Goal!

I completed the 56 kilometers Cannonball Run over the mountains between Takarazuka and Sumaura-koen Station (that's me at the goal in the main pic) and I shaved one hour and forty minutes off of last year's time. I was determined not to hit the Alps in the dark like my friends and I did last year. It's pretty scary in the dark. The Alps are the white rocky mountains in the extras. As you can see, I got over them in the daylight.

It was a terrific run; fantastic scenery as you can also see in the extras. The only downside was that, just like last year, my sugar levels dropped really low about half an hour before the end of the run and there are lots of uneven stone steps going down to Sumaura-koen Station and in the dark, feeling weak and dizzy, it terrifies me. Last year I ran with friends who were great, they gave me their arms and helped me down all those steps. This year I ran by myself so I had to negotiate those steps alone. I went very, very slowly and thankfully made it down to the bottom without taking a tumble. (This photo was taken after I had drunk one can of Monster and two cans of sweet coffee. I recover quite quickly.) The cut off time to arrive at the goal is 7pm. I was twenty minutes late. Never mind, though, I made it, that's the important thing.

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out who is No.3 in my Sony Walkman Countdown - oh, the suspense! - but I had to show off about my success in the Cannonball Run today, didn't I?