Last night was the closing night of a good friend's bar. I have been working at this bar for about a year, and needless to say, the final party was a doozy.

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As I awoke this morning in a garlic ramen, alcohol-saturated coma, with the claws of an approaching headache already sinking deeply into the muscles in the back of my neck, just below my skull, I thought:

Thank God that's over. Now I can have some Saturday nights free, and some Sundays poison-headache free.

A shrine in the city on a humid summer evening.

It's humid here in Niigata today. After my son and I took a nap this afternoon, and my wife returned from her afternoon plans, we all decided to go out for a nice, slow, family run. This type of thing is new for us, and we are finding that we really enjoy it.

When we got back to the house, my body was feeling somewhat primed and ready, surprisingly enough to me, for a full-on run. I told my wife and son I loved them, then trotted off briskly in my own direction.

The Detox.

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I ended up running 3 miles tonight in the humid evening heat. I haven't sweated so much in months. I almost felt like I was wearing a hot blanket when I got back. I could feel all the toxins from the day before sweating out my pores. My bowels and stomach became active, grumbling happily. I felt uncomfortable in the best possible way, like my body was becoming a dynamic system again, and not just a sedentary, torpid and motionless garbage receptacle.

My endurance continues to increase. Just a couple weeks ago I could only comfortably go just over 1 meter. Tonight I did 4.9 without too much trouble at all.

I feel almost like this is a new drug for me.

THE BEAUTIFUL THING IS, RUNNING DOESN'T BRING ABOUT A MERE PHYSICAL DETOXIFICATION PROCESS, BUT A MENTAL ONE AS WELL.

I've mentioned before that I sometimes have a tendency toward anxious, fear-based thinking and compulsive thought patterns/"ruts," and that running helps with this.

Especially the day after drinking I tend to feel blue, guilty, and just basically listless, tired and in general, dreadful. This is quite natural, as binge drinking basically does a piledriver to your whole inner physiology.

After my run tonight, though, I felt a bit healed, both mentally and physically, and much more prepared than before to face the upcoming week.

Good stuff.

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Tonight's Run.

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DISTANCE: 3 Miles.

THEME SONG: "Rose Garden," Lynn Anderson

PLAYLIST SO FAR:

"Under the Pressure" - The War on Drugs
"Somewhere" - Soundgarden
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" - Yes
"Rose Garden" - Lynn Anderson

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~Haruki Murakami, WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING

If you missed the past marathon blog posts, you can find them here:

• MARATHON 1
• MARATHON 2
• MARATHON 3
• MARATHON 4
• MARATHON 5
• MARATHON 6
• MARATHON 7
• MARATHON 8

~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)