Ohyama is a mountain. Today we ran up it. That's not strictly true. We ran as far as we could run, then we shuffled, and finally we heaved one aching foot after another up step after step in what no fair-minded person could call a run. The damn thing, it started flat enough, but the road had an ever so slight uphill grade right from the start. I ran the first couple of km in sub 4:00 time, working the pace pretty hard. And then the road gradually started getting steeper. And steeper. And steeper. And then there were some stairs, and then more stairs then incline, and soon no incline and all stairs. All the while my pace kept slowing and my heart rate just kept way up in the 90s (percent of max). And just when you wanted it to end, breath heaving, legs aching, God, please let it stop, now, there was a sign that said "just 658 more steps to the finish".In the end I finished 35th out of about 450 in my age group (men 40-50), which is not too bad I suppose. The finish area was fun with hot soup and a beer and great comradeship and bon homie before running back with a group to the start point for more beer and lunch. I think I enjoyed everything about the Ohyama Tozan Mountain Climb marathon except the actual Ohyama Tozan Mountain Climb marathon.
Here are some splits:
| Distance | Split | Lap pace |
| 5k | 0:21:32 | 0:04:18 |
| 7k | 0:32:35 | 0:05:32 |
| 9k | 0:53:19 | 0:10:22 |
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2 comments:
LOL, love the final comment! Well done Steve, that's sounds soooooo tough and soooooo painful.
Gosh, if there were 450 in your category how many raced all up? Or are men your age the only ones crazy enough to line up for this sort of thing.
God that sounds tough!!! I bet those glutes, quads and calfs were burning! Great result 35 out of 450... not too shabby!
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