The Tsukuba Marathon Race (The 25th)

Date: Sunday, November 27, 2005 Weather: Fine

Location: Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture (15 minutes by bus from Tsukuba Station of Tsukuba Expressw Way)


Detaqils of RaceRefer to the 20th Tsukuba Marathon Race


IMAGE

 
Design of T-shirt

Impression and Records

• I left home before 7:00 AM. It was fine and cold in the morning. I would join the race after an interval of two years.
• I took train from Shinakitsu Station of JR Musashino Line to Minami-nagareyama Station. It took almost 50 minutes.
• I changed to the train of Tsukuba Express Way, whose service was started lately, to Tsukuba Station. The fee was Yen 800. Too expensive!!
• The express train was full of runners. The train arrived in the terminal around 8:50 AM.
• The terminal was so crowded with runners and thus it took time to get out. Moreover, there was a lone ling of runners who were waiting for shuttle bus in front of the station. It took more than 10 minutes to get on the bus.
• The bus reached the site about 20 minutes. (Around 9:20 AM) It took more time than I expected owing to many runners. A lot of runners were already there. Because of the start of service of Tsukuba Express Way, more than 11,000 runners joined the race this year.
• After the registration, I looked for my running mates in the crowds, and managed to find them. It was said that the maximum temperature might around 18 degrees Centigrade. Thus I was wondering what kind of T-shirt I should have wore. I decided to wear the thin-cloth long-sleeve T-shirt. The result was even if the short-sleeve might be OK.
• There were long lines at both the toilets and the baggage claim.
• The full marathon race would start at 10:30 AM. It was still a little bit cold before the start. I lined the front position where the runners whose record were less than 4 hours.
• The number of runners participated to full marathon race this year was 9,800. The maximum numbers so far. I had to walk to the start line since it was so crowded. I lost more than 2 minutes.
• As usual, the runners would run around the campus of Tsukuba University and went out. It was fine and breeze. The colored leaves were beautiful. I could see a little bit hazed Mr. Tsukuba far away.
• I could run smoothly to 15 km point. However, after 15 km, I felt a little bit tired.
• I endured to continue to run until 20 km, but I felt it's far away to 20 km. The time of middle-point was 1 hour 56 minutes. I thought I could complete less than 4 hours if I kept even running pace..
• After passing the middle-point, I only continue to run without thinking anything. I tried to keep the pace with runners around me as much as possible.
• I thought it was also far away to 30 km point. I found a "Sweet bean paste soup" at 30 km-aid station. It was so delicious.
• While I was running, the weather was mild and fine.
• It was hard for me to run after 35 km point. The last 5 km was so hard, but I tried to keep the running pace.
• After passing 40 km, I made sure that I could reach the goal within 4 hours.
• I finally completed the race. The time was 3 hours 57 minutes!! It was after a long interval since I completed within 4 hours.
• However, it seemed that I spent almost all my energy. I could not move for a while after i finshed the race.
• It was almost the end of November and thus it became drastically cold after 4:00 PM.
• One my running mate brought a portable gas ring. Thus we could make hot Japanese sake there after the race. We could enjoy hot Japanese sake and warm up. (However, the hot sake badly affected me this time.)
• It took more than 15 minutes to get on the shuttle bus to Tsukuba Station.
• The bus was so clouded and it was so hot in the bus. Gradually I felt ill. The hot sake might also affect. It was my rare experience lately. It was so hard for me to stand until the bus reached the station.
• Since there were a few restaurants in front of new Tsukuba Station, we decided to have a drink party at Minami-nagareyama Station.
• I managed to reach Minami-nagareyama Station, however, I felt so bad even in the train of Tsukuba Express Way.
• Anyway, we started the party at Japanese pub in front of the station. I though I would soon feel good if I drank beer. However, the my feeling became worse. I could not even drink beer. I gave up the party and said goodby my running mates.
• I managed to come back home. Immediately after taking bath, I went to bed!!
• It seemed that I ran so hard to complete the race within 4 hours, also resulting in the bad condition after the race. It was so busy this month and my total running distance before the race was only 182 km (My running distance in October was 317 km.) Maybe lack of training this month.
• Anyway, I am satisfied that I could complete "Sub-four". It is still hard for me to complete the full marathon race. I cannot believe that I could once complete 100 km ultra marathon race.
• However, I heard the announcement that 74 years old runner won the race at the category of seventies. His time was 2 hours 24 minutes. I cannot believe it!! I wish his power would rub of on me.
  
  
  Records
  
  

  5 km	29 minutes
  10 km	56 minutes
  15 km	1 hour 18 minutes
  20 km	1 hour 50 minutes
  25 km	2 hours 15 minutes
  30 km	2 hours 45 minutes
  35 km	3 hours 28 minutes
  40 km	3 hours 45 minutes
  Goal	3 hours 57 minutes 44 seconds (Gross)
  Goal	3 hours 55 minutes 31 seconds (Net)
  Place	2935

  
  

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