Winter is coming

Tokyo winter - bleak and grey

I arrived back in Japan this Monday after a pretty good two weeks in Australia. The weather there was up and down, but the last couple of days were quite warm. Monday I was basically flying all day, and Tuesday I spent putting stuff away and cleaning up. Today was a day off too, and I settled back into Japanese life.

The weather had changed noticeably since I left, and most people on the streets were fully outfitted in their winter clothes. I started wearing a beanie and gloves for the first time this year. Winter is coming.

Japanese winters are not much fun for me. I grew up in country Victoria, and while that is not exactly the outback, winters were not anywhere near as cold and dark as here in Tokyo. And Tokyo’s general lack of vegetation makes it particularly bleak and grey in winter.

The cold and the wind are not so nice, and the fact that it gets dark at around 5pm doesn’t help. But there is something else about the winter here, something I can’t quite articulate, that I don’t look forward to at all, and the rapid weather change brought it home today.

Then I went to Namban. Tonight we did 1200m, 1200m, 1000m, 1000m, 800m, 800m. I started out wearing many layers of clothes, and gradually stripped down over the course of the intervals. I have hardly run at all since the Osaka marathon, and it felt good to be at the track again. I am a little out of shape after no running and lots of unhealthy food in Australia, but my legs definitely benefited from the rest.

As the intervals continued I gradually felt better and better, and the weather didn’t feel so cold at all. For the last 800 meters, Natalie kicked off her shoes to run barefoot, so I did too. We tore around the track, and as I was running out of energy at around 600 meters she encouraged me to keep up, which I did, and we made it to the finish line together. It was a good run.

Walking back to the change rooms I felt better than I had in days. The run around the track had blown away the cobwebs, the cold, and the darkness, and left me feeling much better. Winter is coming, but I feel ready to face it now.