As another pale ale slowly begins its journey down to test the resilience of my understanding liver, I would like to describe the amazing adventure that can be running beside a major river in Japan, and specifically, in Tokyo. To describe Tokyo as something other than a concrete jungle, could be described as misleading, even dishonest by some, but a different Tokyo does exist, sometimes slightly hard to find, like a black-clad ninja scaling a castle wall.
For fringe-dweller weirdos, also commonly known as distance runners, looking to escape this afore-mentioned concrete jungle, Tokyo’s river system acts a welcome oasis in the frustrating desert of red lights and stop signs. The northern Arakawa river, and the southern Tama river act as the perfect antidote to the poison of stopping every two hundred meters, pausing your GPS watch and awkwardly looking around like a teenager on a first date.
The Tama River, my new favorite, is a 138km river running from Tokyo Bay all the way to Yamanashi Prefecture – forming the border between Tokyo and Kanagawa along the way. Such is its grandness that it has been classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government, an honor that smaller rivers can only dream of. Along much of its length, on either side, are smooth and wide bike paths, or as I like to arrogantly refer to as, running paths. It is not uncommon to see university ekiden terms using the paths as places to do long tempo runs at 3:00min/km pace and to make amateur runners, such as myself, look decidedly foolish.
The paths are well-ordered, extensive and someone who should undoubtedly be made a saint of the distance running religion, made the excellent decision to put kilometer markers along the course.
The only slight complication that could slightly curb my enthusiasm for this promised land of distance running is the occasional old man perched under one of the river’s many bridges hurling insults at a pale foreigner in half-tights, while clutching a sake cup at 7am on a Sunday morning. A slight inconvenience, but definitely not enough to spoil my love for running along a Tokyo river!
Japan Boy Running 