(no subject)
So when I first got here, I was really into the idea of joining one of the clubs here. Well, that is, until I took a look at the club list. There was no "Lazy People's Guild" or "Food for Fatties" or "Sitting Circle", so I gave up searching for a club of like minded people. But then about two weeks ago was the school festival. The main thing with the school festival is that all the clubs make food and sell it along the main street of the college. And by sell, I mean jump out at you and go "HEY HOW ABOUT YOU FUCKING EAT A GOD DAMNED HOT DOG TAKE IT ONLY 150 YEN COME ON!!!!!! ^__^!!" and if you're anything like me you feel pretty uncomfortable. They also had some stages with music and like some "Miss Nanzan" contest and other silly stuff. But the point of this story is, I was leaving with my friend Michael when someone jumped out at us and was like "HOW ABOUT WAFFLES HUH HUH HUHUHUH??? YOU LOVE WAFFLES" and secretly, I do love waffles, but I had trained myself to toss these people aside, so I did as such and kept walking. After about 100 feet or so, Michael turns to me and is like "Actually, I really do want a waffle" and I was like "Yeah, so do I", so we go back to pick up waffles and I'm like "So what do you guys do?" and it turns out they're track and field. Oh cool, I casually ask if they left foreign excha..YESOHMYGOD DOYOUWANTTOJOIN??? Uhh...Yeah, sounds good, I haven't been running in a while, I want to join some team, sounds good, so they ask what I want to do, and I tell them probably long distance (not even knowing all the things that are in a track team) and the girl I'm talking to is like OMG THAT'S WHAT I DO I AM PRACTICING RIGHT AFTER I'M DONE SELLING WAFFLES!! and I was like Oh...cool, Michael seemed into it too, so we got some phone e-mails and stuff and went home as soon to by members of the track team.
So a couple of days later I get an e-mail that gives me the times, 4 days a week, Tue, Wed, Fri, and Sat. I think I can do that. And so I send an e-mail back saying I'll go in on Tuesday. So Michael and I go, and there's a pretty warm welcome, and the people who are talking to us kind of treat us, I guess like real people. It's not like this "So have you adjusted to Japanese lifestyle? Where are you from? How long are you in Japan? How long have you been in Japan? Why do you have interest in Japan?" etc. etc. So it's a pretty nice feeling. Then practice starts. We do a warm up lap and stretch. Cool, cool. So then we do some warm up laps before the 10km. I'm going around with Michael and the captain (Hiroshi) and we do about 9. I'm like, huh, I wonder how long these are. So they ask us if we're fine in the back. I'm like, we'll end up there anyway, sure, why not? So we start and the majority of the people are off like a rocket. There's the girl who sold me the waffle, Michael, and I, who are chilling in the back. We're going at kind of a slow pace, but I think this girl probably does this all the time and knows what she's doing. So we're going. And going...and going...and I'm like daaamn...we have to have gone for a while huh...pant pant...we've got to be...halfway done right...and I start to slow down...and I'm practically just jogging at this point. So this girl who isn't in the race comes over and is like "You doing ok there champ?" and I'm like "Yeah...it's been a while..." "Oh, well, just relax, don't push yourself to the point of injury" "Yeah, you're right" So she just talks to me through a few laps, and I think, man, how embarassing is this. Turns out she was a short distance sprinter, but certainly better at long distance than me, for sure. I quit early, and go over to see that I only actually did about half. Oh god. I can't believe I only did half. What the fuck. I figured I was so much further. Fuck. So I just stood around for a while, and just waited in embarassment. Finally they ended, and Michael comes over and I'm like, you fucking finished, you asshole. Why couldn't you be a screw up like me? So they're all good and happy, and then like, ok, cooldown. Cooldown? yeah, that means like 5 more laps, then, we're going to sprint the 100m, and jog back, and do that 3 more times, then we're going to do 3 more jogging laps. So I did it, I had enough rest after the 10km. Then some people were still doing more. Fuck. what the fuck. It turns out that one laps is half a km. Practice ended, we did our stretches, some chatting, and it turns out everyone's wicked cool. I told them I felt like I had nothing, and someone was like "Yeah, when I joined I was like holy fuck they are so fast, I'll never be able to do this, but you get used to it" After changing and whatnot, Michael and I grabbed a bite to eat and headed home exhausted. The next day it hurt to walk up stairs. But we had practice again...and I couldn't miss the second day of practice...so I went.
