That's one of the problems with Japan - getting clothes that fit. Even back in 1992, though I had put on a few pounds, I wasn't enormous by any stretch of the imagination. Sure I may have arrived in Japan as a 172 lb (78 kg) guy and arrived back in Toronto at 187 lbs (84.8 kg), but I was still 5-10-1/2" (183 cm)... or whatever I had shrunk down to (LITTLE MEN).
Regardless of my weight gain, they don't make shirts in my size (36-inch (91.44 cm) chest--though after working out for a few years, I'm currently a 48-inch (121.92 cm)). Even t-shirts were a stretch, if you know what I mean.
I have size 10-1/2 feet (30 cm) - big but not huge - which in Japan means I would take a size 30. They only make size 27 and below. In Toronto, I cheaped out and bought an inexpensive pair of running shoes.
Anyhow... back in Toronto, my friends and family both remarked at how much weight I had put on - that the Japanese way of life must be agreeing with me. I suppose it must have. I certainly couldn't disagree. I don't do anything I don't enjoy doing, and I was certainly going back for a third and final year as an Assistant English Teacher (AET) on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme (I might even have stayed longer, but the Programme only allows for three years).
Upon arriving home in Ohtawara at the end of August (yes, I called it home), I decided to do something about my (to me) sudden weight gain. I guess I do love Japanese food!
I decided I would go jogging. On a Thursday night at 9PM, I rode my bicycle over to Ohtawara Junior High School (aka Dai Chu - which translates into Big Middle), as they had a track I could use. The school itself was maybe a two-kilometre ride, but it's a pleasant one through a few rice fields. Okay, Ohtawara is mostly rice fields (and 7-11's), but still, it's a nice ride past the frogs croaking melodiously as they do whatever it is frogs do in the wet, almost-ready-to-harvest rice paddies.
That first night at the track, it was just me and a student from Dai Chu. That student was with his father, and he was sprinting, then jogging, walking and repeating. Training or just getting into even better shape.
Me? I decided I was going to do four laps around the track - 1600 metres. After the first 100 metres, it was obvious that I wasn't going to make it if I didn't slow down to a granny's pace (no offense to any grannies, of course, as I'm sure some of them could have easily beaten me around the track). It was a very painful journey - at least it was for the first lap... and then it became tortuous. That second and third lap was a blur... all I can remember was that I kept screaming at myself to keep going... just another corner, now another half lap... now I'm only half-way done... lungs burning, feet hurting... don't black out. I may have, who knows when they do?
Somehow I completed my goal of four laps (1600 m)... bent over and gasped for breath. It took me 34 minutes. Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile it ain't.
I then had to ride home. I moaned and kvetched the entire time.
Still... the next evening at 9PM... I went back out and did it again... except I added another lap (400 metres). And since I was without a girlfriend (Ashley had gone home forever), I continued to go running every night - each time added another lap... another 400 metres. My goal was to reach 10 kilometres (10,000 metres).
Believe it or not, I did it... I didn't miss a night, and the running, while still painful, was getting easier (except for that last lap I would add). That first time I ran 10 km, it took me 57 minutes.... I continued to run the 10km for a couple of weeks after that, and eventually got down to 37 minutes... which I only later learned was pretty good - the current world record is 26 minutes - so my time, by a non-Kenyan or non-Etiopian was pretty darn good. Canada's record is around 28 minutes. Japan's is about 30 seconds faster.
So... while not world-class, I was getting there.
It seems that my little running companion - whom I gasped a konichiwa (hello) to a few times, had told a few of his friends that the gaijin (foreigner) AET was jogging every night. While there was not a big crowd to see me, there were maybe 10 hardy individuals who would come out to watch - not cheer me on, mind you - just watch, and leave quietly as I finished and continued to gasp for breath.
I think they may have just come to see if I would either puke or die... or perhaps die while puking. I did not die.
I'm guessing that these students must have told a teacher or two at Dai Chu, who in turn told people at the OBOE (Ohtawara Board of Education) who pay my salary. After a visit into work on a Friday, my boss, Kanemaru-san, was grinning at me more than usual. He said that he heard I was doing a lot of running every day and that I had, just last night, run 10 km in 37 minutes.
I'd ask how the heck he knew that, but as a popular fellow in Ohtawara, people like to keep tabs on me pretty well... and this is way before Twitter!
He told me that the OBOE had taken it upon themselves to enter me in the Ohtawara Marathon on November 23, 1992 - just after my 28th birthday. I blanched! I can't run a marathon - I've only just got up to 10 km!
He smiled that evil grin of his and explained that the Ohtawara Marathon was indeed a 10 km race. Zounds and gadzooks! He had me.
When you are popular, famous, unpopular or infamous, people want to see how you perform - either hoping for success or failure, and that scared the heck out of me. I needed to train more.
I went out again that night and ran - attempting to better my 37-minute record... but a funny thing happened... perhaps it was anxiety or paranoia, or just my cheap running shoes - but I developed shin splints. My shins hurt like heck after only running 5-km!I should have stopped then, but I needed to train, to not let them down.
I had to take a month-plus off to rest my legs... which of course led me right up until the day of the race.
Not wanting to let the OBOE or Kanemaru-san down, I rode my bicycle over to the race. Memory escapes me as to where the starting line was - but, all I had to do was sign-in. The day before, Kanemaru-san had presented me with my official Ohtawara Marathon number - 5231 - which also had my name written in the bottom right corner in Katakana: A-N-Do-Ri-Yu-- you can see that in the photo at the top, just in case you think I make everything up! The race was sponsored by Toshiba, whom I believe have a big factory in the city - in case you can't read Japanese. Sorry.
The gun went off, and myself and hundreds of fellow runners raced away. Immediately, I knew I was in trouble - no, not from the shin splints, which had healed completely, but rather from the race itself.
You see, in all of my nightly jogging, I ran around a nice spongy track, turning left (counter-clock-wise) repeatedly. This darn marathon was a road race, run on the roads of Ohtawara, up and down inclines.After several minutes of ego-maniacal running near the front, it was obvious to me that there was no way in Beppu, that I was ever going to be able to finish this race.
I lasted until the 4-km mark before lack of wind (I know, that seems impossible), and my legs (calves and thighs) were screaming at me to stop, for the love of kami (God), please stop. Rightly or wrongly, I listened to my body.
While the OBOE was very supportive of me and my effort, I can't help but feel I let them, and myself, down. After that day, no one ever brought up me running again... and I must admit, I stopped jogging.
But it doesn't really matter. After all, I did accomplish what I had set out to do. I lost weight and was again 172-lbs.
Somewhere with shinsplints,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by Toronto's own, Rush. You can hear this great song at this link: REBELANDARUNNER.
PS: The photo below is a page that you get when you complete the Ohtawara Marathon - crossing the finish line, someone takes your photo... which is what is supposed to be pasted on the right side. Mine is blank, obviously.
