Jogging Haiku 47: On On On

On familiar roads
On two feet instead of wheels,
On home I go back.

(20.5km, the first 2/3 at a conservative pace, the last at my fastish pace, which isn't saying much)

For day 7 of my challenge, I decided to jog from my work in east Osaka back to my place, a distance of 20.5km (I thought it was a little longer, but I took slightly different roads than when I measured it before, which must account for the difference). For me, that's a long distance, as my usual longish runs don't exceed 12k. Because of that, I started out at a conservative pace, wanting to enjoy it, and especially to finish it! The part I had only ridden on my bicycle so far was rather pleasant, although there was some congestion near one train station. And perhaps more quickly than I had imagined, I got to the Shirokita canal, signalling that I'd be soon at the halfway mark. My confidence remained strong, even after one misstep on a downhill that gave my leg and lower back an unexpected shock, with no consequences so far luckily.

When I did get to the halfway mark around another workplace, I knew I could go the distance, and it felt nice. About 4km later, I effortlessly and instinctively picked the pace, which didn't prove hard at all to do, surprisingly. I took a road I hadn't taken in some time and it was nice to be back on a course I've often used. And sooner than later I was at the overpass near my place, and then got to the convenient store near my place, which signalled the end of my course (wanted to buy tofu, which went down really well alone seasoned with olive oil, apple vinegar and black pepper, as well as in miso soup which revealed itself to be a great post-run drink). I was hoping to finished by 8pm, and was happy to see that I'd finished about 13 minutes early (although I thought the trail was closer to 22k).

This might have been my only chance to do that course for some time, as I may have new work on Tuesday evenings starting soon. I'll need to find a new course to cover that distance in the future, but I don't think I'll do it too often, as I imagine that it will be taxing on my body, at least for now.

So with tonight's long run, it bring my total mileage for the first 7 days to 45km. Pretty happy with that. If I keep this up it will bring me to almost 200k, I don't think I've ever jogged so much in my life. Keep on jogging!