Urakawa Pisukari Half Marathon Report

The run went well. I am very pleased with my effort. The weather was supposed to be windy and rainy and I prepared for that by bringing my winter running jersey and a long sleeve running shirt. However, the sun came out and it was warm and not at all windy and I was roasting in my jersey. I didn't bring a short sleeve running shirt so I put on a quick dry shirt that I got at the Yoichi Marathon and pinned my big number to that. I was number 165. That is a bit misleading though because there were only 18 men in the open division (18 and over).

The Pisukari Half Marathon is two laps of an out and back course held at AERU in Urakawa, Hokkaido Japan. AERU is a facility for recreation and more importantly for raising and training race horses. I haven't researched this though so don't take my word for it. We think it is a national facility. The course is run on the roads that go through the area which are usually off limits to the public ( to protect the horses). It's fall here and the trees lining the road were beautiful oranges and yellows and dirty greens. There were two water points, with water only, but the staff made effort to make sure you could get water coming and going as we passed them at the 2.5km and 5km points. Since it's two laps of an out and back course you get to go past the water points 8 times.

The course is out and up hill for 5km to the turn around point and then down 5km to the next turn around and repeat. I remember being totally trashed last year the second time going up that 5km hill. This time it wasn't so bad. I don't know if it was the extra hills that I've done this year or if it was because I was mentally prepared for it but I was able to get up and over the hills both times without getting too fatigued. I concentrate on keeping my foot pace the same when going up hills and not on powering up or keeping the same speed. So I'm pretty sure I slow down going up the hills but I'm kicking out the same rhythm with my feet. The top four athletes blew out of the gate and soon were so far ahead of me that I couldn't even see them. But I had company anyway.

There were three of us and we kept changing position throughout the race. Only the top 3 spots get awarded so we weren't battling for a trophy so much as just battling. On the second lap I was able to pull away about 100m going up the hill. The last time we went down the hill both the other guys hit the gas and I had a hard time keeping up with them. I figured they would do the same thing this time to so after the turn around I picked up the pace, determined to keep away from them. However, I soon heard foot steps behind me and the voice of one who kept calling out to his mates and everyone on the side of the road to encourage and to answer calls of "way to go". He was getting closer. Eventually he was right behind me and I could swear the other guy was there too, but this was just relying on my ears because I wasn't going to look back. At this point, with the foot steps and heavy breathing on my heels, it is as much a psychological race as a physical one.

We are running as fast as we think we can last for 21km and it is a sort of a gamble. I never practice running 21km at this pace so I'm only hoping that I'll be able to keep up the pace till the end, and have enough left in the tank to shake this bugger of my tail. I don't know if he's holding back, waiting for the sprint to the finish, or if it is all he can do just to keep up. I had the feeling though that he was running close to 100% because with 3km left to go he was having a hard time keeping up his back and forth with the other runners who were still working their way up the hill as we came down. He just didn't have the breath for it. I wasn't wasting my breath. I didn't have that many people to cheer on anyway and when I did, I waved. Waving is not so easy at this point either. I can barely reach up to wipe the sweat of my brow. I start thinking too much. I think about his breathing. I think about not slowing down even though I got a bug in my left eye. I think about slowing down and letting this guy pass. It really is mental. Your body actually can keep up the pace and can go faster, go farther, but way before your body breaks down, your mind is telling you that you are tired. It tells you to stop this nonsense and go find a nice comfy mattress to lay down on.

Just 100m before the goal, I see a guy walking. He was in first place the first 10k and 3rd the last time I saw him. Is he cooling down? Did he stop running? Thinking that this may be my chance to get 3rd place I was now even more determined not to let this guy beat me in the last 100m. They guy I'm battling with says as we round the last corner, "almost there". ?? Is he running with me or against me? An altogether positive and bright sportsman. We sprint to the finish and I am triumphant!

This is only the second time that I have had a battle in a race and it was exhilarating. I'm sure I would not have had such a great time if this guy wouldn't have been there to push me to the end. It turns out the third guy in our group couldn't keep up the pace. He came in a bit later.

This is probably my 2nd or third best time in the half marathon and with very little training done this year. What does that mean? Does that mean that I am getting stronger mentally? Does that mean that I was training too much in previous years? Is it just a product of time? This is my 5th year running. My full marathon time this year was terrible (3:52). I've had two half marathons at the beginning of the year that were pretty bad too (1:45). I am writing this on the Monday after the race. Since last week I have had a sore left hip, again and my hip and legs, back and abs are all sore today from the race. I have one more half marathon this weekend and it is a bugger. I don't think I have the heart left to put into that race. At any rare, I'll take it easy this week and maybe run once or twice before the race then we'll see what happens.

