4jMarch 25, 2000Pollen allergy (Weather:fine)

• I have been an allergy to pollen of Japan cedar. Thus I have hard time from February to April every year.
• It seems that the volume of flying pollen is very large as was forecasted. I have been annoyed by the pollen allergy for more than one week.
• Jogging in such a season must worsen the pollen allegy. However, I cannot help jogging.
• Therefore, I try to jog in the morning when the volume of flying pollen is small. However, I breathe in a considerable amount of pollen. It may be a good idea to jog with mask, but I cannot do that.
• Well, I started to jog at 8:00 AM this morning. It was cold although it is already late in March.
• The most popular flower now is a "magnolia".
• The contrast between blue sky and white flowers of magnolia was terrific in this morning.
• It is a fun for me to jog in spring since I can see various kind of flowers excepting pollen allergy.
  Blue sky & magnolia
  
  Flower of magnolia
  

3jFebruary 13, 2000Ume flowers (Weather:fine)

• We had three consecutive holidays this weekend. We had fine and warm days.
• On February 11, I jogged 26km, and 15km on Fe. 12 and 10km on Feb 13.I jogged totally 51km!.
• Owing to warm weather, Ume flowers by the jogging road started to bloom alongside the Kurome River. It means that the spring is coming!
• Unawares, pretty flowers of 'Inunofuguri' are also blooming.
  Ume flowers
  
  Flowers of 'Inunofuguri'
  

2jJanuary 22, 2000 Saturday Mt. FujiiWeather: Finej

• It was fine and freezing this morning.
• I have been trying to take photos of Mt. Fuji with digital camera from the jogging course. However, so far, when trying to take photos, it was always cloudy or misty. Thus I didn't have opportunity.
• The sky was clear this morning and thus I went to the place where Mt.Fuji could be seen.
• It was a little bit cloudy behind Mt. Fuji. However, I could see Mt. Fuji covered with snow clearly this morning from the riversides of both Kurome River and Ochiai River. Also I could see from the Mt. Fuji View Terrace of Higashikurume Station.
• To my regret, my digital camera is inexpensive. I found that it was very difficult to take Mt. Fuji since its image was not so big in the frame. I had to modify the image with PC to get a small image of Mt. Fuji in the middle of the frame. But the other images got underexposed. (You can understand what I mean when you see the images.) I recommend you to see the actual Mt. Fuji especially from the Terrace of Higasikurume Station. I believe you will be very much impressed.
  Mt. Fuji from the riverside of Kurome River
  
  Mt. Fuji in the morning from the Mt. Fuji View Terrace of Higasikurume Station
  
  Mt. Fuji from the riverside of Ochiai River
  
  
• Around 9:00, I started to jog to Tamako-Lake as I did last week. I had to train for the full marathon race of Wakasio to be held on next Sunday. (The distance was approx. 26km) You can see Mt. Fuji on the way to the Tamako-Lake just before you arrive in the Lake. I could see Mt. Fuji today. You can also see Mt. Fuji from the bank of Tamako-Lake!

‚PjJanuary 1, 2000

Visiting the Inari (the god of harvest) Shrine on New Year's Day by joggingiWeather: Fine then cloudy)

• I spent the New Year's Day at my parent's house in Okayama Pref.
• I decided to visit the Takamatsu Inari Shrine, located approximately 10km northward from my parent's house, by jogging. The Inari Shrine is one of the most crowded shrine with worshippers on the New Year's Day in the vicinity. The total distance were 20km.
• I started at 10:00 AM with my niece who followed me with bicycle.
• It was cold with north wind although the previous day had been warm.
• I ran on the river bank about 5 km, then on the cycling road for a while, and finally arrived the JR Bicchuu Takamatsu station. Then I crossed the railroad crossing and reached the large Sacred Arch. The destination was 3.5 km from here. I continued to run on the walkway to the approach to the Shrine. The distance was almost 10km and it took one hour from the home.
• It was around 11:00 AM and thus there was not so many worshippers. However, there were a lot of stalls alongside the approach.
• After finshing worship, I drew a written oracle. I got a 'good luck'! I believe I will have a good luck this year! ( Just for your information, this shrine is famous for the high probability to get 'bad luck' when drawing a written oracle.)
• After buying souvenirs from the shops, we left for home around the noon. It became cloudy and cold at that time.
• While running to the home, around 12:30 PM, I suddenly paced down since I got hungry, because I had nothing to eat and drink during the jogging, so I took the supplement fENERGY-INfand I became energetic again. Finally I got home around 13:00.
• As soon as I got home, of course, I drank beerI