Sano Marathon Race (The 7th)

Date: Sunday, December 11, 2011 Weather: Fine

Location: Sano City, Tochigi Pref.


Details of Race:Refer to the fourth Sano Marathon Race


Image

 
T-shirt Locally brewed Japanese Sake (Giveaway)

Records

5 km	27 minutes
10 km	55 minutes
15 km	1 hour 22 minutes
20 km	1 hour 51 minutes
Middle Point	1 hour 58 minutes
25 km	?
30 km	2 hours 54 minutes
35 km	3 hours 24 minutes
40 km	3 hours 57 minutes
Finish	4 hours 10 minutes

Impression

• I left home at 5:20 AM. It was fine and freezing! I arrived in Sano Station of Tobu Line via Seibu and JR Musashino Lines. The sky was clear and thus I could see Mt. Fuji covered with snow far away even from the train of Tobu Line. At any rate, Sano is far away from my home!
• I could get on the second shuttle bus from Sano Station. It took around 15 minutes to the marathon site.
• After finishing the registration at the gymnasium, I went to the athletic field for start. It was fine and the sun was shining. It was warm. I took a big rice ball which I made this morning. It was very effective for the running in the first half of the race.
• I deposited my luggage and lined up around 9:40 AM. 2,000 full marathon runners joined.
• The race started at 10:00 AM. Owing to transportation condition, the course was changed. Basically the course took the opposite direction of the previous year.
• Anyway, it seemed that the course was completely different. Under the blue sky, the sunlight was too bright.
• After start, it was calm and warm. I started to sweat around 5 km point since I wore thick long-sleeve shirt.
• However, sometimes, I was forced to run against the wind, but the wind was comfortable for running.
• The course was narrow until 10 km point and thus it was difficult to pass the other runners.
• The time at 20 km was 1 hour 51 minutes. It was a good record for me after a long interval.
• Immediately after passing the middle point, the siren sounded at noon.
• The course was getting upward after middle point.
• I could run smoothly even after passing middle point. However, suddenly, my running pace slowed down. I felt hungry. I took out 2 pcs of caramels from my waist porch and put into my mouth. However, it's not enough for my stomach. Then, I took several pcs of M & M chocolates.
• Fortunately, soon after, it started to effect on my running. The running pace recovered. After passing 27-km turn around, the course was downward. My running pace slightly speeded up.
• I managed to reach 30 km point, but it seemed to be far away to 35 km point.
• Soon the indication that the distance to the finish to be 5 km appeared. But my running pace slowed down again. I took another pcs of M & M chocolates. Then, I could reach the point 1 km to the finish. However, at that point, I felt no more energy to run. My pace drastically slowed down.
• It was so hard for me to run the last 1 km.
• Anyway, the finish time was 4 hours 10 minutes. It was the best record for me during this marathon season.
• The certificate was issued immediately after the finish. My rank was 70th out of 231 runners of over 60 years old. 70th was the skipping number winner and I was given a bottle of locally brewed Japanese Sake! I was so lucky.
• After the race, I had a cup of free pork soup. The taste of this year's soup was a little bit salty.
• I could not find my running mates. I left the marathon site immediately after having pork soup.
• Only one train was available at Tobu Sano Line. It took much time to get home via Tobu, JR Musashino and Seibu Lines. I was completely tired of getting on the trains. I left the marathon site at 14:50 and reached home at 18:00.
• When I came home, I found that my face was slightly covered with salt owing to the sweat during the race. I sweated so much beyond expectation.

Back