Follow-up to the Naha Marathon

Tonight I walked into the Zamami teachers' room to grab two flyswatters for a game I'm doing on Aka this week and the feeling was reminiscent of walking into a staff room when you've been fired but not told yet. Except everybody was smiling.

Finally somebody blurted out "Naha Marathon!" It was like they were expecting a speech, so I just said what I knew how to in Japanese: my time and that my muscles were really sore on Monday but now they are fine. And I imitated my 'sore' walk. I was humble about it and tried to escape quickly because getting marathon fame wasn't what I came to the school for - I'll have plenty of time for that when I am teaching on Zamami two weeks from now.

But it's hard to elude this notoriety on small islands. People who have never spoken to me before have the courage to approach and tell me I did a good job at the marathon (I think that's what they're saying). Many teachers and even more students saw me on television the morning of the race. It helped that the cameras were concentrated around the start line, where I was only 20 feet deep into the racers and six inches taller than everyone. My name also made the newspaper the next morning as they published the top 800 finishers (I was 562).

For me, this is the sort of small society gossip that is acceptable to be spread like wildfire. It feels like if any Zamami residents didn't know who I was before (and most saw me do well in the 5k at the island's sports day), they do now. I know that's not true, but it feels like it. And it's a sign to me that I am part of a community. They are proud and they give me congratulations. I represented Zamami last weekend.

Before leaving the Zamami teachers' room, I was called back by one of the male teachers. He pointed to a calendar and asked, "Are you busy on January 19?" I don't have a planner because I never have plans, so I said no. He said "Good, you can be on our basketball team." Then he explained that we have practice every Monday night from 8-10pm (my bedtime is 9pm!). And before I left, he reminded me, "If those Aka teachers ask you, you tell them you're on the Zamami team!"