Fatherhood

It has been forever since my last post, well not exactly forever but more than two years. The biggest event in my life has been the birth of my daughter Terra. It is definitely the best thing that ever happened to me, but it was quite an adventure. The short story is that she was born 3 and a half months early and was of course very tiny. When she was born she was 286 grams. At the time she was born she was the 8th smallest baby in the world. I think she has been demoted to number nine at the moment but we are so proud that she has come so far. Anyway she spent six months in the hospital but now two years late is doing quite well. We were totally blessed and are incredibly grateful that she avoided many of the terrible things that could have happened. But now she is very healthy and strong and very opinionated. The point of this blog is/was to talk about running but of course with her in my life running has taken a back seat or a seat farther toward the back. I am still managing to run but have cut back to once a day. I have made some big changes in my running life and will talk about them in the next post.

A tale of two running clubs

I have a relationship with two different running clubs. It is kind of a long story but I will try to explain.

There is one club that I run with that meets near Osaka castle every Wednesday night. The training is great. We usually do a 15K tempo run. A tempo run is a run at a hard pace but slower than race pace. It is a run that I can't really do alone because it is difficult to get to that level of intensity by yourself. The problem with this group is that they kind of ignore me. Of course they will run with me but in the meeting room where we meet before running, there is very little interaction. I watch them with other new members and they are quite open. They invite the new member to other runs/activities etc. But for me they don't really say much. They will answer questions but never initiate them. The impression I have gotten many times from them is that they don't want me there. I have quit that group several times but the head of the club has called me and invited me back. But when I get there it is always the same. For example one time only myself and the head of the club were there. When it was time to go the the starting place he just took off and left me. Another time I saw the team leader in a restaurant right after the run. He was with a friend. He looked at me laughed and walked away. This past week I returned after a long time away. I decided the benefit to my running was greater than the uncomfortable time I spend withe them. When I got there they were quite warm. I don't know how long this will last but for now I will take advantage of the good training and ignore the fact that they are ignoring me.

I would guess it sounds kind of immature/insecure that I am worried about being ignored. My only response is that is is quite uncomfortable to be with a group when you are not sure if you should really be there.

My other group is also in Osaka. I had a very similar experience with them. I did some races and workouts with them over a period of a couple of years. My experience was that each time I ran with them was like the first time they had ever me them. There was no developing friendships, no improved communication, just many one way conversations. I ask a question, they respond, I ask another question, shorter response.....long uncomfortable silence..I walk away. I did this for a couple of years and after telling myself each time that I would never do it again I really quit. One day the club president called me and asked why I didn't come to his club activities anymore. I honestly told him that it was too uncomfortable. I said it was not a pleasant experience to be with a large group of people when you are clearly on the outside. He seemed to understand but wanted me to give it another try.

He said if I was with them more often and for a longer period of time things would change. I have been in Japan a long time and I have heard that before many times. But I decided to give it another attempt. I am now going to most of their activities and staying after runs to eat with them. Before the idea of spending more time with them after a very uncomfortable few hours was the last thing I wanted to do. But it seems to be going better. And from a selfish perspective it is very good for both my Japanese language and my running. Whenever we are together we are 100% in Japanese and they get me into many races that would be inaccessible by myself so I am clearly benefitting from the relationship even though it is uncomfortable at times.

Two wins in two weeks

It has definitely been a successful two weeks. Last weekend I ran an ekiden with one of my running clubs. Each person on our team ran 3K, so the total distance was 5x3k=15k. I ran lead off, my favorite position. I think going first is best because you can see who you are racing against. In the later legs you might never see your opponent. I ran a pretty good leg, I think I was 2nd or 3rd in my division and the rest of the team brought us into 1st place for our second win in two years.

This past weekend I ran a 5k along the Yodo river. Every third Sunday one of my clubs has an old-school race along the river bank. It is old-school because it is how I picture races were, back in the 60's before the running boom hit. There are very few bells and whistles, just simple races in the park along the banks of the river. When I lined up to start the race I took a quick look at my fellow runners and had a good idea that I would win and thankfully I did. Honestly just by looking at people you can often, not always, tell how fast they will be. At 49 it is great to win a race even a low-key race like that.

update

After the last place finish, I was not eager to race again but Guito-san, the head of my running club, convinced me to give it another shot. First he said to just come and watch, and then he changed it to just run the first 2k of the 5k race. He said it was totally ok to drop out once I passed the 2k mark. Somehow this seemed reasonable to me that day, so I agreed to do it. Actually my "secret" plan was try to run 90 sec. pace and then drop if I went over that pace. I managed to stay close to 90 sec. race the whole 5k and finished in 18:51, just 6 sec. over 90 pace for the entire distance.

Race 2

With my confidence somewhat restored I decided to run another 5k track race in the beginning of July just before I returned to the U.S. for vacation. July in Japan is quite hot and at race time it was 95 degrees and humid. Before the race I went on a warm-up and it was quite brutal. In my warm-up I was dying and I thought there was no way I would run well. Thankfully I did a pretty long warm-up of 25 minutes and I think it helped me somehow.

There were two heats of the 5k and fortunately I was placed in the slower heat. But I still had no idea how fast the other runners were and what to expect in the race. The gun went off and after 200 meters I was surprisingly in third place. Honestly I was shocked. I then moved into first through no real effort of my own but just because the other runners slowed down. In the past when I have led races I pushed the pace and I would try to break away, but in this race because of the heat I just tried to maintain. I knew that I couldn't pick up the pace at all. Unfortunately a younger guy, about 30yrs old, passed me and opened up a gap. At that point I was quite pleased to be in second so I just tried to hang on to my place. For the last mile I could hear a teammate on my heals. I could hear the sound of his footsteps very close so I was a bit worried. With 400 meters to go I picked uo the pace a bit and kicked it in for a second place finish.

