Fit-by-25 Fitness Plan and Finally Being Adopted

Many moons ago, former roomie and good friend Kate and I made a pact: we would get "fit" (by our own definitions) by the time we turned 25. Since her birthday is in January, I said our joint deadline could be my later July birthday. Which, by the way, is now less than 2 months away.

I made a whole scheme of how I was going to get fit, planning on active things I would be able to do in Tsushima, and creating detailed strength-training workout plans. Of course then I actually got to Tsushima, got slammed by the level of heat that makes you sweat even when lying prone and unmoving on the floor, and shelved all exercise intentions until a more accomodating climate came along. When fall came along, I got out a lot more to explore, and that has pretty much kept me moving and busy for 3 years. It's shocking how many hidden-away paths and parks and little scenic resting spots there are around here, and I love finding new ones.

I've flirted with running-- a 5K at the tail end of my first year and a 10K that fall-- and have hiked alot, too. I've fallen off, jumped back on, and again fallen off the strength-training bandwagon. But today I made a bigger commitment to the larger goal of Fit By 25.

I signed up for a half-marathon.

...which, to the unaware, is 13.1 miles, or something like 21 kilometers and change. It's a hellofa distance by any measuring system.

I've actually been training for the half-marathon since February-- quite tentatively at first, but still running. I hadn't completely made up my mind to do it until today, however, mostly because the race (part of the Kokkyo Marathon, probably Kamitsushima's biggest event all year) has a time limit: if you don't complete the half-marathon in 3 hours, then you get picked up by the Bus of Shame. The loser-bus. I so did not want to be on that bus.

...eventually I decided, though, that even if I end up getting picked up by the Bus of Shame, I will still have run for 3 hours, which is a major accomplishment. And given my current running times, if all goes well I should be able to finish on time. The longest I've run so far is 10 miles, which I completed this past Sunday in 2 hours and 3 minutes... not setting any records, certainly, but given the hilly/mountainous terrain around here, I think that's doing pretty good.

Running has helped me to de-stress a bit about my upcoming move (many sad farewells to come) and start of a graduate program this fall. It's also had some other effects.

I'd been wondering lately, during some of those morning fuzzy moments between sleep and full awareness in front of the bathroom mirror, if running was taking some of the weight off my butt. ~I~ think it's gotten a bit smaller. And I wouldn't mention this, really I wouldn't, if someone else hadn't mentioned the same thing earlier today.

By "someone else," I mean a naked obaachan (old woman) at the public bath. She knows that I've been running because everyone knows that I've been running (small town... it only takes a couple of days out running before everyone knows about it), and said that while it seems to have firmed up my bum, other areas of my body could use similar work. Of course she would have had a full opportunity for perusal of my body during my time in the bath, but this conversation happened in the changing room. I was covered in snuggly pjs, trying to fix my hair sans comb which got left at home, when this obaachan came out of the bath. She pinched my back and hip to ensure full understanding of what body parts she meant, then proceeded to walk-- slowly, one foot in front of the other, arms raised to engage shoulders, in a naked old woman runway-show parody-- down a line in the floor, commenting on how walking in that manner would firm up those troublesome areas in no time.

It was kind of funny, kind of cute, kind of.. well, distinctly bossy, I-know-what's-right-for-you-because-I-have-decades-of-experience, Japanese obaachan. (see my "Obaachan Manifesto" blog from way back when for more explanations of obaachan behavior). But perhaps more than all of that, it was endearing. She was so unabashedly unashamed and absolutely adorable. And she really did want to help.

I can only imagine what my mom is thinking reading this; from an America perspective, if a naked old woman who you don't know came up to you, pinched parts of your body, and asked you to walk behind her.. well, you'd think they were mentally deranged.

But within the Japanese small-town onsen context, I think it's kind of acceptable. And her efforts really touched me because it felt like I was finally a part of this crazy community-- here, she seemed to say, I'll help you get in shape because you're already trying so hard. Because you're one of us. Because you should be out there, swinging those hips as you walk and being horribly girlishly cute, not wrapped up in flannel plaid pajamas at 7 PM like us obaachans.

I've been adopted by these insane onsen obaachans, and I love it.

The Search for Fuji

Last week was "Golden Week," during which there are a bunch of national holidays. Typically I`d take days off from work to get the full week off and travel to different countries during this time-- India last year, a trip home the year before-- but this year, I wanted to stay in Tsushima. The weather usually gets gorgeous in early May, and I also wanted to attend the Hitotsubatago Festival, named after a local flowering shree (shrub/tree) which blossom white all over Waniura`s mountain-hills (the northernmost village in Tsushima). There`s a lot of comparison in Japanese poetry with cherry blossoms and snow-- the falling petals looking like snow, etc-- but the hitotsubatago flowers really blanket the hills like snow.

