Japan trip part two

Okay so the next day I also woke up very early and just laid in bed.  I had breakfast around 8 o'clock where again the breakfast was buffet style and amazing.  I was surprised at how it had fish and other lunch/dinner style food for breakfast.  Yet, I wasn't complaining, as I was savoring the food.  The yogurt, they had was amazing and I must have ate 3-4 servings of that stuff.  After breakfast we went to the bus station where we hoped on the trolley train, that went around Sendai to various major attractions.  The trolley was a neat idea as it passed every 20 minutes or so and you could hop on and off at various stops.  We first went to a really neat mausoleum of a famous ruler on top of a gorgeous hill.  The place was covered with very tall trees and everything was so clean and prestige.  The mausoleum had be reconstructed because it was destroyed during the war as with many things in Japan.  It was a great place to check out as we saw a great deal of nature and how they commemorated the dead.  The next stop we had on the trolley was the Sendai castle stop. When we got there, actors in drums and samurai costumes were acting and entertaining the crowd.  Ate a desert that I had never tried before, but I was great.  It was really sticky rice with some green topping that gave it a great flavor. The castle had been destroyed and the only remains was a wall with a spectacular view of the city.  We hoped on the trolley back to the hotel to eat lunch and afterwards we walked to the expo to check it out. The expo was in front of city hall where we had the conference.  When we got to the expo there was a stage with performances going on.  Actors dressed up as samurai's, people dancing with drums in the background, and people with a bunch of lanterns attached to bamboo sticks were performing.  We shopped at the running expo and got some suveniers, and walked around.  The food spelled delicious but I had already ate lunch so I wasn't hungry.  We went back to the hotel were I rested a bit and had dinner at around 6:30.  Afterwards we just rested and got ready for the race the next day.
The next morning again I woke up super early around 4:30 and just laid in bed for a bit.  Put my racing gear on and headed to breakfast around 6:30, didn't want to eat too much so I just had some fruit and the delicious yogurt.  A bus came for us and took us to the stadium were the race would start.  The race started at 10 and we got to the stadium around 8 so we had plenty of time to get ready.  I made sure to stretch real well and be loose.  About 15 minutes until the start everyone got ready and they placed us at the very front with all the elites.  Everyone was getting into their corral and waiting for the start, the wheelchair participants started 15 min at 9:45. With about 10 minutes everyone had lined up and it was very silent.  I have never been surrounded by so many people and just complete silence.  Everyone was just looking at the clock waiting for the start.  The gun was fired and everyone started super fast.  I was getting past left and right and I was thinking to myself, just control your pace and your breathing.  The temperature was pretty warm and the sun was hitting pretty strong.  I tried to keep a steady pace, as I wasn't wearing a watch, I just wanted to listen to my body and enjoy the run.  First 5km was passed at approximately 18:10 and I felt pretty decent.  I knew the race had just begun and I wanted to keep a steady pace. The race had it's shares of inclines followed by descents so I just made sure to keep a steady pace going up and try and accelerate on the downs.  My legs started to feel a bit heavy at this point but I just kept going.  We passed a big stretch of shady trees, people dancing, and people banging on the drums.  It was pretty neat to see so many people cheering and seeing all the runners. I also, loved how people kept yelling Dallas, and I was giving them a thumbs up.  The next mark was the 10km in which I passed around 38:10.  I knew I was slowing down due to the heat and I just wanted to keep a steady pace.  I'm not a heat runner and I knew that, but I wanted to give it my all so I kept pushing.  The 15km mark I passed in around 58:40.  At this point in the race I was tired and my legs started to feel like bricks.  I saw the winner going into the stadium as I was heading out for the last portion of the race which was pretty neat.  At the 20km mark I was in survival mode as my head was now hurting and my legs were screaming to stop.  I was pretty exhausted, but I knew that I could make it into the stadium and finish.  I had traveled all this way and I wanted to do my best.  The 20km mark was past at around 1:21 definitely slowing down, but I just wanted to finish, I knew I was close and I didn't want to stop.  I hit the stadium and all I could think about was getting to the finish line, when I got to the finish line I saw 1:26 on the clock.  Definitely not my best time, but I knew it was a warm day and I had given it my best on that day. They gave all the finishers a towel, which was great because I got to wipe the sweat off of my face.  I kept walking even though I was a bit dizzy and I got some of the sport drink they were giving and some water.  They also gave some kiwi pieces which tasted amazing at that point.  Cora didn't finish far behind in 1:30 and she did an amazing job.  Mark was amazingly supportive and was happy with our performance even though I wasn't very happy with my performance personally.
Will finish the trip summary with one more section....

photo link
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123885940@N07/with/14241235583