Farewell and Hawaii

Our bedroom with Giraffity

The closing social was great this year.  It was fun visiting with everyone and the food was great.  The steak was very tender and the fruit plate was the best tasting fruit I have ever had.  The next morning, we had breakfast at home.  Adam asked if he could say a prayer before we ate.  Eddie was fine with that and Adam said it in Japanese.  After he was done, Eddie asked Adam to say it in English also.  So, we had two prayers for breakfast.  We said our goodbyes at the town hall and got on the bus to Nagoya.  The school children were mostly crying and had a hard time leaving.  They had some great experiences here.

The whole delegation and Ibigawa students

We stopped at a very nice hotel for a lunch buffet.  I've eaten so much food since the race.  At the buffet, the children were asking for a flavor of ice cream. The server would put on little scoop in a bowl and give it to them.  It was not an American size.  Then, I asked for three flavors and got three scoops.  The students were very jealous.  Then, Aaron came along and asked for all six flavors.

Saying Sayonara

From there, we visited a castle and another temple.  Then, we went to the airport.

The four St George Champions

Our flight landed in Hawaii at 10:00 am.  We had a 12 hour layover and took advantage of it.  We drove up to the North Shore.  Our first stop was Matsumoto's Grocery Store.  That is the first place that started Hawaiian Shave Ice.  We had ice cream in the bottom and condensed milk on the top.  It was perfect to refresh us after the flight.  Then, we body surfed at Waimua Bay for a long time.  We got slammed into the ocean floor a few times, but it was worth it.

Next, we went to the Kahuku Grill for hamburgers.  Bryant, the smallest of all of us had two very large burgers.  That was a great place to eat.  The Hawaii Temple was next on our list.  We wandered the grounds and toured the visitors center.  The lighting was good for some photos of the temple.  After a couple more stops at lookouts and Costco, we made it to the airport.

The flight was so tiring.  I did sleep a bit, but felt like I woke up every three minutes with a new sore spot and would have to adjust to get comfortable again.

The shave ice place.  I think it's the first one ever.  We got
there right before the crowds came.

Aaron having fun at a castle.  He was allowed to be on this
one.  The Japanese people nearby thought he was pretty
funny.

The castle in Nagoya

Enjoying our shave ice with ice cream and condensed milk.

At Waimea Bay for body surfing

The Cowboy Burger at Kahuku Grill.

Outside the Hawaii Temple

The sun starting to set behind the temple.

Host Family Day

Today was out Nascar with Eddie day.  We traveled great distances on narrow winding roads at bullet train speeds.  We started with a trip to Magome, a 400 year old town with shops and some great views.  The trouble for one of us is that the road we walked on is very steep.  Coming down was a real struggle for this unnamed brother that is taller than me, but shorter than Adam.  He is actually doing really well, but going downhill causes some meaningful discomfort.  Adam is doing really well other than a sore back.

From Magome, we went to a place to make Japanese cakes.  They were made with beans that were smashed up into a paste.  We rolled them into 20 pieces, then took some dough made with brown sugar.  We wrapped the dough around the bean balls, then they cooked them for us while we had a great lunch with all kinds of Japanese food.

Finally, we went to the paper museum and made some notecards and did some origami.  This is one of my favorite places here.  I don’t know what it is about paper, but it’s fascinating to me.

We are on the way home now to get ready for the banquet.  We are a bit late, so Eddie is driving like Jeff Gordon in the commercial that went across the Internet a while ago.  We will have five minutes to change, then we have to drive fast to the banquet place.

We made it with two minutes to spare to the country club for dinner.  It was very good.  They had more food than last year, so I left not hungry any more.  However, we still stopped by the mini mart for ice cream after.  I had one little problem at the dinner.  I went to the toilet and was very pleased with the fancy toilet with a heated seat.  When I was finished, I was looking for the flush handle and could not find it.  So, I started pushing buttons written in Japanese.  I had no luck with the first few, then when I pressed the blue one, some water started spraying out to clean whomever is sitting down.  However, I was not sitting, I was standing in front of it and got sprayed.  I quickly pressed the red button which stopped it.  Eventually, I found the handle on the side of the tank.  It was kind of hidden.  I quickly made it to my seat at the banquet then waited for my trousers to dry.  Nobody ever noticed.

Prior to the Race

The Startline

The Mayor with the Tall American

Our Family

Post Race

The Entire Delegation

The St George Marathoners

A Funny Sign in the Public Toilet

Race Day!

