Marathon has become more and more popular in Japan as well as in other countries. Even small villages often hold marathon events as a means of activation of their communities.
I joined one such event, "Nibukawa Gourmet Marathon". Its name contains "marathon", but the distance was only 18.1km. The route was designed merely to connect scenic sites in the village. As a result, the runners were shown the village's boasting scenery, but the organizers seemed not to mind slopes, which exhausted the runners.
Every service point on the route offered us their products like wild boar meat-processing foods, rice balls with edible wild plants, and so on. I took a relaxing rest at every service point over abundant food. The road was always up or down, and there was almost no flat road, but the local people along the road were really friendly and warm-hearted. I spent a really comfortable day.
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