I write this sitting on the floor of Narita airport. I’m trying to get all the extra power to my computer that I can get. The upgrade to business class is not looking promising. I am, however, feeling much better about that extra money I spent for the seats with extra leg room. On the flight from Singapore, my legs couldn’t even reach the seat in front of me. The only problematic part was not being able to recline for sleeping. And I need to sleep. I know that I was still wide awake at 1 am, and the alarm went off at 4 am. After 1, I vowed to stop looking at the clock as that was only making things worse.
I am however loving Narita airport. After finding my gate, I was in queue for the pub across from my gate. The ham and cheese sandwich paired with a glass of wine seemed like a decent enough idea. Then I remembered. About 4 gates back there was a sushi bar. I was out of that queue so fast. A short while later I had my Asahi beer, edamame and a plate of super, fresh sushi. I have to say, that I am really happier than someone should be when sitting on the floor of an airport.
21. Twenty one (of which 5 were children; 9 Singaporeans, 1 Japanese, 1 Danish, 1 English, 2 Irish, 1 American, 1 Pakistani, 5 Australian) people came to Thanksmas dinner. With me that was 22 people at dinner. I had a 7.1 kg (15.6 lb) turkey. No turkey is left. Luckily for me there is a small amount of stuffing left. And CRANBERRY SAUCE SHAPED LIKE A CAN. Everything else gone. The pumpkin pie made last night, gone. The pecan pie brought by K, gone. Mashed sweet potatoes, gone. Pea and asparagus casserole, gone. More bottles of wine and bottles of beer than anyone can imagine, gone. Pitcher of margaritas, gone. Two bottles of champagne, gone. Bread, gone. Twenty one people came to Thanksmas. It was loud, it was rowdy, it was FABULOUS. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Well, next year I would do it again. Thankful that I made enough stuffing that I have a bit of leftovers for tomorrow’s dinner. And yes, I did this entire dinner just for the stuffing. The stuffing is THAT GOOD. 21 people can say how good it is. I do love Thanksmas.
We are in the heart of the rainy season. That means that sometime between breakfast and lunch it starts to pour down rain. Rain so heavy, that even when walking with an umbrella you are soaked to the core in less than 5 minutes. The heavy rain is broken up by light rain or intermittent sprinkles. The breaks between the heavy and light are decreasing day by day. People are getting grumpier and grumpier as the daily amount of sunshine diminishes. When you live in a tropical paradise, you come to need a certain amount of sunshine.
Last night as I was getting on the train home from yoga, I was just about over it. One girl pushed in front of me to get through the ticket gate, another girl pushed several people to get on the train ahead of everyone else(the train was not that crowded and she was not in danger of missing the train, she was just rude).
After boarding the train I noticed the guy with the weirdly, spiked hair. It took two or three glances over my right shoulder to confirm that he did indeed have a red bath towel tied around his neck. We neared the next stop and the announcement for the station was made. A mocking, posh, Australian-accented, male repeated “Next stop Newton, next stop Newton.” This was soon followed by a mocking repeat of the warning to “mind the platform gap.” A few giggles were heard. Another glance over my shoulder confirmed that the voice was coming from the caped crusader. He stood with his feet spread and hands on his hips as he tried to keep his balance while the MRT swayed. He continued to repeat each announcement. And as the giggles grew, so did the volume of his voice.
After this super-hero brought much needed laughter to the train, he and his friends got off at my stop. He proceeded to take a stand next to the passing train, legs spread and hands on his hips, saluting the train cars as they passed by. Most exiting passengers were in hysterics. I can’t even imagine what the passengers on the train thought.
Thank goodness the crazy dude in the towel. We needed some fake superman laughter.
The clock radio went off at 6:55 this morning. CRAP. It was supposed to be my phone going off at 6:00.
Time to make a quick decision. Can I make it to the start line for the 10k by 8? Do I rollover and just go back to sleep? Because I had failed to do any training, I chose rollover.
The brain wouldn’t turn off. My biggest concern, how to explain missing the race to my colleagues that I would be seeing at a wedding around 12:30. So with the fear of having to explain not setting my alarm correctly, I decided instead that I would see if I could get ready in 30 minutes. A real challenge to eat and digest that quickly, but oh well.
At 7:29, I was in the lift on my way to find a taxi. It was a long wait, I was getting nervous. Ten minutes later I was finally on my way. Was I really crazy enough to go through with this? My training consisted of exactly 1 run after signing up for this thing. A run that was about 3 or 4 k. Then I did a lot of walking on holiday. Slooowwww walking. Last week I started yoga again. In fact I was still sore from the 90 minute hot yoga class I took on Saturday. Damn, I must be truly insane.
And then I started jogging. A steady, easy pace. I got a side stitch about 10 steps in. I tried to breath on every right step, then every left. Didn’t really work, but the pain lessened. So I kept jogging. A steady, easy pace. I kept passing the distance signs and I was still jogging. I thought for sure that by 3k, I’d be mostly walking. Then I hit the 5k mark. In 32 minutes. Wow. Not only was I jogging, but I was going a respectable pace. Then 6k. 7k.
I never saw the 8k sign, but it was about half way between 8 and 9k that I had to start walking more than just the water stops. I probably ran half, walked half of the last 2 k’s. I crossed the finish line at about 74 minutes. A fantastic time for no training. Thank you muscle memory. Thank you BB King for keeping a good running rhythm. Thank you tolerance for pain (side stitch never went away). Thank you insanity. What a great race. And I even made it to the wedding by 12:30.