Sakura Marathon Race (The 23rd)

Date : Sunday March 7, 2004 Weather : Sunny

Location : Sakura City, Chiba Pref.

IMAGES

 
T-shirt


Impression & Records

• I left home at 6:00 in the morning. It was fine. The temperture was minus 2 degrees Centigrade. It's freezing although it's already March! The expected maximum temperature was 8 degrees Centigrade.
• I arrived in Keisei-sakura Station just at 8:00 AM. The limited express was crowded with tourists bound for Narita Airport.
• I had to wait for the third shuttle bus until I could get on.
• While I was waiting for my running mates, I was wondering which wears I should have. It seemed that it would be warm with no wind. Thus I decided to wear long-sleeve shirt and half pant.
• I promised to meet Canadian, Mr. K, who sent me an E-mail thru my website. I could meet him in front of the reception around 9:00 AM.
• The full marathon race started at 10:00 AM. It was fine. The starter was Ms. Naoko Takahashi, the gold medalist of Sydney Olymics. I passed the starting point one minute after the start. Almost 2,000 runners joined the race. (Applicants were 2,500.)
• I had to have a business trip to Europe just two days after the race. Thus I had a plan to finish the race within 4 hours this time.
• During the first few kilometers, there was no wind. However, as soon as I came into the course in the rice field, a head wind started to blow.
• Anyway, I continued to run against the head wind until I noticed the 10 km point.
• The wind was cold and getting stronger and stronger. It seemed that I ran against the head wind almost all the course.
• The time at middle-point was 1 hour 51 minutes. Not so bad for me.
• After 2 hours 38 minutes from the start, I passed the 30 km point.
• As usual, after passing the 35 km point, my running pace started to slow down.
• When I found the indication that the distance to the goal is 5 km, I felt tired. However, I tried to maintain the same running speed with my vigor. Soon it was clouded and became cold.
• I continued to run up the slope from the Keisei-sakura Station.
• It was very hard to run up the last slope to the field. I managed to finish the race anyway.
• The goal time was 3 hours 46 minutes. I could shorten one minute from my previous time at Katsuta Marathon Race. Again, my best record!
• I had been waiting for my running mates, but it was so cold. I tried to warm up by drinking Japanese Sake. However, I could not warm up even after drinking more Sake.
• Mr. K who joined the race for the first time did not shake off his cold. However, he could finish the race around 4 hours 30 minutes.
• After the race, we had an after-the-race party at the Chinese restaurant near Sakura Station.
• This time, since Mr. K joined the party, we could have an international party. Everybody spoke both English and Japanese!
• As scheduled, I could return home around 7:00 PM. It's really a cold day. I drank one more hot Japanese Sake and went to bed!
• The course was a little bit differnt from that of last year. The marathon day would be the last Sunday of March next year.
  
  Record
  

  5 km	*
  10 km	52 minutes
  15 km	1 hour 19 minutes
  20 km	*
  Middle-point	1 hour 51 minutes
  25 km	*
  30 km	2 hours 38 minutes
  35 km	3 hours 05 minutes
  40 km	3 hours 34 minutes
  Goal	3 hours 46 minutes

  
  

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