Kyoto = my favorite place in Japan, so far

I finished the 5k on Wednesday night...and somehow, I've arrived at Sunday morning.
Given one adjective to describe the intervening time between these events, I'd choose nonstop.
Yesterday, however, ranks in the top three for Most Brutally Exhausting days of life.

Quick recap of why that is: Two nights ago, I propelled directly into bed at 3:00am, dazedly responded to the 9:00am wake-up call, hobbled out to meet Mom, Dad, Anjanette, and Lindsay down in the lobby of the hotel, and then set forth on the great, 8+ hour adventure of exploring Kyoto.

However, in the end, Kyoto gave me great happiness for several reasons:
1) GREEN, living things manage to exist in and around the buildings
2) Along the river, there was a running path. Due to the fact that I was on Day 2 of no running, I didn't experience it; however, it seems to be the best available running option in the entire country.
3) The city didn't feel like New York City with Japanese road signs (which is kind of how I've come to view Osaka). Instead, it strongly reminded me of London, in the sense that its not too surprising to notice that a modern building with a Starbucks at its base is adjacent to a 700 year old temple. The combination of historical and modern pieces is much more interesting than endless rows of undeviatingly gray corporate headquarters/shopping mall type of buildings.
4) The abundance of free samples of food from vendors on the street leading up to the temples put Whole Foods to shame.

The trade-off for this good stuff was the walking and walking, through unremitting heat and humidity. Naturally, my parents were champs and had no problem whatsoever. I'll leave it at that, and at the fact I've rarely been so glad to see a tiny hotel bed in my life.

Plans for today revolve around food: coffee with Erin, lunch at Nike, dinner with my parents, great races tonight at the track - the M/Ws 1500m wheel chair final!! Plus the women's 5K. I will write about the races next time, mine and of what happens tonight. Oyasumi!!