Woke up after a good night's sleep (<>). We ate breakfast, then I got ready to go out for a run. It was raining but not cold, so I wore my rain jacket and shorts. I walked over to the river trail and started running south along the river trail. I had to run carefully to avoid slipping and the puddles. Ran south for 2 miles before turning around and heading back the same way. I overshot my entry point and ended up running to the next set of stairs to get up to the sidewalk by the road. On that way back, there were unavoidable puddles, and my shoes and socks all of a sudden got really wet. Up until then, I was fairly comfortable, just a wet head to content with. Finished strong, my last mile was the fastest one, and my legs didn't feel tired at all at the end or during the day. My heartrate monitor worked this time.
Avg pace = 8:10/mi
Total distance = 4.36 mi
Elapsed running time = 35:39
Avg heartrate = 139 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 24
Had a hot shower after I got back, which felt really nice. Then Ann and I walked over to a coffee shop, COYOTE the roots, serving El Salvadorian coffee, which was excellent. We talked to the owner of the shop, who has two more places, including a roastery. He was in El Salvador learning how to improve coffee bean quality, then COVID hit and he had to return to Japan. He had a contract to brings in beans from El Salvador, so he scrambled to find a shop and set it up, had been going for 4 years total now. We talked about how Japan and the Japanese people reacted to the COVID pandemic, was a nice conversation (banana bread was very good too). On the way to this coffee shop, I read a text from Mark about Mom's decision to stop taking her meds and her increasing infirmity. It sounds like she is really giving up this time, which is very depressing. It was still lightly raining when we left the coffee shop, headed toward Nishiki Market. On the way, we stopped at a Daiso shop, and I bought readers and sunglasses for 100 yen each, along with a glasses case for another 300 yen. Such a deal! We walked along the shops on that main shopping street until the rain let up, then entered the Nishiki Market. Lots of food and some trinket shops. Ann had squid on a stick, and we each had a 100 yen sake. We walked to the end, then turned around and headed back to the pickled vegetable buffet, all you can eat for 45 minutes, with rice and pudding at the end. It was fun and an excellent choice for a relatively light but filling lunch. Back to the room to dry off (me) and chill out before heading back out in mid-afternoon for some sightseeing. On the way back, we picked up a couple of items to make pasta for dinner. We walked first to the Kenninji Temple grounds, which were larger than expected. Then we walked up the hill to see the Yasaka Pagoda and the Hokan-ji Temple. Continuing up the street past the pagoda, we saw more people in traditional Japanese dress, as this is a neighborhood where traditional Japanese living is much more common. This is the Yasaka Kamimachi neighborhood, lots of shops that are quite tourist-oriented. We turned and climbed further in this general area, on the Sennen-Zaka path, and it was crowded with tourists and some locals. At the top of the path, we turned around and headed back down and over by the Ryozen Kannon Temple, where there is a large statue of Kannon, a female Bodhisattva known for kindness towards living things. We walked a little further uphill and came to some kind of entrance, but it wasn't completely clear what we would be paying to enter, and I was getting tired. Decided to save it for another day and started heading back downhill. We saw the pagoda at Dai-un-in Temple and walked over to Yasaka Shrine, which is another fairly large grounds of religious activity. After this, I was done with sightseeing for the day, so we headed back to the room, had dinner and a quiet evening.
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