Day 15 of Running the Length of Japan – Lake Toya to Oshamambe (58.14 km)

Day 15 of Running the Length of Japan – Lake Toya to Oshamambe (58.14 km)

Start of day 15. Walking uphill and I’ve got a dodgy belly. Fun times. [Music]

An early start to attempt a long run, in the end, we completed just over 58 km. The morning was a bit type-2 fun, where I was struggling with a rather grumpy stomach. Luckily, it settled after a couple of hours, and I could actually enjoy my day.

We had hoped to see more of the lake as we made our way uphill from Lake Toya, and the sea on the other side. Instead, we found ourselves mostly on fairly quiet roads, with trees on either side. The morning was hilly and involved a lot of pushing a Brompton. The ups and downs really hammered my shins.

We stopped for lunch at a convenience store next to a temple, which was full of squirrels. I’d wanted to watch the Hokkaido squirrels, and I could have spent the entire afternoon just watching them collecting nuts and making their way up and down the trees.

The afternoon was flat, but with tired legs, it was slow going, and we didn’t reach camp until 18.30. We ended up in a wonderful little park right now, and almost immediately we saw some tanuki, Japanese raccoon dogs, which was another wildlife experience for us.

It was 11 pm before I finished for the night, as I was still doing bits of data recovery. So I’ve ended up rather sore and tired. Still, there’s a little time left to rest up before a really big day tomorrow.