One of my goals I set for myself before we arrived in Japan was to complete a marathon during the year. I had high hopes of training and maybe even setting a new time record for myself. I did run on a pretty regular basis for the first month we were here. I was able to run down to the ocean in the mornings and back towards the mountains on my return for home. I have never run in a more beautiful place. However, after a few weeks the newness of the beautiful scenery and the hope of a good marathon time was worn down by a lack of sleep and a true Japanese work schedule that drove us both to sickness right before Christmas. We traveled in China and got better. I thought that was interesting.
We got back from China on Friday night and the marathon came early Sunday morning. We were picked up at 4 am and drove two hours to the marathon. The two marathons that I ran in the past without injury I completed in around 3 hours and 45 minutes. The one that I ran on a gimpy knee I finished in 4 hours and 40 minutes. I tell you these times only to put my time in this marathon in perspective. I finished with the glorious time of 5 hours and 25 minutes! My cousin Greg has run a few marathons without any training as well but he does them in less than 4 hours, even close to 3 and a half hours I believe.
It was a beautiful marathon. It was also the most hilly course I've ever seen. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since the whole country is mountainous but I was. I was also surprised by how many people out of the more than 10 thousand seemed to be running with little or no training as well. In America you always get some stragglers but this seemed like a whole marathon of stragglers. At around 2 miles people were already stopping to stretch and even have a cigarette. I thought that was pretty funny. "Ya that's gonna help your running problems." The course was lined with people cheering, of course in Japanese style, very quiet and polite. But they were cheering none the less. The course took us through the Japanese country side by traditional thatched farm houses and ancient fields. The farmers along with their sunbonnet-clad wives cheered for us from their little stools placed near the old road. I gave one grandma a high-five and made her smile a very big smile. I also thanked a group of old ladies who were giving oranges to the runners and they were very surprised that a foreigner not only knew some Japanese but was also so polite, they smiled and clapped in approval. That kept me going for another few feet.
Mary Ellen was able to ride along with one of her students, who's husband was also running, and see me along the route. That was really nice. Nothing like a kiss from my beautiful girl to keep me going. I ran with one of my students for part of the way until we got separated, but we caught up after the race. All in all it was a really good experience but I think next time I will train a little more.
