Bel Amer (Isetan): White Chocolate Short

Today, since I ran Akasaka Palace fast yesterday, I thought I should do a longer distance on the flatter Gaien course, which was pretty crowded today, no doubt as people train for Sunday's Tokyo Marathon, in the cold rain.

First, a moderate 1.5 km to the start and then 4 laps (1325 m each) for 7'06''07, 7'19''46, 7'17''55, and 7'25''38. Actually, the first lap turned out very fast, with the other three laps fast. I took the long way back, following the east part of the Gaien Walk, which ends just past Yotsuya Station. There was a chronometer mishap and I only managed to time the last bit, so I'm extrapolating that the last 4.4 km was very slow.

So 4.4 km very slow, 1.5 km moderate, 4.0 km fast, and 1.3 km very fast. Slightly less total distance for two runs than last week, but a lot more fast running. I want to try to go farther tomorrow, so i'll plan on not trying to go too fast, although it may be hard to get out of work in time to get to Glycine before they close.

Had gotten the White Chocolate Short from Bel Amer (Isetan) for 540, after finding the visiting shop without any fresh cake and Demel never seems to have anything but their Sachertorte, recently. Other choices at Bel Amer were an unusual looking mont blanc (which I remain curious about) and a chocolate cream puff. The short cake, which boast 4 fruits (not sure which ones, besides kiwi and strawberry, but not a lot of fruit to worry about anyway and the white chocolate flavor was not strong enough to save this from being just another spongy short cake. Still, it was basically good, so I'll designate the shop good. Probably, I should try their larger chocolate cakes. Maybe some weekend.