Yesterday found us in Kamakura seeking that eccentric mix of surf/hiking culture and 1,000-year old Japanese history. Instead of my usual logical route incorporating the temples of Kita-Kamakura and the Great Buddha, I took a group of 15 runners through rugged trails to the north-east and east of town:
Kamakura lies at 35 degrees latitude and one imagines a temperate climate. But yesterday running through the forest trails it was very easy to imagine we were in the equatorial jungles of Southeast Asia
I had forgotten how scenic these forests can be on a sunny day. I had also forgotten how muddy these trails can be after a rainy day.
The mud slowed our running, but that was OK. The whole point of yesterday was the beach experience anyway, the run was just an excuse to travel down to Kamakura Beach.
Yes, some cynical locals my complain that Kamakura Beach is an urban wasteland with packs of enormous crows picking through garbage strewn sand. But for a brief period of the year which officials designate as "summer beach season", the beach is cleaned up, a remarkable city is constructed on the sand, and Kamakura Beach is just like Rio's Copacabana Beach without the crime and the volleyball. It is bizarre to witness how much resources the Japanese officials and corporate sponsors invest in this temporary beach-house metropolis -- especially taking into account that during the course of the typical beach season the whole beach city is blown apart several times by typhoons and needs to be rebuilt.
As you would expect, this little beach city provided us hot showers and lockers and a wonderful array of Thai and Okinawan beach cuisine. But what was surprising was the splendid entertainment provided: Thai fire dancing and exotic pole dancers. Yes, the pole-dancing was PG-rated entertainment, and not completely consistent with the squeaky clean, family image of our training club, but pole dancing has gone mainstream in recent years as a fitness regime, and several female teammates are taking it up for cross-training purposes to build core strength.
In addition to ogling scantily clad pole dancers, eating green curry on the sand, running in the jungle, and frolicking in the surf after a hot run, I managed to do something useful -- a one-hour swim with Mika and Keren. After my struggles at Lake Stevens Triathlon, I vow to train more in open-water.
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