Running in Okinawa

The pieces are finally coming together. I was so happy to finally be able to race after having done some hard training, and that I was healthy at this race, unlike last year when I ran it with the flu.

Day 1
Woke up at 4am to eat breakfast. I had to meet others on the team at 5am to car pool to our starting points. My sleep had been broken up because my daughter couldn’t sleep. I woke up at 10pm, 1am, 3am, and 4am. None the less, I had a good performance.

I ran the 2nd leg of the ekiden which was stacked with “ace” runners (each team’s fastest runners). The course was 14.2 km (8.875 mi).

Our starter, the Ryudai kid who ran the first leg, was out of shape because he’s been studying for a major exam. He finished twelfth, and came in fighting neck and neck with and beating out the Nakagami runner by a step. Then it was on!

I made some good separation from the Nakagami team, but I still couldn’t see any other teams up ahead. I was at least a full car length in front of Nakagami because I could hear the Ginowan car following close behind me. Each team has a car that follows to support their runner. They are usually equipped with a megaphone, and the coaches talk to the runners for encouragement.

The Nakagami guy caught up to me after about three kilometers (~2mi), and I fought with him through the hills. I spoke with him afterwords, and this guy weighs a slim 52 kilograms (114 lbs). I’ve got 35 pounds on this guy. Anyways, he caught me and we fought it out through the next seven kilometers (~4.4 mi) of rolling hills. He held on through the final hill which was the steepest one, and there my legs locked up. By the time I recovered, he was ahead of me by about ten meters.

I stayed on him after that. We caught and passed one team, and then as we pushed an anaerobic sprint to the hand off area, we could see three more teams up ahead. The next runner on my team caught all of them!

2nd leg - 14.2 km (8.9 mi), my time 47:35

day 1 morning, ginowan placed 7th

day 1 afternoon, ginowan placed 14th