Current training

After my last race I took two weeks off with just 5 miles a day. It was nice to have a bit of a break to regenerate my enthusiasm for the sport and get hungry again. I am definitely ready to go again. I emailed my coach, Tinman, and we have informally decided on running in the 17's for 5K next season. I think that would be a respectable time so I will do my best to get there. I have trained well since last April so it will be a year's worth of good training soon. This week I am back up to ten miles a day. My hamstring is a little tight but I am feeling pretty good and hoping to put a good base in this winter.

The last race

Well my fall season is over. I ran my last race of the season in Hirakata city which is just 45 minutes away from my home by bus. All the previous races I have been to this year entailed overnight stays so it was nice to go to a closer one. The course was along a river bed so I was looking forward to a semi-fast race. It was quite cold and a bit windy so my warm-up was shortened. I probably ran a half mile so I was a bit stiff at the start. My hamstrings were tight but I managed to push through it and relax as much as possible. The first mile went pretty smoothly 6:12. It felt pretty easy so I picked it up a bit and started catching a few people. At the turn araound I was running well and hit 2 miles in 12:19 for a 6:07 2nd mile. The last mile I ran as hard as I could, knowing that it was the last race of the season so I wanted to give it my all. From the turnaround point there was a guy behind me who was making the most disgusting noises. He sounded like he was half-way between having a heart attack and vomitting. It was making me nauseous to listen to him, so that was a big motivation to get away from him and out of earshot. In the last half mile I saw a guy ahead of me with the worst form. His arm was flailing around and he looked quite awkward. I just couldn't face losing to someone who looked that bad. Well, I guess I have to face it because I couldn't catch him by the finish. So that is how far I have fallen in my running. I used to strategize how to win local road races. Now I struggle to stay ahead of grotesque noise makers or to beat people whose form does not measure up to a level I have set. :) Anyway I ran the last mile in 6:03 and finished in 19:05. This is a post 40 personal record so i consider it a success.

Fun Run?

This past weekend I was down in Kita-Kyushu for a teaching conference. I got an email announcing a fun run on Saturday morning so I decided to participate. When I got there there were about 12 people waiting and only a couple of them looked like runners. The director explained that a young Japanese girl was going to be leading the race because she was the fastest one there. I thought it was possible because there are some very fast Japanese women. But since she didn't even take off her sweats I thought she was being a little presumptuous to think she could stay ahead of all of us even wearing full sweats.
I wan't really sure what this event was. Was it a group run or a race? But when the director announced that there would be prizes for the first and second runners I decided there was some competitive element to it. When the race started two guys, a hippie girl and I moved to the front. The Japanese runner who was supposed to lead the race never was near the lead. Thankfully the race director was leading the race on his bike so we just followed him. The four of us ran together with the director giving us a historical tour of the area as we ran along. We chatted the first half and all stayed together. As we passed the castle a young American guy broke away and put a small gap on us. I figured that was the first indication that we were in a race so I got the Australian guy who was running with me to join me in the pursuit. We caught him pretty quickly and since I was in the lead I decided to try to break away. I got a big gap but unfortunately we had to stop at all lights so every time I got a lead I had to wait at lights and let them catch up. After doing that a couple of times I decided to rejoin the group. With about a half mile to go the Australian man tried to break away and got a big lead in a short distance. Fortunately he too was stopped at the light. I caught up with him and as soon as the light changed I sprinted for all I was worth and managed to win the race though I had to cross the last road as the light was changing. It was kind of a fun event. It was like pretend racing. I am sure that I won't have many more chances in my life to lead a race so I definitely relished the experience.