■I went for a run this morning, my first run of February. I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. as usual, and woke up just before 1:00 a.m. I slept well after that, and woke up just before the alarm went off. I got up with the alarm, and since it was plastic garbage day this morning, I carried it into position and then did my prep work.
This morning I set my running time in the schoolyard to 24 minutes. This is the first time I’ve run over 7km since November 23, 2011, when I ran 8.67km.
Since I got sick and recorded my lowest monthly mileage of 55.69 km in October, my mileage has been gradually recovering with 58.04 km in November and 73.87 km in December, but I am still far from 100 km.
According to the schedule, February 1 was the start of registration for the Chitose JAL International Marathon, but as far as I could find on the Internet, it seems that they are not accepting official applications yet. It seems that the organizing committee may not be able to make a decision due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
To be honest, I’m not sure if I can finish the half marathon with my current physical strength, but it’s difficult to continue running without a clear goal or motivation to participate in the event.
I can only hope that the event will be held somehow. The event is usually held on the first Sunday in June.
On February 1, author Shintaro Ishihara, who served as governor of Tokyo for 13 and a half years, passed away at his home in Ota-ku, Tokyo.
Ishihara’s younger brother Yujiro Ishihara was a big star on the silver screen. When I was a child, my mother was a movie buff, so she used to take me to the Kawaguchi Toei movie theater, which was about a 10-minute walk away.
The movies that I remember are the ones starring Yujiro Ishihara and Toei’s period dramas. I also remember seeing the official documentary film of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics at this cinema.
Shintaro Ishihara, who passed away at the age of 89, was a man who ran at full speed through the middle of the postwar era of rapid economic growth.
This year marks the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II, and so to speak, Japan has been reborn, but after 77 years, the international situation has changed, and the nation has entered a period of maturity.
We need to have a proper discussion about what kind of path we should take and what kind of nation we should mature into. The era of running with momentum alone is already over.