Bed-rest and a 10k: My kind of low-key weekend

So on Friday, I decided to go for a short run around the island near my house after work. The highlight was when I decided to cut through what I thought was an empty baseball field and discovered the ball pit full local homeless men. I sort of jumped when I saw them, but I think we were all in shock as well. They waved, I waved back and I kept going on my merry way (at a faster pace and not looking back until I was past the fields!). The rest of the run was pretty normal, but that definitely threw me.

I was a little worried after the run because my knee was bothering me again. I am sick right now, too, so I took Saturday off (and basically stayed in bed all day), but I am really happy to say that I was completely fine for the Harimacho 10k ‘Road Race’ on Sunday! There was some confusion about where to be and when on Sunday morning (I got up at 6am and proceeded to punch different things into my electronic dictionary to see if it would spit out the kanji for ‘registration’ and I could find it on the schedule!), but everything worked out fine. The race was not huge. The people at the registration booth were definitely expecting me when I arrived, which I think is due to the fact that I was one of three foreigners in the race (Tam & Clayton did the 5k) so they figured I must be one of the names in Katakana (the alphabet for foreign words). There was even more confusion abound when I had to fill out a detailed health form (also in kanji), but I had them read the questions and could pretty much explain through words and limited vocabulary what I needed to. Some nerves sprung up as I watched the high school track athletes and serious runners preparing for my race, and as it turned out, they truly were serious runners (OMG they were fast), but I finished without being tired (unfortunately going faster than the desired pace because everyone else was so speedy).
The race was exciting, but I quite honestly spent most of the rest of the weekend in bed. I have been pretty sick; catching whatever it is that one of my teachers (and probably half of the students have). I went to Kobe for Korean food with Jane, Jen, Rob, Shag and Kelly on Friday, but I tried to ditch early about 5 times. We went to the Hub, an expat bar near the station, for a nightcap before retiring for the night, and I almost gagged with all the smoke. I don't know if it is all the running or the illness (or both!), but my system just wasn't having it and I wasn't a very happy camper. Good company, but too much for my bod.
I rented movies and spent Saturday in bed. I ended up watching Kiki's Delivery Service, an animated movie about a young witch. I have been really into Studio Ghibli lately. Kiki was one of their movies, but it is also the production company that put together The Moving Castle and Spirited Away, which you might have heard of via the Oscars. Anyways, the animation is absolutely superb and the storylines are really fascinating. Most have an ecological theme of some sort, and a lot of them mingle with the supernatural. It's like a very, very modern version of Ferngully, but more PC and for adults, I guess. Anyways, this studio also has an agreement with Disney, so they have gotten some pretty huge (American) stars to do the voice-overs for the English versions. I have been trying to watch the movies in Japanese, with English subtitles, but it is interesting, none-the-less.
I also rented AI: Artificial Intelligence, which I hated through most of the movie, but got through and learned to appreciate once I saw the end. A lot of my students really love the film, so I followed their recommendation, but I can see how it might have been too progressive for people to recognize it as equally valuable as the rest of Speilbergs' pictures.
Anyways, the run was fun, but it was nice to spend most of the weekend - or at least one night - in. I really do feel a bit better and definately more relaxed!