Kyoto Marathon | (2 days before the race) | The Arrival

Excited about my upcoming marathon in Japan I board the plane for Narita. This is going to be my fifth marathon in Japan after Tokyo, Kawaguchiko, Nagano, and Osaka and 47th marathon overall. Not including the DNF at Mt Fuji race. I muse over the fact that I've now run more marathons in Japan than most people run marathons at all.

Kind of second guessing myself with the NRT-ITM connection though. In hindsight, probably should have done a Shinkansen but then again getting to it would take time and the layover was pretty short. The downside, of course, is that you have to get from Osaka to Kyoto anyway whereas a Shinkansen would get me straight to the Kyoto station. What done is done. 

Arrive at Narita. The ITM flight is of course delayed. Same as last time we flew for the Osaka marathon. Google maps stress me out as there appear to be only 2-3 airport limousine buses left that would get me to Kyoto Hotel Okura. Finally, arrive in Osaka.

Sidebar, how cool is an airport limousine bus? These things operate with an astounding efficiency that far surpasses anything available in the US. Then again, public transport is not exactly a US thing.

I rush to get a bus ticket. I point on my phone to hotel Okura to the ticket lady. That used to work very well in Tokyo as I would usually be able to get airport limousine bus that would drop me off right at the hotel. Here I only get a ticket to Kyoto. A little confused, I shrug and march on to the bus stop. As it turns out, the buses to my hotel run every 40 minutes or so, but the same line leaves for Kyoto every 20 minutes. I probably should have checked that.

https://www.okkbus.co.jp/en/timetable/K/#from

Anyway, getting from Kyoto Station to Hotel Kyoto Okura via subway turns out to be easy peasy, so no time lost. The hotel has an entrance right at the subway station as hotels in Japan often do. Check in goes smoothly. They have my reservation. I collect the breakfast tickets, which is a nice perk of booking the hotel through the marathon website and ride the elevator to the 9th floor. Even the elevator buttons in Japan are different.

I decide which breakfast option to take tomorrow. 7 am for Japanese or 6:30 am for western, I decide on the Japanese, knowing that I won't be able to do the Japanese option on the day of the marathon, as it would be too late.

Speaking of which I get kind of hungry. Decision time, should I go to the nearby 7-Eleven or order room service. I look at the menu. I check out the distance to nearest 7-Eleven. I pick up the phone. Assorted sandwiches, assorted fruits and sake later I get my meal. For some reason, the way I pronounce fruits does not go well over the phone but the room service lady and I reach an agreement after a couple tries. My sake order causes befuddlement. "Sake? Japanese sake?", the lady asks. I think something is being lost in translation here. Am I chastised for ordering alcohol so late into the night? That seems incredulous for a nation of covert alcoholics. Maybe one just not order sake from room service. We'll never know.

I free up some room to put the food and wait. The food arrives. With a freaking table. You know how most of the world delivers room service on a tray? Not so in Japan apparently. I get a whole, let me repeat, freaking table. Given the typical restrained size of hotel rooms in Japan, you'd imagine a small table perhaps. Nah. It is a whole full-size table. I watch in bemusement as the room service guy tries to navigate my belongings to get the table inside. Two small plates and a bottle of sake stare longingly at me from the middle of it. I ask, "What should I do with the table after I'm done?" I end leaving it inside blocking the entryway.

After 24 hours total trip time, I hit the sack as my origin time is approaching 8am. Tomorrow, runner's check in!