Day 21

Tainan to Jiangiyun.

This morning, Neil indulged in some well-earned entertainment and went to the cinema to watch a film called Street Kings (which he recommends) and I had a quick stroll around Tainan, a city jam-packed with temples providing evidence that Taiwan existed before 1980. We had a late start today but the first part of the marathon passed Tainan’s long sandy beach at dusk. Soon Keelung Dave is on the phone as he’s coming to help out for a few days. He is excited to have arrived in Taichung and hired a bike. Heading south towards us, he feels he must be near at road kilometre marker number 62. Sadly I tell him we’re at 194. He still has some way to drive.

Meeting Neil at 12km or so, it seems that the Vaseline that has served him so well for the last three weeks is taking an early retirement on its duties and our runner is somewhat irritated by a case of what we might call boxer fatigue. In England, where many men don’t know about style, there exists an item of underwear called a Y-front. It is Y-front time. I promise to look out for a clothes shop to purchase said item and Neil continues to run through the city. Soon he calls to tell me, weirdly enough, he’s at European Clothing, where his miming (hands forming a V-shape at the groin area) to the stunned female shop assistants eventually leads them to show him a more constrictive type of underwear that they sell. He asks me to hurry there to pay for the purchase. The ladies are amused that he can make a phone call and I will turn up seconds later to pay for his underwear. Trying to put them in a bag for him, he insists that he must put them on now and disappears into the changing room. I don’t think the Vaseline’s needed any more.

Finally, Dave is near and I meet him on a bridge. He’s armed with brilliant flags that sport a picture of Neil and details of his marathon mad challenge, all written in Chinese, courtesy of his lovely girlfriend Ivy. (Thank you Ivy!) He asks how Neil is. I answer that he should expect Neil, who is approaching already, to be the same as he would be at a Mighty Shane FC match or at the pub on a night out (though not drunk, of course). Neil arrives and we all chat a while, catching up on the Keelung news. Neil finishes well, the comfort of his underpants seems to have made him run faster, like Superpants.

Dave and I meet some lovely Philippinos outside a 7eleven near Jiali. They spoke English very well and told us that they are working on a farm in Tainan County for six months. Very interested in Neil’s adventure, the women ask lots of questions, but the man is so stunned he can only sit and repeat, “Running? Every day? Running? Every day? Very strong,” over and over again. Thanks to their directions, we head into Jiali and find a hotel. The owner is the grumpiest man to have ever owned a hotel but none of us care because we are all happy.