Day 2 I knew I wasn't going the 10 km. I told them I'd jog, but that was it. Turns out the captain was doing the same thing, great, we can...do it together...except you're much more intense than me...and will jog much faster...ugghghg...and further...and keep encouraging me to not stop despite the extreme pain. So I probably jogged, all together that day about 10 km, with rests inbetween and stuff. So I went home, and avoided every flight of stairs I could, as walking up or down them made me look like I was seriously retarded. In fact, the next day, just walking I looked retarded. I spent part of my day watching how people were walking to see if I could potentially mimic it, at a much slower rate of course. But this was impossible. I looked retarded all day long. Then came Friday, another practice...I told someone that there wasn't much chance of me going. I didn't look as retarded as I had, so that was good, but running was out of the question. Saturday, they said they wanted me there at 9:30. Hahah, that wasn't happening. So I skipped.
So yesterday I went again, and this time they were like "Yeah, we're going to run around the city...up and down all these hills...for 60 minutes, you in?" "Hellz yeah, let's hit this" I somehow finished the 60 minutes, and I'm back to the same state I was in last Wednesday, my legs hurt, but I've got practice in about 20 minutes. I'm off, hope this doesn't suck.
So a couple of days later I get an e-mail that gives me the times, 4 days a week, Tue, Wed, Fri, and Sat. I think I can do that. And so I send an e-mail back saying I'll go in on Tuesday. So Michael and I go, and there's a pretty warm welcome, and the people who are talking to us kind of treat us, I guess like real people. It's not like this "So have you adjusted to Japanese lifestyle? Where are you from? How long are you in Japan? How long have you been in Japan? Why do you have interest in Japan?" etc. etc. So it's a pretty nice feeling. Then practice starts. We do a warm up lap and stretch. Cool, cool. So then we do some warm up laps before the 10km. I'm going around with Michael and the captain (Hiroshi) and we do about 9. I'm like, huh, I wonder how long these are. So they ask us if we're fine in the back. I'm like, we'll end up there anyway, sure, why not? So we start and the majority of the people are off like a rocket. There's the girl who sold me the waffle, Michael, and I, who are chilling in the back. We're going at kind of a slow pace, but I think this girl probably does this all the time and knows what she's doing. So we're going. And going...and going...and I'm like daaamn...we have to have gone for a while huh...pant pant...we've got to be...halfway done right...and I start to slow down...and I'm practically just jogging at this point. So this girl who isn't in the race comes over and is like "You doing ok there champ?" and I'm like "Yeah...it's been a while..." "Oh, well, just relax, don't push yourself to the point of injury" "Yeah, you're right" So she just talks to me through a few laps, and I think, man, how embarassing is this. Turns out she was a short distance sprinter, but certainly better at long distance than me, for sure. I quit early, and go over to see that I only actually did about half. Oh god. I can't believe I only did half. What the fuck. I figured I was so much further. Fuck. So I just stood around for a while, and just waited in embarassment. Finally they ended, and Michael comes over and I'm like, you fucking finished, you asshole. Why couldn't you be a screw up like me? So they're all good and happy, and then like, ok, cooldown. Cooldown? yeah, that means like 5 more laps, then, we're going to sprint the 100m, and jog back, and do that 3 more times, then we're going to do 3 more jogging laps. So I did it, I had enough rest after the 10km. Then some people were still doing more. Fuck. what the fuck. It turns out that one laps is half a km. Practice ended, we did our stretches, some chatting, and it turns out everyone's wicked cool. I told them I felt like I had nothing, and someone was like "Yeah, when I joined I was like holy fuck they are so fast, I'll never be able to do this, but you get used to it" After changing and whatnot, Michael and I grabbed a bite to eat and headed home exhausted. The next day it hurt to walk up stairs. But we had practice again...and I couldn't miss the second day of practice...so I went.
Day 2 I knew I wasn't going the 10 km. I told them I'd jog, but that was it. Turns out the captain was doing the same thing, great, we can...do it together...except you're much more intense than me...and will jog much faster...ugghghg...and further...and keep encouraging me to not stop despite the extreme pain. So I probably jogged, all together that day about 10 km, with rests inbetween and stuff. So I went home, and avoided every flight of stairs I could, as walking up or down them made me look like I was seriously retarded. In fact, the next day, just walking I looked retarded. I spent part of my day watching how people were walking to see if I could potentially mimic it, at a much slower rate of course. But this was impossible. I looked retarded all day long. Then came Friday, another practice...I told someone that there wasn't much chance of me going. I didn't look as retarded as I had, so that was good, but running was out of the question. Saturday, they said they wanted me there at 9:30. Hahah, that wasn't happening. So I skipped.
So yesterday I went again, and this time they were like "Yeah, we're going to run around the city...up and down all these hills...for 60 minutes, you in?" "Hellz yeah, let's hit this" I somehow finished the 60 minutes, and I'm back to the same state I was in last Wednesday, my legs hurt, but I've got practice in about 20 minutes. I'm off, hope this doesn't suck.