City-Bay fun run Adelaide, South Australia

Should I feel pleased? I guess I should. After being unable to train properly since February I lined up in a 12km run in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Long ago, I marked this race as one I wanted to do well in - and had a time of no more than 45 minutes in mind.

But poor health meant virtually no training for 7 months. I was 5kg overweight, got drunk 2 nights before and walked all day the day before. I should have had an awful run.

I went through 1km in 3.30; 2km in 7.10; 3km in 10.45. Then crumbled. But I kind of held it together for a 48.56 (12km). Which I just found out is a PB - beating the time I ran when I was 25 years old by 2 seconds!

Two small rants

I try not to bang on about negative stuff, but I'm in a negative mood lately, coz I can't run.

So here goes with two things that bugged me today.

I went to a college fashion show today. I thought I might spot a future talent - always good in my field to keep your finger on the pulse. But I saw nothing.

All the clothes looked like they had come out of a manga comic, and the seats were set so far back from the stage (I was front row, but still 25m away!) that I couldn't see if what I was looking at was well made or not.

But then the prizes were awarded and I was stunned to learn that nothing had been made by individuals. It was all teams! No wonder the standard was so poor - this was fashion design by committee. No room for individual expression, no chance of stunning people with your special effort - just middle of the road, cartoon-inspired rubbish. Stupid system.

Second rant, Miyuki Hatoyama. Not cute. Not sensible. Not "a breath of fresh air". Just plain wacky - which is not good for a first lady or Japan. The international press are saying Ms. Hatoyama is breaking the mold of meek Japanese women who stand behind their men, but the same system that produces meek produces immature fruitcakes. The nation's first lady has a lot of growing up to do, I hope she does it quickly.

Not running again

Well, this year my big aim was to win my age group in the City-Bay fun run in Adelaide in mid-September. I even got myself a special race bib. But that fast run is now officially not going to happen. My up and down health since the marathon in February has taken another dive, resulting in me being house- and bedridden for the past two days. The doctors say I have nothing wrong with me (gotta love the Japanese health system).

The good news is I got appointments with two excellent doctors in Australia. So with any luck I might finally find out what's up, so I can get on with getting better.

I'm really missing running, and being able to eat whatever I want.