I was very pleased with the race. I haven't finished that high in a track race in a long time and I thought I never would again so it was a great surprise.

DFL

Ahh..why is glory so short? ...Just the last post I was writing about "winning" a race. Well this race was the exact opposite. I signed up to run a track meet with one of the teams I run with. I thought it was a Masters track meet, (for older gentlemen), but was surprised to find it was an open meet with probably 85% high school kids, 10% open runners and 5% "old" guys like me. There were three heats in the 5k, and I assumed that I would be in the slow heat. I was surprised to find when I got there that I would be in the middle heat.

Anyway to back track a bit,(no pun intended) I arrived a little late with less then an hour before my race. I had run 5 and a half miles earlier that morning, so I was already relatively warmed up. When I arrived, the head of the club gave me my race number and other info. I proceeded to get ready, pinned the number on the front and back and waited for the first call for my race. They made the announcement for all the runners in my heat to gather in the waiting area. We showed our front and back number to the officials to prove they were correctly on, and then for some reason that I totally didn't understand, they gave us all new numbers. We had to remove our old numbers, from the front and back and replace them with totally different numbers for the front, back and a hip number. It must be one of those cultural mysteries that I will never understand. After we were all pinned and ready to go they moved us to an area next to the 5K starting line. We had to wait in that area until the 1st heat of the 5k was run. As I was watching the 1st heat of the 5k I noticed one runner who was was last by a large margin. Obviously somebody did a poor job of seeding(dividing the runners by their previous best times) the race. I clearly remember thinking I would hate to be that poor sucker. (This is foreshadowing I believe.)

So right after the 1st heat finished, they called my heat to the starting line. As I looked around at my competitors I couldn't help but notice they were all high school age except for one other "old" guy. I also couldn't help but notice that they all looked thin and fast. The gun sounded the runners were off and in a matter of seconds the race was over for me. At 200 meters I was in last place and quickly quickly getting "laster". It was all very obvious what the conclusion of the race was going to be and I considered veering off the track while no one was looking. I mean who would ever notice me? The only Caucasian guy running in a track meet with a bunch of Japanese high school kids. But I didn't make the hour and a half train trip to drop out of the race so I hung in there, tried to appear that I was running fast, and finished. It was one of those experiences that either demoralizes you to the point of quitting or motivates you to greater things. Honestly I was demoralized and embarrassed for several hours after the race. But now one day later I am recovered and willing to give it another go. I think I am in quite good shape, I ran a strong 19 miles last Sunday. But I have no speed and I weigh too much. I outweigh many of my competitors by 25-30 pounds..or more. And obviously weight is not helpful in any way in distance running. So no more Vanilla Creme Frapachino from Starbucks until I lose....

My first "win" in a while

At my age 48, there are very few possibilities of winning a race outright anymore, but last weekend was the closest I will probably get. Last Monday, a national holiday in Japan, I ran an ekiden , (relay) with one of the clubs I train with, the Yodogawa Runners. This particular ekiden consisted of 5 legs of 3K. I ran the first leg. The great thing about this ekiden is that you only run against people in your age division. If I run against 20 or 30 years olds I have little chance of winning but against 40 year olds I have a slightly greater chance. It is quite fun and different from a usual race. Where usually at the start of a road race all the young pups bury me at the start, at this race I was in the lead for a little bit at the beginning. Anyway after my short time in the lead, 5 people moved ahead and I settled into 6th for the first half of my 3K leg. One thing I noticed when we were heading out, on this out and back course, was that the lead pack wasn't pulling away at all. They were maintaining a steady lead but it wasn't growing. After the turn around I saw one guy that I thought I could possibly catch, so I kept my eyes on him and tried to reduce the gap. With about a K to go I caught him and without realizing it I had caught the entire lead pack and passed them all within 100 meters. One of that group re-passed me but I gathered up strength again and passed him fast so he wouldn't consider trying again. I then coasted in and handed of the sash for my first "win" in many years. Our team went on to win the team title also.

Another couple of 80's

Last week was another 80 mile week and this week I am on pace for 88. It is going fairly well. My legs don't feel particularly tired though my knees are a bit achy. The last two Wednesdays I have done 15k tempo runs in Osaka. Basically we run each kilo at around 4:25 in the beginning and then gradually speed up with the last 3k at "free" pace, however fast you want to go. The splits two weeks ago were 21:58, 21:45 and 20:41. Last week I started a little slower with 22:26,21:47 and finished with 20:39. I think with the combination of mileage and a hard tempo run once a week I will improve. I definitely feel stronger than before. I often ask myself what the point is in getting up at 5 in the morning to run in the dark every morning. It is a hard question to answer but the biggest reason is that running gives me something that I can't get anyway else. I like the feeling of strength that comes from running fast. I like the achievement that you feel when you place well in a race.

80 mile week

I got my first 80 mile week in last week. It has been a while since I have been to that level in mileage. I feel like I am getting stronger and the morning 8.5's are getting easier. So hopefully I can consistently stay at this level. My goal is to run well in a couple of ekidens, one in January and one in February. I will also be in the US in February and would like to run a couple of races there.

Today I will go to Osaka to run with the Wednesday night group. I am looking forward to a hard run.