Time: 1:34
Place: 5th out of 18

For running the race everyone got a technical T-shirt and a 500ml bottle of sports drink. The winners got Trophies, medals AND a large certificate! A little overboard I think. Just a medal and a certificate would be sufficient. The rest of us got blank certificates printed on construction paper so I dutifully wrote my name and time down on my certificate and put it in my race folder at home. ;-) In the goodies bags were also tickets for a discounted dip in the local onsen and a ticket for a free bowl of pork soup. It was salty and delicious after the run. Just what a body needs after a hard race.

Millennium Forest Hokkaido Tokachi Trail Running

I know, what the hell kind of title is that? That is a direct translation of the title of the last race I did last weekend in Shimizu-cho on Sunday September 6, 2009. It was a 20k, 10k, 5k, and 2k trail run at the sen-nen no mori (千年の森) also known as the Millennium Forest. The place is owned and run by the son of the owner of the local Newspaper/TV/Radio/Sports Club/Hotel etc, etc guy. It was the first trail run ever held here in Tokachi. Japanese are starting to get more and more into trail running and it is something that I have always been interested in. Unfortunately, I have not trails to run on near my home. The closest thing to trails are the dirt roads that go in between farms and fields here.

I ran in the 20k Trail Run which was 50% trail or dirt roads. The first 8k was all trail with lots of ups and downs. Then there was a paved section another dirt section and still another paved and then dirt section before the final 1k that was all soft, soft grass and felt a bit like running on marshmallows. There were a few mucky spots and a bit of mud but not much and I didn't get nearly as muddy as I had hoped I would. I also didn't see anyone bleeding from the knees or anything which would have been cool. The trail section was run in the woods and for the most part was soft with gravely sections hear and there but no big rocks or anything. There were, I believe, a total of 3 lookouts on the course but I was having too much fun running to stop and take a look. The overall winner finished the 20k with a time of 1 hour and 19 minutes (1:19) and took home a Columbia Sports back pack and the second place winner got a pair of Montrail Trail Running Shoes. Oh! I wish I were that fast. It would be great to take home something other than the participation prize.

I had SO much fun running this race. I came in 17th out of 55 people in the 39 and under division with a time of 1 hour and 45 minutes (1:45:32). That was about the same time that I had on my previous race in Nemuro at the Nosappu Cape (Half) Marathon. My times this year suck! I mean, I am really slow. My mileage is also way, way down from what it was last year at my peak. Last year I ran near 300km in both May and June while I was getting ready for the Saroma 100k Ultra. My goal for this month is 150km.

I have been really bad about updating this blog or any of my blogs but I have been thinking recently that it would be better to be updating the blogs that spending all my time doing other pointless and fruitless activities. It may also help me to stay more focused on other things. SO, this blog is going to morph into my running blog. As always I will be putting up race information when I can and especially race reports and hopefully I can talk a little more about my running in general. I am not a very talkative person to begin with so we shall see how this goes.

I'm sorry, I didn't get any good photos of the run but my friends did take the time during this inagural run to take lots of photos which you can see at the links below.
Ogaman
http://ameblo.jp/ogaman42195/entry-10336912256.html#main

Takehshi
His race report was broken up into three articles. I will post them here.

第1回十勝トレイル　完走レポート I Report 1

第1回十勝トレイル　完走レポートⅡ Report 2

第1回十勝トレイル　完走レポートIII Report 3

The Millennium Forest Hokkaido Tokachi Trail Running home page.
十勝千年の森　北海道・十勝トレイルランニング

You can see my running log at Jognote in Japanese at the following link.
Jognote is a Japanese site that allows you to track your running, swimming, walking, biking, weight, body fat and others. It has mapping functions and is an SNS type site where you can connect with other active people and share information. Just like Nike+ or Buckeyoutdoors (See below) it has challenges and special interest communities. It allows you to import your Nike+ runs from Nike as well as your AU Sports data and, get this, your Tanita electronic scale data! YOu can post photos to your workout posts as well. I don't think it will track your equipment usage. For that you'll want to use buckeyeoutdoors or some other service.
http://www.jognote.com/users/8846

