Ome 30-km Marathon

I'm going to give a quick personal report and then just paste in the report I wrote for our Namban Rengo mailing list -- so this post is a little on the long side. Basically, I had an absolute ball. My approach to the race was fairly casual, knowing that I was not going to try and run to my maximum potential, which would be about 4:10/km pace I suppose. No, I was going to stick at between 4:20/km and 4:30/km, hopefully with fellow Nambanners Mika and Keren. I felt that should be taxing enough considering I have not run further than 23 km since the November 23 marathon.
Namban senior stateman Bob is preparing for Nagano marathon, and I ended up joining him in the starting lineup. The rest of us were spread out here and there due to the intricacies of the corraling system. Naoko Takahashi (gold medal women's marathon at the Sydney Olympics) started the race. She is loved by runners one and all in Japan and it was great to run past her smiling and waving to us from up there on that pedestal.

Bob and I ran together and were basically just cruising along with the heavy stream of runners for the first 5-km, chatting as we went at about 5:00/km pace. We had gradually increased to 4:25 pace from the 4th to 5th kilometers, and thereafter kicked down another gear and were running along at 4:20 pace, weaving our way through the field, yet still maintaining some conversation. Around 12 km we caught up to Mika. I had said I would try to run with her, and Bob gave me his blessing so he went on ahead while we continued at a slightly slower pace. Still pretty steady at 4:25 to 4:30 though. Jay joined us for a while around teh halfway mark (he had a strange run that can be read about on his blog) and we were soon being blown along by the fantastic support at the side of the road. The race is just superbly supported by the community and this was the real highlight of the day.

Over the last 5-km Mika and I picked up the pace a bit. An older guy who recognized me from my early morning training in Komazawa Park fell in with us and I tried to make the Steve-train, complete with choo-choo noises, but it must have made me too excited because Mika quickly fell of the back. So I reverted to more conventional formation. But I got a kick out of helping pace and goad her onwards to the end and she picked up about ten places, i.e. passed about ten women. But with our superior pacing we were actually passing people at an incredible rate over that last few km. Anyway, at risk of repeating myself, I really enjoyed this race and will be back next year!

****************** Namban Report Follows ******************
Sunday February 19, Ome, Japan. This sleepy backwater of rural north-western Tokyo comes to life every February for what is claimed to be "the most famous marathon in Japan". This year was the 40th running of the event, and eleven brave Namban warriors and almost as many supporters took part. Interestingly, we would have all been in the 30 km event but for Shoji-san discovering the night before that he must have mistakenly ticked the 10k box instead of the 30k box. So poor Shoji had to run the 10k instead of his preferred 30k.

As organizers tend to like to keep race field sizes well-contained in Japan, usually with good reason, extremely large races are few and far between, not for any lack of demand, though. With today being a 40th anniversary, the field was expanded, seeing 14,500 participants running the 30 km and 3,500 the 10 km. The narrow road at the start stretched the 30-km runners over a kilometer, perhaps more, even before the radiant Q-chan could fire the gun and send the runners on their way.

The course winds its way along the upper reaches of the Tamagawa River; steep hills rise on either side of the road and the swirling cataracts of the river cascade below. Buildings with rustic rural architecture abound and their denizens come out in numbers to line the road and cheer madly and hand out sweets, drinks, fruits, and even chocolates to tiring runners. Better supporters of a running event you will have to travel a long way to find. Reading our shirts, many a supporter would yell "Go Namban Rengo" as we passed. What a boost that is! Never run a race without bearing the Namban standard proudly across your chest. Certainly not this race in any case.

As to the performances…firstly it is worth mentioning that former Nambanner, now elite women's runner, Mara Yamauchi won the women's division of the 10 km in 31:43. As to the mere mortal current members, Shoji ran the 10km in a time of around 42 minutes.
The 30-km competitors will now tell you how they went in their own voices (in order of finishing; times are all self-timed net times):

Subash: 2:12:08. "Great course, perfect weather; should have taken some sweets from the lovely ladies to avoid a poor last 5-km."

Bob: 2:13:18. "First 5k easy 24:40, last 5k hard 20:20 , other 20k about 22:00 minute/5k as per plan. Thanks to Steve for pacing 1st 10k and Mark 15-25k. And thanks to Mika for coordinating us and arranging the wonderful sushi lunch."

Mika: 2:16:33. "In all, it was a fun race! 4-min PB over last year. Moreover I could catch at least 10 women over the last 5 km thanks to Steve's pacing! Good run for Nagoya."

Steve: 2:16:21. "As a late sub for Gareth and without enough long runs under my belt, I set out to run at a solid pace but below maximum effort; I was so glad I did. There is just too much in this race to enjoy that you would spoil it by busting a boiler with an all-out effort. I mean what a blast!! Just a great race, especially for the wonderful cheering crowds, the huge field of runners, Q-chan at the start, the picturesque rural setting, and the excellent Namban companions to travel, prepare, run, eat, drink and make merry with. Thanks Ome and thanks Namban Rengo (especially Gareth) for a great day!"

Mark: 2:17:58. "Fantastic support along the course, Namban members and general, which, given the remote location, was impressive. Bob made me feel guilty on the way back, waving his appreciation to the crowd's support. I was too busy trying to hang onto the blistering pace Bob was pulling me along at to wave at anyone.
With about 2km to go, as I was struggling through the last couple of km. After Bob had left me, and Jay, Mika and Steve had passed me, I walked for about a minute. As I did, a Japanese guy in the crowd, who must have looked up my name from my race number, started yelling at me in perfect English "Don't stop Mark!" I (almost) immediately picked it up again. As I did so, he started running alongside me, and yelled again, "Right, and don't you ever stop again!"

That got me to the finish, where a local cable TV reporter stuck a mike under my nose and asked me, in English, if I spoke Japanese. I erred on the side of modesty/caution and replied that I spoke a little. She then started firing questions at me in Japanese, "What did I think of the race?" "Where was I from?" "Had I run a marathon before?" I probably babbled incomprehensible, Beckham style answers, proving that I did only speak a little Japanese! Yeah the race was tough etc etc.

Keren: 2:31:23. "Training run. Bit disappointed as I had planned to run 2:30. Crowded and fun but last 5 km tough."

Martin: 2:34:31. "Great organization & local support. Free strawberries! Hills not as bad as I expected and downhill you could really make up time, so net effect was positive. Fun race overall and great scenery."

Yasuko: 2:42:00. "I enjoyed the race just as much as last year, but this time I ran 10 minutes faster!"

Geraldine: 3:06:00. "My best race in Japan this year."

Jay: DQ: "Started last and ran my own strange race. See my blog (http://jaydtrilog.blogspot.com/) for a more complete account."

Namban Cheer Squad: Ma, Chiba-san, Rie, Taeko, Shoji (doubling up after 10k), Teruyuki, Satohi, Yoshiko, Maki & Ken (Mark's family; special thanks to Maki for minding our wallets).

And lastly, a comment from Shoji-san on his late switch to the 10 race: "Doh!"