I had always wanted to climb to the top of Mt. Annupuri. From its 1309 metre summit you look west and you can see the dark hulk of the Shakotan Peninsula shouldering its way out into the Sea of Japan; to the south and east you can see the great sweep of southern Hokkaido encircling Funka Bay; whilst to the north the serrated ridges of the mountains give way to the broad expanse of the Ishikari plain.
Well, last Sunday, I finally got to fulfill my ambition.
Twice.
The occasion was the annual trail run race in Niseko organized by NAC with whom we went rafting earlier in the summer. I used to take part in their runs and adventure races quite regularly back in the day when I was the bear-chasing, deer-skinning, squirrel-eating man, but lately.... ahh lately I have been to much of the surf brah and lost touch with my inner Grizzly Adams.
30 kilometres. Yes, dear reader, 30 shagging kilo-feckin-meters. That was what I signed up for. Middle-aged madness I hear you cry. Too bloody right is how I reply.
Somewhere about the oh, I don't know, the 3km mark maybe, I was already thinking "What the good f*** was I thinking?!!"
We started at 8.00am at the 400 wooded hilly metres above sea-level mark, then panted our way up to 1200 metres, headed back downhill to 350 metres and then back up to top out at Annupuri's 1309 metre summit. And that, as the NAC man waiting there gleefully told us, was only the half way point.
Above vultures wheeled and screeched in the featureless braised blue sky. They looked hungry.
My watch said 11:03 - already three hours gone. And then my watch fell off.
Down, I thought, at least it's all downhill from here on in.
And, as it turned out, uphill, across hill, down stream, through stream, up-down-up-down muddy trails, for what seemed a forested eternity.
By the end of it (me?), my thigh muscles were cramped so tightly you could have put a bow to them and played Barber's Adagio for Strings.
I staggered, teetered and moaned my way across the finish line like a blinded bear off his head on methylated spirits some five and half hours after I had first set off. To put that in perspective, the fleet footed freak first past the post, sorry, the winner, came home in three hours fifteen minutes.
Freak.
Mind you the last person back took eight hours so I didn't feel too bad. Actually, I did. I felt like shit. And, as you can see from the following photos and videos, I looked it too.
Before and ....
.... After
Yes, I ran up that.
Not content with the immediate dangers of falling, dehydration, exhaustion, bear attack, rabid squirrels, etc., the organizers also routed the course close to Hokkaido's only nuclear power station. Ahhh, deep breath and inhale those cesium isotopes...
Some videos - those of you who suffer from motion sickness may be better off not watching.
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