I also use buckeyeoutdoors.com
This site is not pretty but very functional. It has all of the functions that Jognote has but it is in English except, I don't think you can post photos to your workouts. But that's fine. You can track ALL KINDS of workouts and keep track of your equipment mileage as well as sync it with Nike+ and Sport Tracks(?). Check my log at buckeyeoutdoors at the following link.
http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com/cgi-bin/training/traininglog?guest=clintonlane

Nissan Cup Rikubetsu Cold Wind Marathon

In Japan, any race 1km or over is called a marathon. So basically, all foot races that we attend, whether they be 10k or 42.195k, have “marathon” in their title. I often translate them as “half marathon” just for the sake of clarity.

Last weekend I went to Rikubetsu with my father in law for the second year in a row. Rikubetsu has as it’s claim to fame the distinction of being the coldest place in Japan and they call their marathon the “kogarashi marason”, translated as “the cold wind marathon”. True to its name, there was a cold, cold wind blowing on the back half of the course.

From last year they added a half marathon to the event. The event is run on the closed circuit Nissan test track in Rikubetsu, Hokkaido Japan. The event is sponsored by both the town of Rikubetsu and Nissan and there are many Nissan flavored goods as prizes for winners and other lucky participants. Last year I got a Nismo jacket for being the runner coming the farthest distance to the race. This year I got 5k of rice. The course itself is on the Nissan secret test course. Secret in that the course is usually closed to the public and no cameras/cellphones are allowed on the course. You can use your favorite mapping software to find it at lat=43.61457542 and lon=143.66365492. The first 10k of the half is run on the “country road” on the inside of the course and the second half on the high speed road that goes around the outside. There is a lot of up down with a difference of 100m up and down steep hills. At one point there is a sign on the road that shows a car going over an upside down U and taking off into the air. The word on the sign says “jump!”. I can only imagine what the test drivers and engineers are doing there on the course. Must be exciting.

I ran the half in 1:37:28 seconds, a minute slower than last year and two minutes slower than the race the weekend before. That is several minutes slower than my best time this year but considering the amount of practice I have been doing since the end of June, I would say that it is not a bad time.

I thought this year would be the year for some PRs but not so. Maybe next year.

Yoichi Mikaku Half Marathon

We went to the Yoichi Mikaku Half Marathon on 9/28 in Yoichi-cho on the North South Coast of Hokkaido. Yoichi is famous for fruit and fish and you get a good dose of both during the race. The first few kilometers take you past some fishy smells and then right after that you are surrounded by fields of grapes, apples, pears, plums and whatnot. The grapes are especially fragrant and you can smell them during the race.

Before the race at reception, many runners were happy to leave with boxes full of fruit and vegetables. There was a drawing held, before the race by the officials, and runners who had their bib number drawn, got a tag attached to their bib and were notified that they had won that way. We didn't get anything in the drawing but everyone did get a plate full of fruit to eat at reception. I saved mine for the kids.

The course is an out and back course towards the Yoichi Dam. Yoichi is on the coast so you run inland and uphill for the first 10k past fields of fruits and other crops until the last few km before the turnaround which are run in the forest. After the turn around it is all down hill from there.

For this race I had a lot going on in my head before the start. I haven't been training much recently, only 2 or 3 times a week, so I didn't have much hope of doing well. But my mother in law, who I race with, had been encouraging me to run hard and try to win something since the prizes at Yoichi are boxes of fruit! I had also recent read an article in Runner's World Magazine that encouraged me to run harder. Well, not to run harder but to keep running hard. The article said that our brain takes signals from our body and determines, very quickly, the pace that you can maintain for the duration of your race. It also takes signals from your body and tells you "I'm tired" when you may actually be able to keep up the pace for longer than you think. After reading this I thought, it's just a matter of mind over brain. That and just gutting it out till the end. I was also thinking of how my wife keeps giving me a hard time for running each half in 1:36. She said you could set a clock by me because my times were always about the same and I never got faster. I wanted to run faster. I wanted to run under 1:30. I didn't have any hope of doing that on this day however.

