Dokkodo: Lonesome Road of Running

About this time last year, I was heading to the eastern part of Australia after running across the Nullarbor Plain. Looking back those 163 days, the running trek across Australia was pretty long. Compered to it, 3 month trek here in New Zealand is very short. Saw a beautiful rainbow twice this morning. Something good surely happens on the day I see a rainbow in the morning. It’s true. In the Nullarbor Plain last year, Tenkyu Ping Pongs including Piapi my wife showed up all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere, which surprised me most. On the morning of that day I saw a rainbow. Today I ran through farming area where there were plenty of cows and sheep. Some pigs, horses too. Mostly flat with very few hill climbing. But the weather was not stable. Black clouds and gray sky and white clouds and blue sky came up one another. After leaving the town of Bulls, I saw a Yellow Toyota Hi-Ace which looks familiar. Howard and Jan whom I met at rest area near Taihape...

Final day of November, one month to go till the year of 2015. Vinesh, whom I first met in Auckland, is a photographer. This is the photo he took on that day. Left Taihape at 6:15, saying good by to Safari Motel where I spent 2 nights. Jenny the owner was kind enough to take good care of me in many ways. Has scattered shower several times on the way. Not warm enough, chilly winds blew down. And I had to climb so many hills today too. The grade was not so steep 6-8 percent. No matter how long it takes I can make it. Sheep an cows welcome wherever I go. No one says hello except them on the highway. At 3:30 I finished today’s run. Hunterville is the today’s goal. Wellington the final stop of North Island is drawing near. *Today’s Distance: 48.79km *Total Distance From Auckland: 549.43km * See More Photos

Taking a day off, late start at 6am. Climbing hills gradually damages my body as well as my legs. I was OK yesterday though. Probably 2-week-run is knocking me out little by little. Anyway I got to take good care of myself for running in South Island. Still a long way to go. Scattered showers in the morning. Weather is not stable yesterday and today. In addition, it’s pretty chilly between 4 and 15 degrees. It’s a climate of March in Osaka, Japan. South wind from Antarctic is so cold. I know here I am in Southern Hemisphere. Walking around downtown Taihape. It’s interesting to learn the culture walking around each town. Watching people, shops and stores… I can understand how local people live their lives. Looking around at Brown Sugar Cafe Sports. I asked the owner to take some photos so as to introduce outdoor culture in NZ to people in Japan. It was the first time for me to see cafe and sports shop. Although I have seen some cafes combined wi...

Left Waiouru at 7:30. Seems like it rained last night. Pretty chilly 7 degrees!! Altitude got down to 400 meters even though I had some up and downs. During a boring run, I have fun playing with sheep. “Here comes a wolf!” When I shout like that, I find it fun to see how sheep react. Most of the sheep get away from me all of a sudden but a few sheep ignore me. Funny how I know each sheep live its own life. At rest area just 4km before Taihape, Howard and Jan said hello to me and treated a cup of coffee and blueberry muffin. Both of them seem to like cycling and traveling so much that we enjoyed chatting for a while. About 1pm I finished today’s run at a motel in Taihape. I ran 500km in 2 weeks, which means I can run 1000km in one month. The owner Jenny asked me some questions about my travel. I was glad she would like to support me. She offered me a room which usually cost 80 dollar in 50 dollars. To make matters better, as soon as I checked...

Start my day at 4am. Had a weird dream…wonder why native Mexicans show up and I was still a teacher… Around 5, some tourist were there already eating breakfast. We were talking about our travel. Left the motel before 6. Start climbing!! My target was Road Summit of Desert Road(State Highway 1), 1074m. The grade of the hill was generally 6-8 percent. Shoulders were as wide as my buggy “VIENTO” but traffic was not that heavy. Feeling so high under the sunshine surrounded by clean air. Snow-capped Mt.Tongariro motivated me so much. Funny I shed tears the reason I didn’t know. To tell the truth, I first thought there was no desert in New Zealand but it was a lie. So the first time I heard the name of DESERT ROAD, I thought it was only a name. Watching the map, there were no towns, no stores, no accomodation. There were some rest areas but all they had was rubbish bin and picnic tables. Of course there were no cows, horses, goats and sheep. Had a desert s...

Woke up at 4am. Had a strange dream…I lost something important and I got lost somewhere along the way… Went to bed at 9pm last night but it was kind humid and warm enough… Left Taupo about 6am. Cloudy, kind of chilly. In the morning on week days, I often see school bus come and go. The drivers or kids in the bus cheers me waving their hands. This morning a cyclist John said hello while he was riding to his office. Chatting for just 5 minutes. He said, “I see lots of cyclist riding from abroad in NZ but for the first time I saw a cross-country runner like you!” Following State Highway 1 heading to the south. It was a scenic route along Lake Taupo, which reminded me of the scene of Lake Biwa. Shoulders were narrow but most of the cars were kind enough to give some space. Had scattered shower and had to run against the wind in the morning. I was happy that there were some rest areas along the way. Glad if there are some picnic tables and toilets. Bu...

Taking a day off in Taupo. Got some picture postcards and postage stamps yesterday. It’s been a long time since I last wrote letters with a pen. It took me a longer time than I had expected to finish. Now we’re living digital era. I felt how hard it was to write letters by hand. Something like that used to be common in analog era. In fact digital has totally changed our world and lives. But we cannot say digital controls everything. Indeed digital has made our life more convenient but I’d like to say no to the idea that digital has made everyone happy. We are human beings. We see, hear and feel something everyday. Communication should be done between us face to face. No matter how long it takes, we should tell what we should do. That’s what human beings are for. As we are the generation who know both digital and analog, we can make the best use of both. And I hope something good on analog will last till the end. Brand-new YouTube movie from New Ze...