The 7th Ogawa Marathon Race
Ogawamati, Saitama Pref.
December 12, 1999 Races

2km	550 (9:00 started)
5km	400 (9:30 started)
3km	250 (9:50 started)
20km	1,700 (10:20 started)
10km	1,000 (10:40 started)

 
Starting Point Goal


 
Industrial arts museum T shirt


Record & Impression

• Last year, I was forced to cancel this race since I hurted the left knee.
• The half-marathon race was replaced by 20km-race this year.
• This is my third entry.
• I left my home at 7:00 AM. It was so cold and a little bit cloudy.
• I took Seibu Line and Tobu Line and finally arrived in Ogawamati at 8:50 AM. The train to Ogawamati is very rare.
• I took the shuttle bus from Ogawamati station. To my regret ,the lady conductor who used to welcome with a smiling face was not there. The bus was very clowded as usual.
• When I finally arrived in the industrial art museum, it was already 9:10! I had to hurry to register since the time limit was 9:30 AM. The pairs of family marathon were already coming back.
• It was fine weather at Ogawamati, but it was cold owing to north wind.
• The reason why the half-marathon was replaced by 20km-race was the change of the course. This year, the course was round-trip of 10km.
• It is a pity that the offical running course is limited even in this small town owing to traffic regulation.
• The 20km-race started at 10:20.
• I could start slowly since I made line at almost the end of the runners.
• In the first half, the course was in the town, then it was alongside the Tobu and JR lines. The course alongside the railroad was gradual uphill. (A return course was gradual downhill.)
• The road was a little bit narrow and thus it was not comfortable to run. The previous course was much better. I was annoyed since there was no toilets or the equivalent place on the course.
• A very small number of ladies entered this race. A very few young ladies to my regret!
• It was almost 40 min. later when I met the top runners on the opposite-side course. They were already coming back! How fast they were! I only admired them!
• A return course was downhill and back wind! Thus I could run faster than I expected. I could pass other runners little by little.
• During the last 500m, I tried to run as fast as possible since I still had power to spare. I could passed more than 10 runners!
• The time was 1h 41m 37s. I was very satisfied with the result. (Split time:5km---27min. 10km---53min. 15km---1h 17min.)
• A lot of souvenirs are sold at the industrial art museum. Of course, I bought Japanese Sakes.("Musashi no Sho-kyoto" & "Ogawa Jizake") Japanese Sake (Click here) You can buy other brands of Sakes!
• After goal, I immediately returned to the station by shuttle bus. However, I had to wait more than 30min. at the station until the next train started. Only two trains were available during 1 hour!
• By-talk---I ran 10km on previous day for training. However, I felt pain in the left knee. I was surprised and immediately applied the medicine on the knee. Then, fortunately, on the next morning, I did not feel pain and I was relieved. However, I still felt uneasy! I usually do not apply any medicine on the legs after the race. However, this time I applied medicine in time of need.

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