Ohme Marathon Race (The 40th)

Date: Sunday, February 19, 2006 Weather: Cloudy and occasionally sunny

Location: Ohme City, Tokyo


Details of Race

Refer to the 35th Oume Marathon Race.


IMAGE

 
T-Shirt Design

Records & Impression

• I joined the Ohme marathon race after an interval of 5 years. This is my third participation. I planned to leave home around 9:00 AM. However, it was later than usual and I felt a little bit reluctant to go out, but I finally decided to go.
• I reached the reception site after 10:00 AM. Totally 9 members of my running mates gathered this time. It was unusual to join so many my running mates at a time.
• This year is the 40th anniversary of the race and almost 12,000 runners participated in the 30km-race. The road was full of runners.
• The 30km-race started at 11:50 AM. It was 10 minutes earlier than usual. The weatherman said it would be cloudy and cold. However, in Ohme, a soft sunlight was coming when starting.
• I was positioned almost in the middle of the line.
• The starter was Ms. Naoko Takahashi. Of course, I could neither see her nor hear the start signal at start time.
• However, I could start to run to the starting point considerably smooth this year. But the flow of runners suddenly stopped just before the starting point. I wondered why and found that all runners were cheering to Naoko!! Naoko is still so popular among runners.
• Anyway, it took more than 5 minutes to reach the starting point. The crowded condition continued.
• I joined the race after an interval of almost 3 months, thus I felt exhausted before I reached 10 km point. I was wondering if I could complete the race. Anyway, I could not pass other runners owing to crowdedness and was forced to run calmly.
• I managed to reach the turning point (15 km) and was relieved a little bit. The running pace was kept as 10 km per hour.
• It was warm at the initial stage and I started to sweat since I wore a long-sleeve shirt and long pant. I thought I made a mistake for today's wear. But when running back from the turning point, it became cold.
• After 20 km point, finally the road was not so crowded.
• I felt it took much time between 20 km and 30 km. Especially, as to the last 1 km to the goal, I felt as if I could not reach the goal although I tried to run as fast as I could.
• I could finally reach the goal. It took 3 hours 02 minutes. I could not finish within 3 hours.
• Anyway, I was satisfied with the result since I joined the race after a long interval. This time, I did not feel any damages. I might not complete the race if it was full marathon race.
• After the race, we went to the Japanese pub to have an after-the-race party. We enjoyed drinking and tasting delicious "Nikomi" and "Oden". The pub was full of runners. They might make a lot of profit today.
• I came home past 6:00 PM with a little bit drunken.
• Records of todayF5 km 33m, 10 km 1h02m, 15 km 1h32m, 20 km 2h02, 30 km 3h02m

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