Running in Yokosuka is Probably the Best Medicine I Needed.

My little family have flown back home to Blighty and I made my way back to the ship in Yokosuka, as it was the other half of the ship's company's turn to take some well deserved RnR. As I was on the train back to the ship, my emotions of happiness from the time I was with my little family soon quickly disappeared. The closer I got to the ship, the more down I started to feel about the whole thing. I'm only half way through this trip and all I want to do is go home. 

Anyway, it happened I'm back on my ship and now I have to pull up my big man pants and get back on with it. So after I settled back in to some sort of normal routine on board, I put my running shoes back on and achieved some runs in and around the base, it's pretty flat and simple loop. The base here is massive and is roughly about 5 miles around. The views and nice across the water out in to Tokyo Bay. 

The second biggest Buddha in the world after a nice plod along the Kamarkura Trails

The weather has been a solid hot (is that even a thing? solid hot?) since I've been back, with temps anywhere between 30-40 odd degrees. This has made the runs very hard work indeed. However the runs are helping me with my thoughts of missing my family. Running has been keeping me sane now for a fair few years, it just clears my thoughts of any negativity I may having at that time. My mental health needs my running for sure. 

At the top of Mt Ogusu

To be honest, I've not really been feeling myself within my running recently, I think it's because being away I've not really had a goal to aim for. No races, or anything this year is really sort of upset me. Not because I'm missing the competition side of things but it's more the having a goal, achieving a goal and mainly racing with my friends. I miss them all, the banter, the support, the conversations we have whilst getting through those long races and runs. I also miss the challenge, I like to push myself and that's not really happening. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my running in these wonderful places, so far I'm enjoying all that Japan has to offer. I just wish, there were races on during the times I am here or in the area I am in, and my friends were here to enjoy it with me. 

That's enough being miserable lol. I eventually adventured out of the base and into Yokosuka itself for a run. I planned a route to the nearest place to get some decent views. I found Mt Ogusu was not overly too far. It wasn't a massive climb but in the heat it will still be enough of a work out. It was an hour and half ish from the ship to the top, so was going to be a nice 3 hr round ish trip. 

The route was mainly road with some trail towards the end. It was a climb pretty straight from the start and I made my way along the pavements until eventually, I reached the trail section. It was a mix of dirt, steps and plenty of big bugs. I've never seen such big butterflies in my life until now! The noise from the bugs in the trees was making things had to concentrate. They make noise up to around 120db and it's constant, so I had to as some points put my earphones in to try and concentrate on everything else. I arrived at the main start of the climb to the top and was greeted with a lovely set of steps.

I made it to the top in the heat

The steps were a killer I can tell you. They were uneven, and very much like the SWCP man made steps, that just seem to go on for ever. Eventually I got to the top and was able to catch my breath again. There is an observation tower attached to a little cafe type shop at the top, however both was closed. Luckily like everywhere else in Japan there was a vending machine outside so I was able to get some nice cold drink. I took in the drink as I looked out where I could on the views. There were lots of trees about so sadly couldn't see much, and as the observation tower was locked I couldn't go up that either. 

Standard Selfie

Once I finished I made my way down the way I came, taking in the trails first before back on to the tarmac. I stopped off at a 7/11 shop to get an ice lolly, the only ice lolly as such was a candy flavoured blue one. It was nice but I had to eat it as quick as I could as it was melting faster than I could eat it. 

Well needed Candy flavoured Lolly for the return journey

I made my way back to the dockyard and the ship and that brought me to the end of that run. It felt tough in the heat but luckily I kept hydrated, I took two bottles filled with Tailwind's Green Tea, and also the drinks from the vending machine at the top of Mt Ogusu. 

Great views on the water front

As well as running around the dockyard and up the mountain. I adventured on to the streets taking in some of local sights along the waterfront. When turning left out of the dockyard and through a park type area you come to a Japanese Battleship. The run itself again was in near 40 degrees heat, which here in Japan they had recently declared a national disaster due to 65 people dying from the hot conditions. The route was easy and flat but the heat was a killer, with it being at lunch time as well meaning it was around the hottest point of the day. I got to the turning back around point, enjoyed the views took in some water and eventually made my way back to the ship. I had to stop at the 7/11 again this time to top my water bottle up as I had gone through it, and ended up necking a total of 1.5 litres of water by the end. 

Taking it all in for a bit before heading back

It was something I definitely needed these last couple of weeks, just to clear my mind and re fill it with positive thoughts. I also able to give my new shoes Saucony Kinvara 9's a run out at the same time. they were a bargain. They cost me $89 (£67.92) and I got a 25% (£16.98) on top of that off (£50.94 in total for brand model) so even more cheaper! They cost over double (£115) back home what I paid for them here. They're a great road shoe, still comfortable, still very light. I've had every Kinvara model to date, and each time I think they improve on before. The colour was a bit timid for me, but I'm not complaining because the price was practically a steal LOL. 

Saucony Kinvara 9's

In other news if you would like to subscribe to my youtube channel that would be great My Youtube channel <<<<< Please click on that link and subscribe. It would be nice to know others have enjoyed my videos, but it's a hobby for me and I'm enjoying making them even if no body watches them lol 

Here's some other links of mine here is my Instagram and my Twitter. For those on FB here is my page Facebook. 

Also here's a link to a friend's blog on her time in a Tri Camp, it's quite funny and defo worth a read. 10 Lessons I Learned from Triathlon Training Camp Les Stables , Sarah has some other brilliant articles on there, which you should read also. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

So what's next for me? Well more running around Japan, so until next time....



#GoTailwind #Tailwindtrailblazer

Green Tea is very popular here in Japan