Saturday, March 1, 2008

Running in Tokyo

I'm now at the halfway point of my two week business trip in China and Japan. Here's the thing - I like to travel, I do. But to be honest, I 'm just not very good at it because I. AM. EXHAUSTED.

The week in review:

Sunday-Monday: 15 hour flight to Hong Kong, ferry to Shenzhen
Tuesday: Meetings in Shenzhen, fly to Hangzhou
Wednesday: Meeting in Hangzhou, 3 hour cab ride in mini-van to Nanjing
Thursday: Meeting in Nanjing, sightseeing in the afternoon, fly to Beijing
Friday: Meetings in Beijing, dinner that night - two nights in same hotel, yippee!
Saturday: Early morning flight to Tokyo, try to meet with boss and his friends for dinner but fail miserably

So now it's Sunday and I'm trying to not think about the fact that I still have another whole week of meetings that again will be in a different city every day. (I believe I have two train rides and one flight in my future.)

I brought running gear with me on this trip and every morning, I thought about heading to the gym. And every morning, I either decided to sleep more or do some work instead. So today is my one and only completely free day so I decided to take advantage of it and go for a run. I do have a 12K in two weeks to get ready for!

My hotel offered jogging maps which came in handy. I decided to do a 2 mile loop near my hotel. As luck would have it, I ended up running into my boss who was just finishing his run. He decided to run with me for a bit which was nice of him since he's a 6:00 min/mi dude and I'm more of a 10:00 min/mi chick. But he only joined me for a little bit (thankfully, since I had to pick it up a bit just to be at his slow pace!) I wasn't sure how far I would go once I was on my own but it was nice that it was such a short loop because I just kept running along... I am very happy to say that I ended up doing a 12K! It was perfect running weather (45-50 degrees?) and there were a couple little hills to keep things interesting.

I didn't take any pics on my run because there wasn't anything interesting to see. The park I was running around was surrounded by high walls. I did take a pic of the nice view from my hotel, though:

My new running shoes worked well, too. Right before my trip, I picked up some Nike Air Trail Pegasus shoes. I wanted some running shoes that also looked cute and could double as my travel sneakers. These did the trick!

I don't think I'll do any sightseeing today. I did a lot during my last China/Japan trip so for now I just want to rest and catch up on some work. I'd like to get out for a bit to at least enjoy the nice weather and maybe partake in some treats from home... like Starbucks!!!

On a side note, special thanks to Leana for her update on registration for the 2008 Nike Women's Marathon. Looks like I'll be doing two lotteries this year!


Update: I *did* get my Starbucks fix - caramel frappuccino, yum! (And I ran into my boss there as well! I can't get away from work, can I?) It's close enough that I might head there tomorrow, too, heehee.

3 comments:

Nancy said...

Oh my, you must be exhausted. My hub travels like this although not quite to this extent. But same thing, everything is a 3 hour bus or another flight to get around. Hang in there. Try to enjoy the sites and get another run in! You'll be glad you did.

Safe travels!!

Runner Leana said...

Wow, sounds like quite the business trip. Although you are exhausted I'm envious that you get to travel cool places for work.

Best of luck in the Nike lottery. If I could actually make the trip I'd enter, but I've got a few other races and vacations on my plate instead.

Have you made a decision on Minnie?

Runner Leana said...

Hi Audrey! With regards to the 5K pace requirements...good question. Last year the race was run around Downtown Disney and I had a hard time imagining how they were going to sweep that. My mom did the race and she had just had bunion surgery so she wasn't going to be too speedy. She wound up finishing just under an hour and they didn't sweep, at least they didn't sweep her and a large group behind her. As for this year I once again have a tough time imagining how they are going to sweep since the majority of the race is spent inside Epcot. I would say if you think you can finish under an hour I can't imagine that you would be swept and you would definitely get your medals. I would say go for it, I think you guys can do it.

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