Running around Japan

I spent the last two weeks of May on holiday in Japan. Japan is somewhere my husband and I have always wanted to visit and this year we decided to take the plunge and go for it. We had a fantastic time and really fell in love with the country. We also managed to squeeze some running in, starting with a guided running tour of Tokyo for our first full day, aiming to shake off the jet lag and get a sense for this amazing city.

A quick google led us to the Tokyo Great Running Tours. The cycling tours arm of the company was well-established and had positive reviews on TripAdvisor, but the running section seemed to be new and as such we couldn't find much information about it.

The tour covered some of the main sites of Tokyo, including the Fish Market, the Kabuki Theatre and the Imperial Palace. Jogging through the middle of the enormous working fish market was quite surreal but nobody seemed to notice or mind! The pace was pretty tough for me -  definitely faster than I expected and it was also pretty warm, but the frequent stops to look at things meant that it was kind of like a 12km interval session, so once I decided to treat it like that rather than as a continuous run it was much more manageable.

Our guide was excellent - she worked in a bank during the week but led tours at the weekend and she was clearly doing it because she loved running. It made Neil and I wonder whether we could do something similar in Cambridge...

Tokyo initially seems like a very busy city that might not be great for running, but actually, running with a local meant we could head straight to the popular spots. We ran along the river and were
treated to lovely city views (and a photo stop gave me chance to recover!). One benefit of the
flexibility of running combined with being in a small group - just us and a Danish couple - was that
we could turn down any side street that looked interesting, or decide to stop off and look at a local
temple.

We eventually ended up at the Imperial Palace. You're not allowed to run in the grounds, but there is a path around the outside which is 5K long - you can guess where all the runners go! It reminded me a little bit of Central Park, with the leafy park area surrounded by sky scrapers.

All in all it was a great way to start our trip. We didn't actually end up doing much more running when we were in Japan, mainly because we spent our days walking round so much that our legs and 

feet were exhausted by the evening! We also hiked up a mountain and followed countless trails.

The Japanese are also big fans of the "sweat rag" which is basically a flannel specifically for mopping your brow. Check out my Hello Kitty version (much needed....)!

In lots of ways Japan is a runners' paradise - plenty of healthy food, beautiful scenery and natural hot springs. We particularly enjoyed treating our tired feet to the hot spring foot bath at an open air art gallery!

It you have ever felt like you might want to go to Japan then do so - you won't regret it.