I Am Number 34

Last year in Ishigaki, I met a very nice Japanese athlete on the bus ride to the pre-race dinner. This year we met up again at the dinner and chatted the whole night! Misato is an awesome young lady...she speaks very good English and loves to laugh. Not long after the Ishigaki race in 2006, she crashed and broke her collarbone...she was finally healed up and racing again at the very end of the season when I was finished racing...that explains why I haven't seen her since '06!

This was the big hotel banquet room for the pre-race athlete dinner. They performed some traditional Japanese dances on the stage and we were served yummy Japanese dishes (buffet style) for dinner.