Okinawa Marathon is tomorrow
February 21st, 2009I found an article that gives a good intro to the marathon. No need for me to write any more. Here it is:
Weather fine for Sunday Okinawa Marathon
By: Bill Charles
Date Posted: 2009-02-21
The daddy of all marathons winds its way across Okinawa Sunday, with an estimated 11,000 runners expected to test themselves on the 42.195 kilometer marathon course or on the 10 kilometer course.
Mother Nature’s promising to cooperate both Saturday, when runners complete registration procedures at Okinawa Prefecture Comprehensive Park, and on Sunday when the 17th annual Okinawa marathon kicks off at 9 a.m. Temperatures of 73F are expected by midday, but forecasters predict overcast and cloudy skies which will make things a little easier on runners.
Noboru Kubooka, who claimed the men’s title in last year’s Okinawa Marathon, is expected to be back to defend his title, while Okinawa’s Mariko Asato, who won the women’s crown, is expected to do the same. Asato won with a time of 2 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds, while Hiroshima-based Kubooka ran the 26-mile course in 2 hours 25 minutes 12 seconds. Of the 7,678 who ran the 2008 race, 81% finished the grueling course.
click here for the rest of the article…
February 26th, 2009 at 12:23 am
how did it go? I have Napa Valley this weekend. Looks like rain.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
missed the pit stop at 25km. for some reason my drink wasn’t there. my next one was at 35km. by 32km i was completely depleted, and keeled over at the nearest food table. after that my race turned into a fun run, and i walk/jogged from table to table to check out what goodies they had. brown sugar mostly.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Elger, David (M55) 2:55:10 23 22 / 1 M55-59 2:55:10 Sequim, WA, USA 2:29:52 (Napa Valley)
Happy to break 2hr 30 on the age graded time. Didn’t you run Oki marathon?
May 8th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I’m thinking about doing the run next year. As far as full marathons go how would you rate it for difficulty on a scale of 1-10 (1 being easy)??
May 8th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Based on fun, Okinawa Marathon gets a 10. The difficulty that I’ve found with both this marathon and Naha Marathon is that they tend to start out too fast, and then clobber you with hills. I’d give Okinawa Marathon’s difficulty rating a 7.0.