On Sunday (11/29), almost every Fulbrighter participated in the Kyoto Shimin Ekiden. Basically, we ran in relay marathon with 3 teams of 4. We didn't actually have enough Fulbrighters so we had 2 people (Marisa, who is a JET right now, and Taka, Reed and Rebbecca's Japanese friend from Kyodai) fill in for us. Everyone ran a different distance (3 km, 4.5km, or 7.5 km) but Reed and I ran the last and longest leg. Oh, and we decided that it would be best if all the teams ran together regardless of speed, so we stayed together.
Overall, it was a great experience (besides waking up super early). The organizers were really excited that we were participating because it made it an "international" event, haha. We were referred to as the exchange student teams the entire time and we even got to meet the major of Kyoto! He chatted with us a little even though it was pretty obvious that it was slightly awkward and that he had no idea what to say to us. I almost got to shake his hand too! Sadly, just as I stuck my hand out, he pulled away at the last second. Shot down, sad, but everyone else had a good laugh at it.
Even though we came in last place, I am proud of how we did. Most of us (Except maybe Tori) are not runners and seriously, Japanese who participate in ekidens are hardcore. We were getting smoked by little kids (some younger not even in middle school) and old men and women in the 60s. It was a little embarrassing running the last leg because they had to wait for us to finish (Reed and I apologized when we passed workers), but it was still a great experience. Reed, for all of his talk about how worried he was, is in great shape, barely breaking a sweat after our run.
We were all exhausted after the ekiden so we didn't do that much afterward. We did, however, splurge and eat delicious parfaits. Too many pictures to post right now but I will be sure to make a note of it when I finally do get around to posting the, probably on facebook.
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