I ran the Chitose JAL Marathon 10k, but you'll have to take this towel as proof.
Today is the Chitose City marathon sponsored by Japan Airlines (and others). One of my students convinced me to participate in the 10km category. Soon after I did, said student got himself transferred to Tokyo and so is no longer in Chitose to run it. That's slightly misleading- his company transferred him. He'd have preferred to stay.
So I've been running again recently. My pace is quite slow compared to my days on the cross country and track teams. Then again, 10k is a lot farther than I used to run, and that was a long time ago. Furthermore, after University, I got into the martial arts, and my muscle type has changed since those days. I used to be very thin with quite a bit of the stringy endurance muscle. I'm no Schwartzeneggar now, but I have bulked up quite a bit since those days, and that still holds true now, when my shoulder and schedule have kept me out of training in the martial arts for the last two years or so. I've lost some muscle mass, but I'm stil bigger than I used to be back in my running days. Add to that the fact that I'm now closer to 40 than I am to 30, and I can't really expect to compare with my times back then. Still, I thought I was doing pretty well averaging about 12km/hr on my runs leading up to the marathon.
Then I taught a preschool class last week. We were practicing introductions, shaking hands, etc, and half-way through the class, my eye started to itch. I stupidly rubbed it with my hand, basically bringing my hand, which had made contact with about 40 preschoolers and therefore contained just about every virus that's currently making it's way through the city's population, into contact with my eye and delivering those viruses. Friday and Saturday, I had the beginnings of a cold. Or something.
Then I woke up this morning, the day of the marathon, and looked outside. Gray. Misty, verging on rain. A little cold. Took Nana out for a walk. Miserable weather. The virus seemed to have subsided a bit, but still... do I really want to go through with this today? I ended up getting on the bike and making my way to the City Sports Center, getting soaked on the way my the mist/rain, and turning in my registration card. Then they gave me a bag with a Marathon souvenir towel and my number. There was also some funky little plastic clip with a diagram showing it tucked into some shoelaces. I pinned on my number, checked in my sweatshirt, commemorative towel, and the rest of the stuff that was in the ba, and lined up at the start of the 10k race.
Last week one of my students asked me if I was going to wear a costume. Some people do. I've seen Pikachu running, a guy in a tiger suit, there was one of the masked Power Ranger sort of heroes there today running. I considered it, but what costume would I use? The Darth Vader helmet? Wouldn't need to fake the breathing in that. My Indiana Jones hat? Still too damn hot for a 10k run, and then the problems with it possibly flying off mid-race. I did wear my tank top (or wifebeater, if you prefer) with the Superman symbol on it. It turned out to be a good choice. I was getting a lot of looks and overhearing a lot of かこい！(Cool/hot/sexy/etc) from High School girls as I made my way near the front of the mass of people at the start line for the 10k. I'd been warned by the student who convinced me that lots of High Shool students would be "running" and would end up walking. He'd run the year before and lost a couple of minutes at the start due to being stuck behind them, so I made sure to get near the front. I was about 100 or so people back in the press when we we got going. I was just far enough ahead that I didn't have to do too much weaving around slowpokes to get to a place where I could settle into my pace.
The mist turned completely to rain during the run, but most of it was through the wods, so I was somewhat protected by the leafy canopy. The trail itself, however, was pretty muddy, and by the end my shoes were making that squishy wet sound and feeling kind of like mud between my toes. I didn't bring my GPS, but I was watching my watch and checking the km posts, and I knew I was slightly ahead of my practice time most of the way through. I think it helps to run faster when you see people in front of you that are going just a little bit slower, so you keep your pace up, knowing you can pass them. Around 8 km or so, my hip started to hurt a little, which slowed me down just a bit. Not too much, as my final time will show, but enough that a few people did overtake me. I finished the race in 46 minutes and about 20-30 seconds. I didn't see the exact number as I crossed the finish line. That's still three and a half to four minutes faster than I was hoping. As I came into the gate, I heard a few people saying "Superman!", so I jumped in the air and did the flying pose as I crossed the line.
I think there's a website that will post the official times and placement, which I'll link to later if I can find it. You won't find me there, however. That weird little plastic clip that tied into shoelaces that I mentioned...? I didn't know it at the time, but it's a small computer chip that records when you cross the start and finish lines. Of this, I was unaware, and it was sitting in the check-in area with my sweatshirt and such. I will not be appearing in the official rankings. Not much of a big deal, really. My time wasn't good enough to be one of the winners, and I was running it pretty much for my own sake anyway. I just won't be able to prove it. It would have been nice to know the exact time, but I have the ballpark figure, and it's still almost 1km/hr faster that I was expecting to go. I'm ok with that. And I'll have to start pushing a little more when I run.
I think I'm going to drop my running schedule down to 2 days a week, and I'm hoping to get back into the karate class. I'm till having the shoulder problems, but I want to start going and just working kicks. From a practical standpoint, as in self-defense, fighting ability, and such, it's not very good. But my goals are more fitness related than fighting related, and I really miss the martial arts. If that's all I can do, then that's what I'll do.
