Woke up, decent night's sleep, and got ready for a longer run. The rain appeared to have let up. I walked to the path by the river and initially ran north this time. It wasn't that cold, had a sweatshirt, rain jacket, and shorts and was fine. Ran a relatively fast first mile for a change and tried to maintain this pace. The path was wet, with periodic puddles to avoid, and I was very aware of traction, as my shoes would occasionally slip. Under a bridge, there was a little girl practicing the French horn, I guess she was there to get away from family and neighbors. Still, she looked out of place. Ran out a little over 2 miles and ran out of paved path, so I turned around and headed back the same way, then going past the starting point and running another mile plus south on the path. I was solid for the first 4 miles, fourth was my fastest, then my legs started feeling heavier. Last 2+ miles were slower but my pace didn't fall off the table like last time. I overran the entry point to the path and went up to the second bridge, where there were stairs up to the street. I ran from there back south to the next street to get 9ver 10k, then walked the rest of the way back to the Airbnb. Set a new PR for 10k, my fastest as an adult, I'm guessing, since I'm relatively new to this distance. Legs felt tired at the end but no joint pain or aching muscles. And I avoided most of the rain, just some occasional light sprinkles.
Avg pace = 7:54/mi
Total distance = 6.29 mi
Elapsed running time = 49:43
Avg heartrate = 149 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 70
Had some breakfast and coffee when I got back, the took a shower and walked with Ann over to Corner Bakery, not super far from the grocery stores we've gone to. I took my umbrella, was glad of it when the rain picked up on the way over. We had hot drinks and croissants there, then walked back in cloudy but not rainy weather, stopping at the store to get stuff for tempura and breakfast. Then it was back to the Airbnb. We headed up to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, starting around 2:00. It was a crowded tourist shopping street on the way up to get there. Lots of orange structures on the temple grounds, including a pagoda. We paid an entrance fee and walked further into the compound, including in the Hondo, or main hall. Then we walked on a path up to the Seikanji Temple, passing by a nice vista of Kyoto city and a stand of giant bamboo. There is a stone on those temple grounds, the Kaname-ishi (Stone of God, or Keystone) that is said to grant your wish when you visit it. From there we walked back down the hill, stopping at another pagoda along the way. The streets were even more crowded on the way down. Was a nice little outing, lots to see on these grounds. And we didn't get rained on. We made tempura vegetables for dinner, using ingredients we had bought earlier at the store.
Several additional comments. I finished The Beginning Place. Not the best story. LeGuin writes well in her passages, but this book left a lot to be desired in coherence and believability. I decided to give this series of novels a pause and start The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen. This book is much better written, with a wry, dark sense of humor. It takes place in the mid-70s, with the fall of South Vietnam and subsequent refugee life as it's backdrop. The voice in the novel is a double agent, nominally working for the CIA but reporting back to the North Vietnamese government. The story flows well and moves pretty quickly. Also, it's been a number of days since I felt any discomfort in my lower right back. Hoping that pain has gone away for good.
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