hamamatsu

We went to Hamamatsu city on the weekend to see C. run in her very first 5K. After work on Saturday, I. and I hopped on the bullet train down to Shizuoka prefecture and were picked up at Hamamatsu station by C. and Mom.
C. had booked us into the Grand Hotel, which is pretty imposing. Ugly on the outside, but pretty nice on the inside, with all the bells and whistles. After checking in, we dropped off our bags and headed back downtown to check out the Indonesian restaurant they had peeped before we arrived, Surabaya. Good food, including tempe! and other yummy veggie things. The staff was pretty accommodating about making stuff veg, too.
The next day we went to the marathon area, a few stops from the center of town and then a bit of a walk from the station. Hundreds of people were present, milling around and getting ready to run in various incarnations of the race - a kid 3k, a 5k, a 10k, and a 10 mile run were all options for the participants.
C. ran in the 5k, and paced herself like a pro, going slow and steady. There were several crazily dressed runners, food booths, and dancers cavorting around to keep us busy while she was on the non-visible part of the course, though we stationed ourselves along the way to give her a hearty "GAMBARU!!" as she passed. She clocked in about 30 minutes later, beating her personal best and emerging victorious! Yay Cassass!

She and mom have been wearing pedometers and counting their steps over at WalkerTracker, and I have been inspired by them and jumped on the bandwagon. Called manpokei (万歩計）in Japanese, or "measuring 10,000 steps", the few people who have seen it clipped to my sock or my belt have felt it necessary to tell me that manpokei are for ojiisan. Lucky for me, I don't mind being compared to a grandpa. I am, after all, getting pretty old.