T-shirt (Front)
T-shirt (Back)
- According to the weather forecast for Nagano City, it would be rainy in the afternoon on Saturday. It also would be rainy on Sunday. In addition, it would be cold! I was worrying about the race on Sunday.
- Anyway, I got on the highway bus bound for Nagano at 7:50 AM from Nerima Station on Saturday morning. The seats were fully occupied.
- It was cloudy. Since I sat on the front seat, I could enjoy the scenery. Especially I was much impressed by the figure of Mt. Myogi.
- The bus arrived in Nagano Station at 11:30 AM, 20 minutes behind the schedule. On arrival, I walked to the reception site, Big Hat. It took almost 20 minutes. (Shuttle bus available, one-way Yen 200)
- I got both number card and T-shirt at the reception. A lot of runners were there.
- I came back to Nagano Station. Then I took on the train of Shinano Railroad bound for Ueda Station, where I reserved the hotel. I could not reserve the hotel in Nagano City owing to full booking.
- It took 50 minutes by local train. It was 14:00 when the train reached Ueda Station.
- Since the check in time was 15:00, I deposited my luggage to the hotel and I went to see the ruins of Ueda Castle.
- It took 10 minutes on foot. The castle was crowded with tourists since the cherry blossom festival was being held there. But the cherry flowers were almost gone. The main attraction was "Sanada Well" where a loophole was mined there. The Sanada Shrine was full of worshippers.
- After checking in the hotel, I had early dinner and went to bed early.
Ruins of Ueda Castle
Sanada Shrine
Sanada Well Display
Sanada Well
- I waked up at night. When I looked outside from the window, I found it was snowing! I went back to the bed praying that the snow would stop before dawn.
- I got up after 4:00 AM. It was still snowing. It seemed that the snow would not stop.
- After taking breakfast, I went out from the hotel around 5:00 AM. It was severely cold!
- I took on the train bound for Nagano to be left at 5:32 AM. The seats were fully occupied by runners. The snow continued to fall and the snowy landscape could be seen from the window.
- The train reached Nagano Station at 6:14 AM. I deposited my big luggage at coin-controlled locker.
- Then I took on the train at 6:31 and arrived in Kita-Nagano Station at 6:35 AM.
- All runners started to walk to Nagano Athletic Field in the snow shower. The snow accumulation was already a few centimeters and it was slippery. It took around 15 minutes to the athletic field. The snow continued and the umbrella was covered with snow while walking.
- I was wondering if the race would be cancelled owing to snow. However, no such a sign was shown at the athletic field.
- Anyway, I went into the gymnasium to change the wears. The gymnasium was big and spacious.
- I decided to wear long-pant instead of short-pant for the sake of warmth. I also wore vinyl bag.
- Although it was still snowing at 7:45, I went out to deposit my luggage. (The start point and finish point was different.)
- The race would start at 8:30 AM. I went to the start point around 8:00 AM. The snow continued to fall. Young leaves of boulevard trees were covered with snow. There was melted snow on the road. According to the newspaper's report, the temperature of starting time of 0.4 degrees of Centigrade.
- Regardless of snowfall, the race started at 8:30 AM as scheduled. 9,000 runners joined. The course was crowded with runners and thus the loss time was almost 4 minutes.
- The first destination was Nagano Station. After passing 5 km point, runners passed on the road of Zenkouji Temple. The snow was still falling and there was still melted snow on the course together with puddles. It was a little bit hard to run on such a course.
- After passing 10 km point, we passed the Big Hat, and moved to the suburbs.
- At the same time, the snow changed to sleet. But it was so cold that my body did not warm while running.
- The sleet soon changed to cold rain and the rain stopped around 15 km point.
- Temporal toilets were set at many places on the course. However, the number of toilets was a few or less. And it was so cold. A lot of runners made a long line in front of toilets.
- Cheers of citizens were so great throughout the course. It encouraged runners very much.
- The race in the snowy weather was my first experience. It was as much as I could do to run and I could not enjoy seeing the scenery this time.
- I managed to reach 20 km point. Then runners had to cross the Olympic Bridge on Sai River. The bridge was very long. The scenery from the bridge seemed to be terrific if the weather was fine. But it was cloudy and thus I could not see the distant view.
- I continued to run constantly after 20 km point.
- After passing 27 km point, runners crossed Koshoku Bridge on Chikuma River. Runners ran along with Chikuma River upstream. The scenery was complete snowy landscape. Pink flowers of peaches were covered with white snow.
- Soon I reached 30 km point. I continued to run with vigor.
- 35 km point was the place crossing Iwano Bridge on Chikuma River. The course was downstream alongside Chikuma River.
- Suddenly runners had to run against very cold and strong wind. I was getting tired, but continued to run as fast as possible.
- Finally I reached the point 5 km to the finish. I made a pause. I thought I could finish the race within 5 hours from here.
- I continued to run and could pass 40 km point. I did not feel runner's high this time, however, I could keep running without walking until 40 km point.
- I entered Nagano Olympic Stadium and ran the half of the track to the finish. Just before reaching the finish, I made high touch with young senior high school gals.
- After the finish, a senior high school gal put a bath towel on my shoulder. The fish time was 4 hours 23 minutes. I continued to wear vinyl bag to the finish since it had been cold.
- The course was generally flat and it was easy to run.
- After the finish, a bottle of sport drink and a rice ball were given.
- I got back my luggage and changed wears. Then I went to the shuttle bus stop to Nagano Station. However, there was a long line. It took more than 30 minutes to get on the bus. Cold wind was blowing and it was cold. I was shivering until I got on the bus.
- While waiting the bus, extra edition reporting that Mr. Kawauchi, civil officer runner, won first place (time: 2 hours 14 minutes 27 seconds) was being delivered.
- It took almost 70 minutes to reach Nagano Station owing to traffic jam although the pamphlet said it took less than 30 minutes. The arrival time was past 15:00.
- The bus bound for Tokyo would leave at 17:00. Therefore, I decided to visit Zenkoji Temple again. The guide plate said the one-way distance was 1.8 km. There was not enough time and thus I had to walk at a quick pace. The sun appeared after 15:30, but it was still very cold.
- I quickly worshipped at Zenkouji Temple. When I came back to Nagano Station, it was already 15:40. I got out my big luggage from the locker and went to the bus stop.
- I was finally relived when I got on the return bus. I could fortunately see Mt. Asama covered with snow from the bus on the way back.
- The bus reached Nerima Station at 20:30. I could safely return home at 21:30. It was cold in Tokyo; however, it was not so cold compared with the coldness at Nagano.
- The act of terrorism happened at Boston Marathon race on April 15. Some dead and injured were reported. It was no longer someone else's affair. At Nagano, the security seemed to be tightened, but I thought it might be difficult to do the act of terrorism under snowy condition.