin workout weeks. This is the peak week of your training: roughly 50 miles for the week with a 20-miler on Sunday. Rather than fear it, you should greet this week with near the same enthusiasm you will greet the marathon one month from now. But, for the time being, take it easy. Visualize yourself running the first 5 miles of the marathon course when discretion is the better part of valor. If you want to rest on Mondays, that is also not a bad strategy for the remainder of this training program.

When I woke up at 5:30am Monday morning, enthusiasm wasn't the sensation I was feeling. But after going to bed at 9:30pm last night, I awoke today in high spirits for the 16k (10 miles). Mentally, it was the best run I've had in awhile, which is good because I've been struggling. Physically as well. I rolled my right ankle last week and ended up simultaneously hurting my left knee when that leg took all the weight. And the running mileage has been long. I just completed my fifth month of training which is taking a toll on all parts of me. My knees feel fragile and my mental strength is wavering. I am counting on getting through this week (which includes a marathon pace half-marathon on Saturday, then 20 miles/32k on Sunday) and recovering well during the next three weeks' taper. I've never looked so forward to a taper.