It had been very warm(almost 25°C degree) by the day just before the race. However, unexpectedly, the marathon day was cold and rainy.(The temperature at noon was only 13°C degree!)
So far, the days of my marathon races were almost all fine. Even on the day of the Oume Marathon(30km)race in 1996, a heavy rain in the morning miraculously stopped just before the start. Thus I was optimistically thinking that the rain would stop in due course.
I arrived in the park entrance at 9:30AM just when the park was open.
However, there were no receptionists who gave me the entrance ticket.
I had to wait with other participants there more than 30minutes. From the beginning, my spirit was lost.
Moreover, it took more than 20 minutes from the entrance to the race starting point.
The rain continued and did not seem to stop.
Owing to the trouble at the entrance, there was not enough time for warm-up.
The 20km race started at 11:00 AM. Contrary to my expectation, the rain started to fall a little bit heavy when the race started. Besides, it was cold!
Although 250 runnners were registered, only 150 runnners seemed to join owing to bad weather.
The course of 20km made four round trips of 5km-road in the park.
At the end of every round trip, the runners received a colored-sash. The runners reached goal after receiving 3-different sashes.
Anyway, this was my first race IN THE RAIN. The rain was not so heavy, but it continued during the race. The trouble was that I could not see the front well due to wet eyeglass (I wear eyeglass.) I wished truly I could have wiper on the eyeglass. I felt as if I was running with an eyesight of 0.1.
The top group was truly fast! I was outstripped by them just when I entered the third trip. However, it couldn't be helped.
By the time I reached the goal, I was drenched to the skin. Everybody was the same. The body did not become warm even while running. If the temperature was less than 10°C, I might catch a cold.
My course time was 1 hour 46 minutes. The ranking was 94th, (I do not know exactly how many runnners joined.)
If the weather was fine, I might drink the beer and take a nap on the turf after the race. However, the rain did not stop and thus I was forced to go home as early as possible.
Anyway, I may safely be said that I could luckily reach the goal in the cold/rainy weatrher.