So many strange and unexpected feelings for the day!  I had been hoping for weeks that Adam and Aaron would be glad they had signed up for the race once it was all over.

The day began with a small breakfast (banana and cereal).  Eddie and Yoko were so wonderful helping get us organized.  Eddie brought a hard suitcase for us to put our soft bags and clothes in since it was raining so much.  We got to the race 2 1/2 hours early because they have us on the stage giving short speeches and a couple of interviews with the newspaper and television.  After that, we just relaxed and got ready.  Aaron filmed the calisthenics that the entire group does (see video).  Everybody was so kind to us helping us get what we needed and helping us know where to be.

Iain's Experience
I felt good with the warmup, but didn't really know what to expect since the St George Marathon was only 5 weeks ago.  The race started and I felt good.  The pace felt easy and I went out with the leaders.  After the first mile a couple of guys went out ahead.  I let them go because you have to be patient in a marathon.  So many people are not patient and come back to me after going out too hard.  As we went up the canyon, people running with me gradually faded away.  While running alone, I noticed the beauty of the canyon in the rain with low clouds and colorful trees.  At about 11 miles, I caught up to second place and he faded back quickly.  First place was too far ahead to see.  At the half marathon mark, I was told first place was 60 seconds ahead.  Shortly after, I saw him run around a corner.  I timed how long it took me to get to that spot and he was 45 seconds ahead, then 30, then 10.  When I caught him, I gave him words of encouragement, but he didn't understand me.  Maybe he thought I was trash talking him.  He also faded away quickly.  On the way down the canyon, I still felt good through mile 21.  Then, I caught up to the half marathoners and had to weave my way though dodging right and left.  When they started to thin out, I realized I was getting a bit tired in my legs and my abdomen was getting a side ache.  At mile 22, I was in trouble.  I was slowing down so much with pain and fatigue that I realized I would be caught soon.  I ended up walking while drinking and eating at one aid station after moving to 5th place.  I ran some more and walked again.  With 1.5 miles to go, I managed to run slowly the rest of the way in with many Japanese runners encouraging me.  So, in the final 4 miles I went from 1st to 19th and finished in 2:47.  I was not too disappointed though since I just wanted to try the marathon realizing ahead that I might not be ready for it.  So, I was prepared for anything that came my way (good or bad).  In the end, it was a good experience to learn from.  The main disappointment is that I thought I might win with how I felt 20 miles into it and would have won 60 kg of rice for my host family.  One of the best parts of the race was the elementary school children that would cheer on the side and wanted to slap our hands as we went by.  I did that all the time and felt a little energized as I left their cheering.  Now, I will recover and figure out the next thing that will excite me.

Aaron's Experience

While I know that I'll never even hold a candle to Iain's running ability, it sure was exciting getting to hang out with him and feel like I was one of the top athletes.  The Ibigawa delegation treated us like rock stars.  Eddy and Yoko were there looking out for our every needs.  When it was our turn to run the half marathon it was so exciting being at the head of five thousand runners.  The starting gun went off and our adventure up into the canyon started.  Adam and I loved the encouraging crowd.  All the kids and many of the adults had their hands out for high fives.  Their attention and excitement kept me from thinking about my aching, under-trained body.  The mountain path was beautiful and the rain didn't dampen our spirits.  Although my body is upset with me now, I'm glad that I had such a great opportunity to run in Ibigawa with my brothers.  What a great experience.

Adam's Experience

Such a tremendous experience to be in such a beautiful place with extremely caring host family and Ibigawa helpers. I got to run in Japan! The energy and excitement and joy evident with all the spectators and participants made for an emotional experience. I was encouraged at each intersection by children, teachers, parents, and grandparents braving the rain to cheer the runners on. Even the runners would look out for us. I've never run as long as a half marathon and I am glad to have done it so that I could be sore and feel good about accomplishing something difficult. I cannot say enough good about the care our host family did for us. They watched over all of our needs from taking our jackets from us at the starting line just before the race, to making sure we had food, to cheering us, joking with us to calm our nerves, and just being with us continually....we weren't alone. I count this experience as a blessing from Heavenly Father to know that all people on the earth are brothers and sisters. Thank you Iain and Adrienne for the opportunity to be here.

Touring the course

The view from our shower.  It's kind of strange as people
walk by.

The day started with a short run for me.  Adam and Aaron went for a walk.  When I got back, Eddie was leaving to go and look for Adam and Aaron on his scooter.  I think he did that with Adrienne last year.  By the time he got back, they were home.

