Nagano

Like always we returned from our China trip jumping right back into our busy life. The very next day Abby had her first day of the new school year. She is in the Nenshyo level which means she now gets to wear the formal school uniform. I couldn't be more excited that she gets to wear the adorable plaid skirt, white blouse, knee high socks, and button up jacket. She was placed in the Sumire (Violet) class. She seemed to enjoy herself and loves all her old and new class mates. I can't believe she has already completed a year of school at Daiichi and is starting the next level. Heres to hoping her Japanese really takes off this year!

This week also was the change in our squadron commander. Shaft and Christy have lead our squadron these past two years, and now it's time for them to move on. We are so sad because they were literally put in leadership weeks after our arrival to Misawa so they are all we have known, and boy did they set the bar high!!! They have been such wonderful leaders and have made our squadron gel together to form a family. We went to Shaft's fine flight where almost everyone in the squadron attended to show support and appreciation for him and all his hard work in being the squadron commander. Our new commander and his wife seem really nice, and as much as I am excited to get to know them, change is always hard. It really feels like the end of an era in the panthers. Now that they are leaving we are officially the oldies left, the last ones standing. It is just a matter of months now before we find out our next assignment and say good bye to Misawa and the Panthers as well.

The marathon finally arrived. Kyle has been training for this marathon for months now. We rented a van on base because it provides free toll passes, and we drove all the way down to Nagano which is just north east of Tokyo. It was an 8 hour or so drive, and we were all happy to arrive after being in the car all day. We first stopped by the event center where the participants got to pick up their packet and supplies before the race. Kyle was excited to see "his people" as he referred to the other runners. For some reason I was expecting for there to be more foreigners in the race, but we were one of the few that were not of Japanese nationality. After Kyle got his fix of runners excitement we left for our hotel which was about 45 minutes away.

Well, we thought it was going to be a hotel, but it turned out to be a tiny ski resort cabin type deal where we had a little room that was Japanese style A.K.A. you sleep on the floor on Japanese futons which are just thick blankets. The bathrooms and showers were communal and after much fiddling with the furnace we figured out how to turn on the heater as we wouldn't freeze. So we did not stay at a hotel, it was glorified camping and I was not impressed. After Kyle and I got a good laugh about the situation we laid out the Japanese futon blankets, and lined all three of our kids in a row on the blanket with us on the ends. It was like one big sleeping bag. I did not think the night was going to go well, but thankfully the kids were still tired from China and driving all day that they slept through the night. I on the other hand couldn't get any sleep because the hard floor. I guess that means I'm old when I have to have a soft bed to get some shut eye these days.

The following morning, the day of the race, we loaded up in the car bight and early and headed to the starting line to drop off Kyle. I was not about to shower in the nasty communal showers that looked like they had never been cleaned ever, and the kids were still groggy so we all climbed in the van in our jammies, and bed hair. For some reason my eyes started acting up and I couldn't get my contacts in. They became very sensitive to light and it felt as if something was in my eye scratching it. I tried to flush out my eye to see if it would help, but nothing seemed to relieve the pain. We dropped off Kyle and I just prayed that I would be able to open my eyes and see enough to drive and park the car towards the finish line. 

With much squinting and lots of blinking I was able to drive down the street where we parked at a local McDonalds that had a play area. I thought I could let the kids play around while I try to address my vision issue. Of course as soon as we walked in they told us the play area didn't open till 10 (standard Japan, ugh, so frustrating), so back to the van we went to hang out. I decided we should probably not look like slobs all day and changed the kids clothes, brushed their hair, and fed them some snacks while they watched a movie in the car. I tried to look as presentable as possible, but with no shower, and burning eyes that were watering constantly I had makeup all over my face. I ended up taking a baby wipe to my face and wiping myself clean. that was the closest thing to a shower I was getting. 

After several movies, and a walk down the street for some fresh air, the McDonald's play area finally opened up. We grabbed lunch and the kids got to work off all their excess energy. By the time we were done it was about time for us to head to the finish line to try to find Kyle. We had to park about 7 blocks away from the finish line and with three kids in tow we hiked to the Nagano olympic stadium where the finish line was. We looked for 30 minutes trying to find Kyle, or Babbo should I say, but nothing. I figure he must of already finished so we started walking among the dead tired runners laying in the grass trying to find him. It was almost like walking through a battle field after a battle cause bodies were laying everywhere like corpses. The nice part was Kyle was a lot taller than most of the Japanese runners, and he was one of the only white guys out there so it gave us an advantage, but it still was like trying to find Waldo in a maze! After 20 minutes of searching we finally found him. He surprisingly looked alive and well, not dead like everyone else around us. The kids were so excited to see him and even though he was about 18 minutes slower than the time he was shooting for, he seemed ok with his race. 

We originally were going to stay another night in Nagano so we could explore a bit and so Kyle could recover, but after last night of camping in a ski lodge we decided it was probably best for us to head back to Misawa then, even if that meant we wouldn't make it back till 2:00 in the morning., At least we would get some sleep in a comfy bed. I tried to drive the first little bit so Kyle could relax, eat, and drink but my burning eyes made it almost impossible to keep them open and to see though the tears. I felt bad but poor Kyle ended up having to drive all the way back home after just running a marathon when all he wanted to do was rest. Sorry love, at least se came down to support you! 

Once the kids finally fell asleep in the car we were able to talk about life, Air Force, and the fact that Kyle wants to sign up for ANOTHER marathon in August up in Sapporo. You would think after just finishing a marathon he would be done for a little bit, nope! He is determined to reach his goal time and is already thinking about his next race. Geeze.