Unfortunately, the day before the festival was very windy. Preparations for the festival, including setting up tents and the main stage area, couldn`t be completed, so the festival was cancelled.

Still, many of the days off were nice weather, so I went out exploring the now-flower-laden island. The main goal of my flower-searching expeditions was to find some fuji, or wisteria. Although it`s apparently common and even considered an invasive plant in the mid-to-southern eastern seaboard states, I`d never seen wisteria before. And, unlike many spring flowers-- cherry blossoms, hitotsubatago, azaleas, and hydragneas-- there is no one spot on Tsushima where you can find fuji in abundance. So I followed a lead from one of my tea ladies that there was some being cultivated in the southern river-park and looked for wild wisteria along the way.

I was wildly more successful than anticipated. Here`s some wild wisteria from around Nita; the vine climbed other plants and bloomed on top of them.

Looking south from a look-out tower; my fuji expedition led me beyond the new flooded rice-fields, looking like a small pond in this picture.

Here are some azaleas seen en-route, or tsutsuji in Japanese. Tsushima has its own variety of azealea called genzai tsutsuji, which bloom earlier in the spring. This is just a regular variety.

Looking down at the river part of the park; check out the Japanese people walking down below to get a sense of scale.

Here`s the promised stand of fuji!!

Up close, the flowers didn`t look like what I had imagined.

I loved how they hung over the framework.

The best find of the day, though, happened on the way back north. Just before the long Izuhara tunnel, on the left there was a mini-valley just festooned with fuji. It was breath-taking and wonderful, but I was in the middle of traffic and couldn`t stop to take a picture.

Also on the way back north, I --finally-- got a decent pictures of a `tombie,` or the particular type of kite-bird found around the island like seagulls in New England. They look regal but are really the stupidest bird I`ve ever seen.

On a different day, I went on a fuji-walk closer to home. I extended my favorite loop-walk to include a semi-abandoned (but occasionally mowed) monument-park tucked away in Nishidomari, the next village over. I hadn`t been there in over a year but remembered seeing a latticework trellis like the one at the southern river-park. Here`s a photo-montage from the whole walk--

"Koi-nobori," the giant fish flag/kites hung out on strings in late April and early May. They`re for kodomo-no-hi ("Children`s Day" but in practice "Boys` Day") on May 5th, or 5/5. Families hang them out if they have a son who is turning 5 years old. (Girls get their own day on March 3, or 3/3).

A close-up of the koi-nobori:

Someone`s potted fuji climbing up a nearby electric pole.

Hitotsubatago flowers! ...there are many planted around Kamitsushima.

This is such a typical Kamitsushima scene. Well, a typical Tsushima scene: fishing boat. ocean. mountains.

Here`s the semi-abandoned/mowed-twice-a-year momument-park sign.

...and the monument with the ode/poetry to the Showa Emperor. Hitotsubatago flowers behind.

I was correct in thinking that the trellis-ed plant was fuji, and it was in full bloom! ...definetely a different variety than the plant in the southern river-park, though; the blossoms were multi-layered, almost rose-like.

Gorgeous, gorgeous. Amazing scent, too, much stronger than the other variety.

(note the picnic table in the background ^^)

Underneath the `canopy` of flowers and foliage, the fuji had a serious system of branches. The main vine up to the trellis was pretty tough-looking, too.

Some more hitotsubatago on the way out--

Continuing up the big hill to Kami-so, a large ryokan-type hotel place (sans onsen, sadly), there`s a cute little hidden-away path around the coast to the Nishidomari beach. One of my favorite coastal walkways in Tsushima.

...and continuing up the road from Nishidomari to the Muida Beach area, there`s a lot of tropical-style plant life.

...with red soil which the residents say produces the best local produce. There are strata-ed vegetable gardens along this strip of coast.

...like this...

Interesting bird life in spring, too. This bird has a white body and an orange head!

I love the color of red earth, but this patchy, dried grass along the side of the road always reminds me of Cousin It.

Cousin It and family.

...and, finally, passing the Russian monuments and getting to the Muida Beach over-look area. Just gorgeous.

I tried to take a picture from behind my sunglasses to reduce the glare and get a better blue-green water tone... didn`t quite work, but it kind of made this picture look like a faded old photograph.

I love the architecture of these houses-for-rent near the beach. The white walls with dark beams make me think of pictures I`ve seen of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Oh, and I`m loving the new green leaves, too. Not all deciduous trees in Tsushima drop their leaves in winter, so it`s fun to look out at the mountainsides in spring, which now have patterns of new green, old green, evergreen, and some plants that can`t make up their minds.

One of the local neighborhood shrines with some fresh green leaves.

This petal-dropped flower on the turn onto my road made me think of a court jester`s hat.