The shower room is a little strange here.  It get's very steamed up, so they leave the windows open (see the picture of the view from the shower).

The tour of the marathon course was today.  There are some steep uphill sections, but they are mostly short. We gradually go up the canyon until halfway and come down close to the way we go up.  Aaron and Adam will do the half marathon together and just don't go up as far.  The photos on the bridge are where the half and full marathons separate.  If we all do what we are hoping, I should meet up with Adam and Aaron somewhere around 10k to go.  They start 40 minutes after I do.

After the tour of the course, we had lunch at a ski resort with the students that came  here.  The students write an essay to apply to come here with us.  There are about 50 applicants and 12 get accepted.  They only have to pay for half of the flight to Japan.  Everything else is covered by the St. George Marathon.

After lunch, we went to Tanigumi.  I went there with Adrienne in 2009.  It was a beautiful place with lots of shrines.  Eddie said some prayers for us to not be injured tomorrow.

The Iwama family brought us to a Korean bbq restaurant for dinner.  I ate very little because I don't want the Jon Kotter syndrome.  The food tasted so good, but I kept it safe with just a little beef and chicken.  The other options were: cow intestine, raw horse, cow tongue, and raw intestine.  Adam and Aaron tried much more than I did, but didn't feel like raw horse was something good for the body.  There was also wheat tea (muugicha).  It was awful!  I had one sip, then gave the rest to Adam.  When Adam was on his mission, he felt the same way the first time he had it, but came to love it and drank about half a gallon last night.

Lisa and Bryant.  We were not sure what this was for.  After
the photo, we learned it is for storing garbage.

One of the students that will come to St George next year.

Eddie being very dangerous if he was in
the bay area.  He loves anything American

Ann (Rosy's baby) enjoying some lunch.

The entire delegation

The St George and Japanese students.

A hill at the ski resort.  Eddie told Adam to run
up it, so he did.

Japan's version of American Chopper

Arrival Day

Race flags all over town and along the course

The mayor of Ibigawa.  Takao Sōmiya

After arriving in Ibigawa, we went to the town hall for the welcome meeting.  The mayor of Ibigawa and others spoke to us, then we met our families.  We are staying with Yoko and Eddie Iwama.  That is whom we stayed with last year.  They were able to come to the St George Marathon this year.  Eddie was even at the mile 7 mark and was in the Spectrum newspaper.  Breakfast was good, as always, at Yoko and Eddie's.  Yoko is a great cook.  We had some breads, juice, omelet, toast, and persimmons.  Eddie was the same funny character that he was when we were here last year.  When we say “Ohayo Gozaimasu”, he likes to say “Buenos Dias”.  I got out for a short run before breakfast.  The temperature felt great.  The signs are all out as the city gets ready for race day.

 After breakfast, we took a bus to Kyoto.  We started at Nijo Castle.  That was impressive.  We weren’t allowed to take photos inside.

Kent Perkins (the St George Marathon race director)
and our tour guide with hats traded

Lunch was amazing!  Adam was blown away by how good the food was.  I think he would have come on the trip just for that one meal.  Fortunately, we get to do a whole lot more.  I’m hoping we will all be happy after we finish the race.  I decided to try just about everything.  I even had some octopus.  Aaron like the smoked salmon, but struggled to swallow it.  He eventually got it down and did enjoy eating it.  We loved the ice cream.  The caramel and vanilla were really good.  The breaded pork (tonkatsu) was one of our favorites.  There was some really good curry too.  Everybody ate more food than they probably would have somewhere else.

My first go at the lunch buffet

After lunch, we went to Toji-Temple.  The insides of the buildings had some great statues, but we were not allowed to take photos there either.  We ended up at the Kyoto Tower.  We did some shopping there before heading back to Ibigawa.

Now, we are just about to have dinner.  Yoko is preparing some shrimp tempura among other things.

Adam enjoying the noodle soup.  The more you slurp,
the more appreciation you are showing.

Aaron is pretty good with chopsticks.
His favorite part of the lunch was the ice cream.
 He struggled using chopsticks with that.

The koi were huge.  This one had one white eye and one orange.

Bryant and Lisa Jensen at Toji Temple.  Bryant ran
for Weber State University as a 10k runner and has
done 12 marathons since graduating in 2009.  He set
the overall course record in St George this year.   Lisa
ran for BYU.  They got married 2 weeks before this
year's St George Marathon.

The boys at Nijo Castle

Our marathon group including the interpreters and guides.