Zamami's Unknown Festival

There's this festival that happens, where there's a "parade" and all the kids play eisa, then there are Hari boat races. At night everybody gathers and drinks a lot. I don't know what the festival is, but I think it has something to do with old people. This year I photographed and raced in a boat (we won, which I publicly attributed to me). Last year I got suckered into going to the evening gathering, but this year I went through my pictures instead.

Running Log 9/22 – 9/28

9/23 5:33am: 13k 1:12.50
9/24 4:48am: 21k 2:04.01
9/25 6:17am: 5k 28.05.9
9/26 6:18am: 5k 28.12.1
9/27 5:25am: 26k 2:24.32 (1:14.30 and 1:10.02)

Total: 70km

Most mornings when I walk towards my starting point I pass a construction worker waking himself up outside the barracks by smoking a cigarette. I can’t help but think that I am adding days to my life while he is doing the opposite.

On Wednesday I probably should have smoked. The humidity was high and there was zero air movement. I was sweating heavily before even leaving my apartment. In the three-hour period from when I woke up until I went to school, I drank six liters of water (just over 1.5 gallons). It was a dreadful, slow 21k and I barely made it to school on time (and even with a/c, didn’t stop sweating until 10am). But there were also lasting effects: for the next three days, whenever I stood up suddenly (or just stood up), my entire torso felt like it was being attacked with glass shards and I became woozy. That run really, really weakened me and I wisely followed it with two 5k's. Saturday's run was both great and it purged the tingliness - a good ending to the week.

[Two cups of sweat wrung out of my shirt at the 13k mark. Did I taste it later? Of course! (it's a little less mild than urine.)]

Aka Undokai

Aka's undokai (sports day) fell on the same day as Zamami's. For a reason I didn't quite understand, I was selected for attendance at Aka's event. While I was a little disappointed not to be running on a Zamami relay team, the photography opportunities were much greater at Aka because the kids don't play the 'let's hide from Dave when he has his camera' game. Which is kind of a dumb game.

Geruma's undokai was rescheduled from two weeks ago (typhoon) to this weekend. Just today it was canceled and rescheduled again for next weekend due to a possible incoming typhoon. Poor Geruma.

Here are some pictures from Aka's undokai:

[that second guy is the English teacher]

[every kid participates in the unicycle show]

Whitewater Paddling

I’d made a poor choice and decided to kayak around Kuba-jima before dusk, camping on an easterly beach. But as I rounded the southern tip, the wind was coming out of the east. It was getting pretty dark when I braved the crashing waves and dove into the first beach I came to. I set up my tent and ate dinner in the dark since I forgot my headlamp.

Monday morning (three-day weekend) I awoke in time to catch the sunrise. I noted that the incoming waves were mostly too much for me to handle in my kayak, but I thought I’d give them a couple hours and a difference in tide. I went on a 2-hour beachcombing trek to the north, but returned to find that the waves were now barreling – not a good sign. As I packed up I started timing the breaks between wave sets and came up with an optimistic 58 seconds I’d have to make it through the 40m or so to freedom, provided I could guess correctly when those 58 seconds began.




I loaded my kayak up and tied everything down tight, expecting a flip as a very real possibility. I waded out to where I thought my best starting point would be and waited until a break. But from water level, even the breaks between sets looked scary. Coming in with the waves provides the disadvantage of being unable to see the what’s coming down on top of you from behind, but it does have the advantage of being able to ride the incoming water. Going out to sea means fighting against the incoming waves.

I made a couple false starts and, an hour after starting, decided to go back ashore and reanalyze my situation. The more I watched the waves, the more I realized I probably wasn’t going to make it out safely. So I moved on to Plan B, which I’d developed while beachcombing earlier. The next bay to the north had a much smaller reef to cross to reach the deep water. This meant more violent waves, but less distance to cross. So I hauled my kayak through little waterways and tidepools and over some big rock formations before getting it lodged on some rocks so I could go watch the waves. While watching – and timing – I heard a commotion. A rogue wave coming from the other harbor had dislodged my kayak (and battered my fishing rods on the rocks) and it was quickly making an escape out into the crashing waves. I had no other option but to jump into the shallow water from up high where I was standing to save my kayak, which I did. I decided this was my cue so I kayaked around the corner, faced the waves, thought I saw a break, and made a run for it. I went up and over three big waves that had already broke (my kayak slapping down on the backside of each wave) before going up the face of a fourth. At this point, I remember actually saying “uh, oh” aloud, but when it didn’t break, and I rolled off the back, I knew I was probably safe. This didn’t keep me from furiously paddling a few more minutes, but it allowed my mind to catch up with my racing heart.

And as if this wasn’t enough, I actually got turned back by waves again as I came around the south side Geruma Island. I had to paddle back around the island and come through the passage between Geruma and Aka.

Remember in that movie, Castaway, when Tom Hanks builds his raft and decides to head out to sea, only to be crushed and returned to shore by big waves? That was how I felt. (Except I made it out.)

Running Log 9/16-9/21

9/16 5:19am: 13k, 1:12.22
9/18 6:22am: 5k, 26.08
9/19 5:24am: 13k, 1:12.38
9/20 7:40am: 5k, 26.10
9/21 5:25am: 26k, 2:26.17 (1:14 and 1:12.17)

Total: 62km

I gave my right knee all of my attention this week and it performed well. I allotted 80% of my stretching time to the right leg. Nice consistency this week, albeit a little slow. Sunday’s long run was easily the hardest physical thing I’ve done since February’s marathon. I changed my sweat-drenched shorts and socks and wrung out my shirt at the halfway point. Shoes were squishy the second half. Chafe was as bad as it gets. My three sticks of Bodyglide are finished so I’m using my fingernails to dig out the remainder, hoping it can be rationed for a month until I go home.

Beer Vending Machine

[near a school on the outskirts of Osaka]

Typhoon Bonus

Typhoons aren't all bad. The cool people (seasonal workers) on island all get a couple days off. They hang out in large, circular, beer-drinking groups in the evening and look for waves during the day. I regrettably didn't pursue surfing enough in Palau to say I'm a surfer. I'm still in beginner stage. It would be a bit presumptuous of me to pursue a borrowed board for learning, so instead I volunteered to be the photographer. Not exactly where I wanted to be, but hopefully an 'in'. It seemed to work - that evening I think they pinned down a guy who has a board 'big enough' for me. Just need some more waves. (The typhoon has turned back and hopefully some waves will be coming in again tomorrow.)