usandtoto-2@msn.com
(cross posted in Kickrunning)
Ok where to start. Last Monday I flew to Japan to work there (here) for 6 weeks. Due to the International Date Line, you arrive a day later on Tuesday and by the time I reach my apartment it was 8 pm. So Wednesday evening after work I e-mailed another friend who just happened to be in Tokyo. He e-mailed me that there was a marathon Saturday morning and where and when to met him. Of course I get his e-mail after I had completed 15 plus miles running Thursday. So I figure out the train system to get there and back, plus where the meeting place was. Saturday I was up at 4am and out the door for the 2 mile walk to the train station (no taxi's that time of the morning plus I can't speak japanese). Get to the station, buy my ticket for the 90 minute ride. Get to Tokyo Station and figure out how to 1) get out of the station and 2) find the meeting place. Another mile walk and best I figure I'm here at the place. But noone else looks like they are getting ready to run. So I wait and since he took the early start he would be around sooner or later. After a few minutes I sight Tet (Jon) coming at me in barefeet and "cone hat". He seems surprised to met me and says the start in 2 k away. What the !!!! He gave me the wrong place. OK I pickup my bag and off we run to the start. Getting to the start I figure I've already gone 4.2 miles and haven't started yet. My first ultra. The run: 2.2K out and back then 8 laps around the Imperial Palace which includes a mile hill (about 130ft gain), mile downhill and 1.1 miles flat. Lots of people walking, lots of other runners and bikes. Most are very curtious and I didn't get run over. It was 83 at 8am and climbed to 88 degrees when I finished. Very humid and slightly overcast. Not great conditions, but it was a training run. So round and round we go. Stopping after each lap to mark our progress on a clipboard. There were about 20 marathoners running. One had ran 1166 marathons and most were between 100-500. They were wearing pink hats and shirts, meaning they were members of the 100 marathon club. Tet is a member too. Though I can't see him wearing pink. But, then again. I started out slow and by the 4th lap I was still slower. Passing Tet for the second time, I mentioned that I was slowing down. He thought I said he was slowing down (which spurred him on) and he finished this marathon (his 8th in 9 weeks) an hour faster than he had been running. Each time around you get different peaks at the palace grounds keeping it interesting, mostly your trying not to run into anyone or thing. Very beautiful though. Hydration: I drank over 140 ounces of water and gaterade, 4 gels and 6 S caps. Still I don't think it was enough. I walked alot during the last 3 laps. I also stopped on the last four laps to pour water on my head and/or fill my waist pac. I had a blast. Jon got a few pictures of us and some of the other runners too. After recovering for a short while it was off to lunch and more chatting. Jon was heading to climb Mt Fuji whle I was heading back to my apartment, we walked each other to the train station (another mile). Finding my way through the station, brought my ticket and finding the right track was an adventure. But, really not to hard. Then another 2 mile walk back to the apartment. So for those who read this far I had a 33 plus mile day.. Cost: just under 4000 yen (approx $42.00)for the train fare and 300 yen (approx $3.10) for the marathon. Jon is a charater. I think I told me the wrong start just to get me tired before the start as a handicap. Ok my time: 4:27:02 Sunday morning I have no soreness or tightness and was able to run an easy 6 miles without any difficulty. I do have to get used to the heat and humidity again. Thanks for reading
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Marathon Maniac #530 Mike (My Indian name is "Runs for Beer")
well now Mike, what would you expect getting directions from Jon on when and where to get to the start. We all have a hard enough time figuring out his posting here, so I'm sure his directions were not crystal clear.
Nice spur of the moment ultra there Mike! since you are there for 6 wks, does this mean you'll run this ultra every week?
Tammy
Nice spur of the moment marathon, rasmussenmp. It's especially neat that you got to do it with tet. I'll be interested to year more about your time in Japan.
TomS
Maniac 505
Mike:
great job on your 50K. going to do it again next week?
Renee the dog
Very cool!
Enjoy the rest of your time in Japan!
GOALS 2012: UNDECIDED
GOALS 2011: LIVE!!!
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
Oddly enough Mike, . . . as if everything about being in Japan isn`t odd enough anyway, I mistakenly ended up at the Sakuradamon gate too for my early start. . . but got in a taxi for the 2k drive to the takebashi start on the other side of the palace. It was already going into the upper eighties when I got the surprise of your familiar face half way around my second lap, . . . and another treat when you turned down the taxi idea and, your big duffle bag over your shoulder, ran the remaining 2k with me to the start.
It was a delight too to see a familiar form too in the steady flow of hundreds of runners many flailing arms out to the side or swinging back-and-forth in front <<<(keizai-sensei/keisai-sensei)>>> but, with your steady, slightly hunched shoulders efficiently not moving an inch. I could spot you amongst the hordes or runners and tourists a mile away.
glad it worked out that you somehow you got a late enough start to finish about the same time the morning as me too, albeit nearly two hours faster. It`s gunna do nothin` but warmer and warmer and more and more humid but I hope you`ll get a chance to enjoy some more other weekly marathons with the local equivalent over here of our Marathon Maniacs.
ps - a U.S. flag about 3/4 the way up Mt. Fuji indicated a group from Yokosuka staying overnight for a morning assault on the summit. I know you`ve been up before but it`s still a lot of fun, . . . and cool. We encountered several hundred runners getting in some final ascents before the 15 miles of unrelenting climbing of steeper and steeper slopes to the way to the summit for the 7/25 Mt. Fuji Summit Race. About half of the runners miss the 4.5 hour cutoff including one gal we talked to on the way up who is determined to make up for her six second miss last year.
pps - I`m starting to get used to the pink singlet with "Hadashi Jon - WAshuu USA" and the back but I wonder if any of the goddesses would like some bright pink running shorts?
ppps - don`t forget the Japanese I taught you to say to the local goddesses - "bijin, bijin, kirei, kirei."
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
i'm lovin' it... MM#1949
Mike.. you sure make the world seem small!! Nice HHH loopty loop race. Thousands of marathons?? wow
Thanks for the great RR and congrats on the Palace marathon!
Steve
Perch's Profile "I don't know if running adds years to your life, but it definitely adds life to your years." - Jim Fixx "The secret is to make in your mind possible what was not possible before. The secret is to make easy what was difficult, instead to make difficult what really is easy." - Coach Renato Canova
Carolyn
Mike, congrats on a fine Tokyo ultra! And arigatou for the RR! Nice that you got to see Tet, too.
We went to Japan last year for spring break, and loved it! Do you really speak no Japanese at all, or do you mean you're not fluent? We were glad we'd learned some basic language skills before we went, as it would be hard to get around if you didn't know any at all. Cool that you get to work there for 6 weeks!
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
Marathon Maniac #957
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
Be safe. Be kind.