Lake Kawaguchi 27K race

For Thanksgiving, we went up to a lake called Lake Yamanaka with a couple of other families for the holiday weekend. Sunday, 5 of us ran a race around Lake Kawaguchi. Three of my friends did a marathon and two of us (me and a friend) ran the 27k race around the lake. Yes, 27K is 16.7 miles--it seems long, but wasn't at all--I had a BLAST. I have run a lot of races and this was by far the most fun. As you can see from the picture above, the scenery was gorgeous. Lake Kawaguchi is one of the lakes around Mt. Fuji. We were lucky and had a clear day and some amazing views of Mt. Fuji. It was so awesome to run in such a beautiful place and take in all the amazing views. The other thing that was awesome were the costumes. Japanese people dress up in costumes to run races. I saw some of the craziest costumes and a lot of these people ran the whole marathon in their costumes. Crazy!! Overall, one of the best japanese experiences I have had here.

Picking up our race packets--we noticed they were practicing CPR--unfortunately they needed those skills--at mile 8 there was some guy that collapsed and they had to do CPR on him--not a good sign!

Another view of the lake--just gorgeous!

I passed these guys twice--they were some taiko drummers that were performing during the race--it was so cool to hear and watch them.

A woman (nope that is a man) running the marathon in his maid costume.

This guy also ran the marathon in his little tutu and don't get too close--those red panties were mesh and WAY see through--EWWWW!!

Another view of Mt. Fuji during the run and no that guy is fishing, not peeing, although I did see a LOT of men peeing on the side of the road during the race!

The chicken costume--you can't tell, but the head of the costume is like 2 feet tall.

Stitch costume and he ran the whole marathon with that huge head on--I don't know how these guys do it!

Like I said, there were TONS of costumes--it was so fun to run and watch all the people and see what they were wearing.

At the end of the race, instead of bagels and granola bars, you got a bowl of soup with a lot of things that I had no idea what they were!

Post-race picture with my friends, Jessica (middle) and Shari (right), who ran the marathon.

Like I said before, I had a blast--I am definitely looking forward to doing more races--hopefully a half marathon this spring (maybe I can get Eric to do it with me)! Back in June, when I started working out again after having Cade, I thought that running 5 miles was a lot. My friends talked me into doing this and I am so glad they did. I have really come to love distance running--I am slow, but enjoy the time to myself and really appreciate a husband that watches the kids in the mornings and Saturdays when I do my longer runs!!! Thanks honey!!