~22.4 miles @ ~14.6 min/mi

"Ichi, ni, san, shi, go!" Sako Narita gives a tutorial in Japanese counting. She's training for the Disney Marathon in January and today's trek adds ~20% to her longest prior distance. We celebrate at mile 20 with a fist-bump. Brava!

Sakurako shares stories of family and childhood. She rolls her R's beautifully, thanks to early Hungarian language training; her mom studied the Kodály Method for teaching music. Our route includes a loop around the new Wheaton High School in search of a track (alas, it's still under construction) and a pause for hot coffee at McDonalds. Brookside Gardens offers photo opportunities at the Tea Room. We divert for quick visits with Robin Zimmermann and Barry Smith. To add distance (GPS trackfile has a 2 mile, 30 minute prelude from my home to Sako's starting point near the Mormon Temple) we take a mini-tour of the National Park Seminary. Discussions include the Imperial Palace grounds, shogi, koto, Shinto, and an anecdote involving a dead dog's ambulance ride. (Oops, that's trail talk!)

(trackfile) - ^z - 2016-12-24