The 22nd Tsukuba Marathon Race

Date: Sunday November 24, 2002 Weather: Cloudy

Location: Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Pref.


Details of Race : Refer to the 20th Tsukuba Marathon Race.


IMAGES

 
Guide Plate Water Supply Point T-shirt

Records & Impression

• I got up at 5:00 AM. I read newspaper and found a big title "3 marathon runners died on Saturday!" (2 runners at Fukuchiyama Marathon Race & 1 runner at Nagoya City Marathon Race: all fifties, causes: cardiac infarction.) I was a little bit shocked on the marathon day.
• I left home at 6:20 AM. According to the weekly weather forecast, it would be rainy at weekend. However, the forecast suddenly changed to be sunny. But it was cloudy in the morning.
• I took on the train of Joban Line at 7:39 from Nippori Station. The train arrived in Tsuchiura at 8:43 AM. A lot of runners rushed to the bus stop.
• The bus comes one after another. However, if you are late to the bus stop, you are forced to wait for a while.
• It took 30 minutes to the site and it was one hour before the race.
• I decided to run with long-sleeve T-shirt since it was cold before the start.
• I went to the starting point earlier (more than 30 minutes before the start) since I made mistake last year.
• Just before the start, a staff of the promoter asked all runners to be carefull referring to the accidents of Satuardy marathon races.
• The race started at 10:30 AM. It was still cloudy. This year, I could pass the starting point less than 2 minutes.
• I could run in good condition at the initial half stage as shown on the table.
• I was thinking that I might complete less than 4 hours and that I might finish in 3 hours 50 minutes.
• However, to my regret, my running pace started to slow down after passing the middle point.
• It seems that I ran faster than usual in the beginning. No overconfidence!
• To make the matter worse, the sun appeared after 15 km point and it became a little bit hot. Thus I wondered if I had wrong running wears. This condition continued until I passed 20 km point.
• However, the sun disappeared and it became cold again. Very changeable weather! Anyway, my choice of long-sleeve shirt was correct.
• I managed to arrive to 30 km point. After there, I felt very long distance/time.
• The course of this race is flat and straight. The scenery is monotonous. It is not so interesting for me to run. I was getting tired of running this time! This year, the red/yellow leaves of roadside trees already fell, which made the scenery more monotonous.
• It was announced that 4-hour and 5-hour pace-makers would run. When I was running around 30 km point, the group with two 4-hour pace-makers passed me. I tried to catch up with them. However, the running pace was faster than mine and thus I gave up.
• At this point, I found that it might be impossible to run within 4 hours and I lost my running sprit.
• It was so hard for me to run the last 5 km. I just tried to not to walk. A lot of runners passed me.
• I found a lot of people were gathering on the course at 41 km point. I wondered what was going on. I found one runner fell down on the road. Soon the ambulance car arrived.
• I was shocked again since I read the death news on the newspaper this morning. (No death report on Monday newspaper)
• 3 hours 50 minutes passed at 40 km point. I might complete within 4 hours if I ran as fast as possible. But no more energy this time.
• It was so hard to run 3/4 round of the track to the finish. The goal time was 4 hours 4 minutes 38 seconds.
• Although I had trained so much, I could not finish within 4 hours. I even refrained from drinking at previous night.
• I should refrain from speeding up in the first half stage to keep the energy for the last half one. I was aware of this rule very well before the race, but I repeated the same mistake! Anyway, I need more practice/training!!
• After the race, we came back to Tsuchiura Station by bus. The bus swang so much and thus I got carsick by the time the bus reached the station!
• We went to the Chinese restaurant in the exotic street very close to the station. We drank Japanese sake with Chinese food and warmed ourselves.
• We took on the train around 5:30 PM, but I arrived in home at 8:00 PM. Too far!!
• One more thing to say: Almost only bananas are available at the water supply point. I prefer bread!!
  
  
  Time
  
  

  5 km	29 minutes
  10 km	55 minutes
  15 km	1 hour 21 minutes
  20 km	1 hour 48 minutes
  25 km	2 hours 17 minutes
  30 km	2 hours 50 minutes
  35 km	??
  40 km	3 hours 50 minutes
  Goal	4 hours 04 minutes 38 seconds (Gross)
  Goal	4 hours 03 minutes 00 second (Net)
  Rank	2815th

  
  

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