Phils NY Marathon Blog by phil78

Well yet another week nearer to the big day. Not a bad weeks training but nothing spectacular though a few exciting instances to note (more later). A couple of 15k runs midweek, a bike ride on Wednesday morning, a swim or two and a 30k run last night made for a solid week.

The bike ride on Wed moning was disappointing as my mate Jamie got a puncture on his new wheels just 15k in so he took a taxi home leaving me to find my own way back. Had stupidly forgotten my Garmin and it took me an hour and lots of asking random Japanese folk in my broken lingo how to get back to Shinbashi and only just got  in to work on time. I was supposed to ride with Jamie on Saturday morning as well but decided bed was the better option after a late night on Friday and was glad I had chosen that as I spoke to Jamie later in the day and one of our usual fellow riders Stu, (who was also supposed to be competing in the Murakami triathlon with us next month) hit a small step when he was  looking down whilst on his tri-bars. Unfortunately he was doing about 35k/hr at the time and as he found out, the human face isnt the most efficient break pad in the world. He ended up with 37 stitches in his face and now looks like Harvey 2Face. Being an Ozzie he's putting an extremely brave face on it all but his accident is just another reminder that cyling can be bloody dangerous. In fact I seem to be the only one of our regular group who has stayed unscathed this year. Long may that remain true!

Yesterday I went to a speialist running shop in Shimbashi where I bought some new kit. A pair of Asics trainers, a wind-cheater, some proper socks with the individual toe thingys and a few other bits n bobs. Excited by my new purchases I went out for a run despite the rumbles of thunder, the ominous black cloud and the rather impressive lightning. Somehow it didnt start raining for an hour into my run but when it did the heavens opened and I got drenched. I really didnt mind though as the rain was rather refreshing given the humidity. Later in my run I had a run in with a taxi at a crossing. They have a system in Japan whereby at traffic lights you can turn even if its red as long as there are no pedestrians in the way. In a way its quite a logical traffic law and stops people needlessly sitting in their car when theres nobody about. Unfortunately this taxi driver hadnt spotted me (must have been my new all black running gear which confused him!). Thankfully he braked just in time but with the rain he skidded and I had to jump up onto the bonnet and slide Starsky & Hutch style across it and into the windscreen. Needless to say I got a hell of a fright but thankfully there was absolutely no injuries to speak off. I was just about to launch a barrage of 4 word expletives on the guy but as he emerged he looked about 70 years old and I suddenly felt very sorry for him as he seemed more shaken than I was. I managed to assure him I was OK and with thankfully no damage to his taxi all was good and we went our seperate ways.