Sano Marathon Race (The 4th)

Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008 Weather: Rain

Location: Sano City, Tochigi Pref. (Sano Station of JR Ryomo Line)


Details of Race:

Race	Full	Participants	1,000	*
	10 km		700	*
	5 & 2 km		500	*
Fee	Yen 4,000
Contact	2130-2 Akamicho, Sano City, Tochigi Pref. 327-0104 Secritariat of Sano Marathon Race Tel: 0283-26-0065
Gift	Long-sleeve T-shirt
Free service	Soft drink, Poke soup
Remarks	Aid station: every 5 km, Lime limit: 5 hours, three control gates, the taste of chocolates available at aid station was no good!

IMAGES

 
Entrance gate Goal


Records

5 km	26 minutes
10 km	52 minutes
15 km	1 hour 19 minutes
20 km	1 hour 43 minutes
25 km	2 hours 13 minutes
30 km	2 hours 43 minutes
35 km	3 hours 13 minutes
40 km	3 hours 43 minutes
Goal	3 hours 58 minutes

Impression

• As forecasted, it had been rainy from the morning. It was a downpour.
• Therefore, I defiantly declared that I would finish the race even in the rain.
• I left home at 5:20 in the cold rain.
• It was so far away from Higashi-kurume to Sano City. I had to change many trains to reach there. (Seibu Line, Saikyo Line, Tohhoku Line, Tohbu Isezaki Line and Tohbu Sano Line.) I finally arrive in Sano Station around 8:00 AM.
• I took on free shuttle bus from the station. The number of buses is not so many. The bus reached the marathon site at 8:30 AM. (Sano Athletic Field)
• I registered in the rain and I looked for the palce for changing wears. The building was almost occupied by the runners. I could finally find the place in the warehouse. There were many gymnastic kits.
• There were several local old ladies and gentlemen who were chatting in the full dialect of Tochigi area. ( from 60's to 70's) They said they would join 10 km race. I chatted with them for a while. They looked forward to having a drink party after the race. I wondered if the thought of old guys was exactly the same as that of younger one.
• The rain continued and seemed not to stop. The weather man said the rain would stop in the afternoon.
• The full marathon race would start at 10:00 AM. I lined up around 9:50 covered with vinyl bag. It was so cold and I was shivering. I wondered if almost 1,000 runners joined the race in such a bad condition. I thought they were all whimsical. I remembered the first Tokyo Marathon Race. The temperature might be 5 degrees C.
• The course was gradually upward to the first turn-round (15 km point). The altitude difference was 150 m. It seemed that the temperature gradually went down. The body did not warm up while running. My fingers started to numb. I was forced to continue to run anyway. The return course was slightly downward and it was a little bit easy to run until 25 km point.
• Later, the course repeated left and right turns to the goal. Owing to bad weather and the course was in the countryside, the number of gallery was so small.
• To protect against the cold, I ran as fast as possible. Therefore, the time at each point was good for me even in the rain. However, I felt tired around 30 km point, but the time at 30 km was 2 hours 43 minutes. I was in consideration of sub-four.
• I continued to run catching up with other runners around me.
• The time at 35 km point was 3 hours 13 minutes.
• Finally I reached the point where the distance to the goal was 5 km. However, it was considerably hard to run the last 5 km.
• I was passed by two old men wearing the uniform of "Aiming to complete 100 full marathon races easily" at the last 2 km point to the goal. They are super-senior.
• The last 1 km distnace was gradual upward. I should have run faster as much as possible. However, I was sure that I could finish the race within 4 hours and I felt weak. The running pace suddenly dropped. I was slowly running to the goal. My goal time was 3 hours 58 minutes. Anyway, I achieved sub-four! It was really a cold race.
• The rain finally stopped when finishing the race , but it was still cold. I immediately changed wears and got on the bus to the station. I did not have free pork soup there. I preferred to go to warm place rather than having pork soup.
• Sano Station is connected to both JR Ryomo Line and Tobu Sano Line. However, the number of train per hour is one at each line.
• Fortunately, I could catch up with the train of JR Ryomo Line bound for Oyama at 14:52. After getting on the train, the sun appeared. What a cold and bad weather during the race!
• I could get on the train of Shonan Shinjuku Line at Oyama Station with only a few minutes waiting time. It was so hard to run up the stairs to catch the train.) I could return home around 17:30. However, I was really exhausted this time.
• I got confident that I could complete the coming race even in the rain. I would not care bad weather condition.

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