Tateyama Wakashio Marathon Race (The 32nd)

Date: Sunday, January 29, 2012Weather: Cloudy, then occatuionally sunny

Location: Tateyama City, Chiba Pref.


Details of raceRefer to the 21st Tateyama Wakashi Marathon Race.


Image


Bath Towel

Record

5 km	31 minutes
10 km	59 minutes
15 km	1 hour 29 minutes
20 minutes	1 hour 57 minutes
Middle point	2 hours 03 minutes
25 km	2 hours 25 minutes
30 km	2 hours 55 minutes
35 km	3 hours 27 minutes
40 km	3 hours 58 minutes
Goal	4 hours 12 minutes

Impression

• Severe cold has continued in January. The weatherman said it would be severely cold on Sunday. The expected temperature in Tateyama City would be minus 3 degrees centigrade in the morning and 6 degree centigrade during daytime.
• I decided to go to Tateyama by Highway bus from Tokyo Station.
• I would join with my running mate from Higashi-kurume. It was great that his wife would take us from Higashi-kurume Station to Hoya Station, two-stop nearer station from Higashi-kuruem to Ikebukuro, by car.
• However, I had to leave home very early in the morning so that I could get on the train of 4 o'clock time slot.
• After all, I got up at 3 AM and left home around 4 AM. I could not have enough sleeping time.
• I went to Higashi-kurume Station by bicycle. It was so cold in the early morning. I reached the station around 4:15 AM and was picked up by car.
• We could catch up with the first train from Hoya Station at 4:29 AM. I was surprised to learn that several passengers were on the train so early in the morning.
• We arrived in Tokyo Station at 5:16 AM via subway. There were a very few passengers there.
• The highway bus ticket office opened past 5:30 AM and we stayed in the waiting room there until the bus arrived. It was warm and comfortable there.
• I took on the bus at 6:00 AM and the bus left at 6:10 AM as scheduled. The bus ran smoothly without traffic jam. It was cloudy and thus I could not see sunrise from the bus.
• This year, the runners were forced to get off at the temporal bus stop just before the bus reached Tateyama Station. We had to walk to the marathon site in the cold for 20 minutes. We arrived in the marathon site past 8:00 AM.
• When getting off the bus, the cold north wind was blowing. Since it was so warm in the bus, I was chilled to the bone.
• The big waves washed against the shore. I could not see Mt. Fuji across the sea.
• I reached the marathon site past 8:00 AM. After registration, I looked for another running mate. This time, my three running mates joined the race.
• One of my friends brought his tent. He already set up the tent. It was so cold outside the tent, but we could confortably change the wears in the tent.
• Before start, I took a jumbo rice ball I made myself this morning. I believe it's very effective for running.
• I lined up around 9:40 AM for start. It was cloudy and the temperature was 3.8 degrees Centigrade. A wind blowing 8 meters per second. Anyway, it's cold!
• The full marathon race started at 10:00 AM as usual. The starting area was narrow and crowded with runners and it took three minutes to pass the start line.
• I put on the vinyl bag to protect against cold. While running alongside the seashore, the cold north wind was blowing. It was still cloudy.
• The sun finally appeared after passing 5 km point. It was getting warm. I felt a little bit hot owing to vinyl bag and I took off it around 10 km point. I was feeling comfortable with north wind from the sea.
• I could run smoothly until middle-point at the rate of 6 km per one minute.
• After passing the middle-point, my running pace slightly slowed down. But I tried to recover and managed to reach 30 km point. I could pass one of my running mates before 30 km point.
• I could continue to run up the slope after 30 km point.
• I gratefully got a small rice ball from privately operated aid station as usual.
• The course was again alongside the seashore after 33 km point. The north strong wind from the sea was still blowing and I felt cold again.
• I patiently continued to run in spite of repeated ups-and-downs.
• This time, I could almost continue to run smoothly until 39 km point. But finally my running pace slowed down gradually during the last 3 km.
• Anyway, I had to continue to run as fast as possible to the finish.
• The finish time was 4 hours 12 minutes, which I was satisfied.
• After finish, I tasted free poke soup. I found a extraoridinarily long line of running. First, I thought it was a line for free poke soup. But actually it was a line of runners who deposited their baggage. It seemed to take much time to receive back the baggage.
• After the finish, we made a toast for the celebration of the completion of the race in the tent. It was nice to run with running mates.
• Around 3:40 PM, we left the marathon site to get on the shuttle bus to the station.
• We could get on the bus in a moment, however, the bus did not move owing to traffic jam. The highway bus would left from Tateyama Station at 4:30 AM. I was worrying that we would miss the highway bus.
• After all, the bus reached the station at 4:25 PM. We were forced to rush to the bus stop, but we has to cross over the pedestrian overpass to reach the bus stop.
• We managed to catch up with the bus, but it was so hard to run up the stairs after the completion of full marathon race.
• As expected, it took more than one hour to get on the highway owing to traffic jam. It took 3 hours to reach Tokyo Station.
• I got home at 8:45 PM. Good work today!
  
  
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