Post race: my calves are a little sore, but the hip feels fine. The preschool virus seems to be returning a little, but I'm still hoping that'll go away now. Time to go eat.
So I've been running again recently. My pace is quite slow compared to my days on the cross country and track teams. Then again, 10k is a lot farther than I used to run, and that was a long time ago. Furthermore, after University, I got into the martial arts, and my muscle type has changed since those days. I used to be very thin with quite a bit of the stringy endurance muscle. I'm no Schwartzeneggar now, but I have bulked up quite a bit since those days, and that still holds true now, when my shoulder and schedule have kept me out of training in the martial arts for the last two years or so. I've lost some muscle mass, but I'm stil bigger than I used to be back in my running days. Add to that the fact that I'm now closer to 40 than I am to 30, and I can't really expect to compare with my times back then. Still, I thought I was doing pretty well averaging about 12km/hr on my runs leading up to the marathon.
Then I taught a preschool class last week. We were practicing introductions, shaking hands, etc, and half-way through the class, my eye started to itch. I stupidly rubbed it with my hand, basically bringing my hand, which had made contact with about 40 preschoolers and therefore contained just about every virus that's currently making it's way through the city's population, into contact with my eye and delivering those viruses. Friday and Saturday, I had the beginnings of a cold. Or something.
Then I woke up this morning, the day of the marathon, and looked outside. Gray. Misty, verging on rain. A little cold. Took Nana out for a walk. Miserable weather. The virus seemed to have subsided a bit, but still... do I really want to go through with this today? I ended up getting on the bike and making my way to the City Sports Center, getting soaked on the way my the mist/rain, and turning in my registration card. Then they gave me a bag with a Marathon souvenir towel and my number. There was also some funky little plastic clip with a diagram showing it tucked into some shoelaces. I pinned on my number, checked in my sweatshirt, commemorative towel, and the rest of the stuff that was in the ba, and lined up at the start of the 10k race.
Last week one of my students asked me if I was going to wear a costume. Some people do. I've seen Pikachu running, a guy in a tiger suit, there was one of the masked Power Ranger sort of heroes there today running. I considered it, but what costume would I use? The Darth Vader helmet? Wouldn't need to fake the breathing in that. My Indiana Jones hat? Still too damn hot for a 10k run, and then the problems with it possibly flying off mid-race. I did wear my tank top (or wifebeater, if you prefer) with the Superman symbol on it. It turned out to be a good choice. I was getting a lot of looks and overhearing a lot of かこい！(Cool/hot/sexy/etc) from High School girls as I made my way near the front of the mass of people at the start line for the 10k. I'd been warned by the student who convinced me that lots of High Shool students would be "running" and would end up walking. He'd run the year before and lost a couple of minutes at the start due to being stuck behind them, so I made sure to get near the front. I was about 100 or so people back in the press when we we got going. I was just far enough ahead that I didn't have to do too much weaving around slowpokes to get to a place where I could settle into my pace.
The mist turned completely to rain during the run, but most of it was through the wods, so I was somewhat protected by the leafy canopy. The trail itself, however, was pretty muddy, and by the end my shoes were making that squishy wet sound and feeling kind of like mud between my toes. I didn't bring my GPS, but I was watching my watch and checking the km posts, and I knew I was slightly ahead of my practice time most of the way through. I think it helps to run faster when you see people in front of you that are going just a little bit slower, so you keep your pace up, knowing you can pass them. Around 8 km or so, my hip started to hurt a little, which slowed me down just a bit. Not too much, as my final time will show, but enough that a few people did overtake me. I finished the race in 46 minutes and about 20-30 seconds. I didn't see the exact number as I crossed the finish line. That's still three and a half to four minutes faster than I was hoping. As I came into the gate, I heard a few people saying "Superman!", so I jumped in the air and did the flying pose as I crossed the line.
I think there's a website that will post the official times and placement, which I'll link to later if I can find it. You won't find me there, however. That weird little plastic clip that tied into shoelaces that I mentioned...? I didn't know it at the time, but it's a small computer chip that records when you cross the start and finish lines. Of this, I was unaware, and it was sitting in the check-in area with my sweatshirt and such. I will not be appearing in the official rankings. Not much of a big deal, really. My time wasn't good enough to be one of the winners, and I was running it pretty much for my own sake anyway. I just won't be able to prove it. It would have been nice to know the exact time, but I have the ballpark figure, and it's still almost 1km/hr faster that I was expecting to go. I'm ok with that. And I'll have to start pushing a little more when I run.
I think I'm going to drop my running schedule down to 2 days a week, and I'm hoping to get back into the karate class. I'm till having the shoulder problems, but I want to start going and just working kicks. From a practical standpoint, as in self-defense, fighting ability, and such, it's not very good. But my goals are more fitness related than fighting related, and I really miss the martial arts. If that's all I can do, then that's what I'll do.
Post race: my calves are a little sore, but the hip feels fine. The preschool virus seems to be returning a little, but I'm still hoping that'll go away now. Time to go eat.