Race #2

I went to the race in Wakayama last Sunday and I would count it as a success. But first some background. Wakayama is about 2 hours from here by train and bus. It is kind of a mountainous prefecture.We took the train from Tennoji to Wakayama, it was quite cheap, just 800 yen and then we took a bus from Wakayama station to Marina city which appeared to be on a man-made island. I love to travel so it is always exciting for me to go to a new city and explore a bit. After about a 45 minute buss ride we arrived a the hotel. It was in a resort-like area. There were lots of big hotels and even an amusement park close by. The hotel was quite luxurious and our room was very big by Japanese standards. It had a balcony and a jacuzzi style bath so we were quite pleased. As soon as we got there we had to go to dinner which was part of the price. The restaurant was Italian style but the only resemblence to Italian food was in the name of the restaurant. It was a seven course dinner but each course was laughably small. Unfortunately I wasn't laughing too hard because I was starving. Anyway we managed to eat enough to stop the hunger pains. We then went to a private hotsprings to relax before bed.
The next day we were able to sleep in, because the race started quite late at 11:00. We went down to get my number around 9:30 and explored all the stalls and mini-stores selling running gear. It was quite the production with jazz bands along the course to cheer on the runners. Finally it was time for the race and when I got to the starting area everybody was already lined up. I managed to squeeze into the lead goup. When the gun went off it was a crazy start as Japanese races usually are and I had to keep my elbows high and do my share of pushing to avoid getting run over. I have come to the conclusion that i can't start fast enough to be on the front line anymore. The next race I need to be farther back. I guess that is a sign of age. Anyway the race went well. I felt strong and steady. The only problem with the race is that it turned out to be about 600 meters long. Luckily I had my Garmin on and I got my 5k time at 19:23. It is a post 40 PR which is always good but is not as fast as I would have liked to run. Oh well I will take it a step at a time. One interesting note, later that week the race sent everyone a note apologizing the the mistake in course measurement, which is one thing that never happened to me in the US.