The race started and I fell into a pretty good rhythm. One that I have been running pretty close to during my training runs. I have been concentrating on running hard since I'm running so little. No reason for easy runs with so many days off, I thought. At the 5k check point I looked at my watch for the first time. It read 23 minutes. Not bad, but about average for my first 5k of a half. After that the incline got steeper. I started telling myself "we can do this, we can do this". Then I started having inner dialogue. "Why are you saying 'we'? It's 'I' isn't it? I can do this. I am the hill master! Ok, that sounded a little corny." But I kept up positive thoughts like this. Hills are nothing. I run hills like this for breakfast. No problem. You can do this. I didn't look at my watch until the 10k check point. 46 minutes. Hmm, that's about average too, BUT, I had just run uphill for 10k! Hmm, this is pretty good I told myself. Then of course my usual negative thoughts kicked in. I'll probably slow down a lot during the next 10k. But then I caught myself thinking those negative thoughts and countered them. NO! I've just run up a 10k hill and run in the same speed I always run 10k in races. And it's all down hill from here! From that point on I concentrated on positive thoughts and on keeping my head up. Chin up, thoughts up. No more hills to run up, just one long down hill run. Now my thoughts were "keep up the pace, don't slow down, keep up the pace, you can do it, keep up the pace". And I kept it up, too. I actually ran the next 5k 3 minutes faster than the first 5k. I didn't look at my watch again until I entered the track and the last 200m and my watch said 1:28:50! Whoa! If I hurry I can get a PR! I ran across the goal in 1:29:45, a new personal best! I was so happy. I placed 31st out of about 130 in my age group. I won nothing but I got a PR and I learned that I can run faster, if only I try. It's kind of like a little engine that could story.

Keep positive!

25th Karikachi Summer Road Race

25th Annual Karikachi Summer Road Race

第25回狩勝サマーロードレース大会

Karikachi Summer Road Race

Date: July 20, 2008 (Sun)
Reception: 8:00
Start 9:30 (short) 10:00 (long)
Place: Shintoku (新得町)

Distance: 5.275, 10.549
Meet at: Shinsui Hiroba inside the Sahoro Riverside Park Golf Course
Fee: 2000yen
Places: 1-3 medals
Certificate of completion with space to write your time on.
Participation prizes.
Apply to:

井上　茂
〒081-0163
Kamikawa-gun, Shintoku-cho, Kuttari Midorimachi 1-chome 89

Tel/Fax: 01566-5-2458
Apply with
Team Name:
Name:
Reading of name in hiragana:
Division:
Date of birth:
Address:
Tel #:
Divisions:
一般女子 10.549k Women's
一般女子　5.275k Women's
一般男子　10.549k Men's
一般男子 5.275k Men's
A. Jr. high school to 29years
B. 30s
C. 40s
D. 50s
E. 60s and up

Haru Ichiban Date Half Marathon

マラソン・ロードレース大会情報｜テクネット

21st Haru Ichiban Date Half Marathon

Date: April 20, 2008 (3rd Sunday)
Deadline: March 17th
Place: Date City, Hokkaido
Date Rekishi no Mori Culture Center

Reception: from 9am
Start: Half 10:50
3k, 5k, 10k,: 11:02

Awards: to 6th place

Other: All participants get a printout with their record and a participation prize.
There is a drawing to win prizes. (Potted flowers one year.)

Fee: 1000yen for Elementary and Junior High School, 2000 for High School, General and Wheel Chair, 3000 for Half Marathon participants

Can apply by money transfer to the following account.
Include your name, address, sex, age, distance you will run, and team or school name.

※口　座　番　号：０２７５０－０－３７３３６
※加　入　社　名：春の合宿村まつり実行委員会事務局
※通信欄記入事項：参加者氏名、住所、性別、年齢、種目、所
属団体や学校名

Questions about Entry to
エントリーに関するお問合せ
恵那峡ハーフマラソン大会エントリーセンター
〒３６２－０００３　埼玉県上尾市菅谷１－４９テクノプラン
(株)内
TEL０４８－７７８－５８８８
FAX０４８－７７８－５８８９

競技に関するお問合せ
伊達市教育委員会 生涯学習推進課 体育係
TEL ０１４２－２３－３３３１<内線５１０>

New Races available at Runnet.

These races are now registered at runnet.jp and you can now sign up for them online.

May 18, 26th Running On SAPPORO
June 8, Bie Healthy Half Marathon
June 8, 8th Run Around Rishirijima Island
July 6, Kitahiroshima Elfin Road Half Marathon
August 10, 2nd Mt. Taisetsu Lake Chubetsu Triathalon in Higashikawa
September 7, 9th NAC Trail Run in Niseko