Ome 30 k Trail Race

Our happy little group after the race!!
OK, now I get it. Trail running is freaking hard work! Had I been a little more cognisant of that yesterday I might have shown a bit more respect for the event and more restraint at the hanami (cherry clossom viewing) party of the Beer Enlightenment, Education, and Research Society (BEERS) that I went to in Yoyogi Park yesterday. Well, at least I stopped drinking at around 5:00 p.m. and had a bit of time to sober up and recover, so the hangover was not so serious this morning. But enough to make me a little less alert than normal and create a few tummy issues that I could have lived without.

Made the 7:44 train from Shinjuku with Keren, Jay, Shoji, Mika, Keren's friend Mike and fiance. We picked up others along the way : Taeko, Mathias, Stefan, Chika, and finally, out at the venue, Ma and Teruyuki. (Hope I haven't forgotten anybody).

I got a less than ideal start as I had to dash back to my bag to collect my heart rate chest strap. Then when I got to the line I was right at the back of the pack and tried working forward but then the gun (sorry, claxon!) went off, so that was that, off and running and working hard to try and make up ground and find our people. I was hoping to run with Keren or Mika.

The first few km were uphill and I was working harder than I should have been at that stage -- anyone would think it was a marathon or something. Caught Shoji and Teruyuki (Terry) , but soon realized I needed to back off a bit and then Terry shot off and left me in his dust. I felt a bit uncomfortable in the tummy, and started eyeing off somewhere I could duck off to the side -- somewhere private, if you know what I mean. Around 5 or 6 k I finally got onto the back of Keren, but he looked in good control while I was not feeling well. I soon saw a nice little bluff off under the track and ducked down and had what was probably a 5-minute toilet break. After that I decided it wasn't my day for a big, hard run and just tried to run a bit easier and enjoy the event more. Run is not quite the right word. I don't know what the overall elevation gain is, but a lot. We had heaps of nasty uphill, real hands on knees trudging rather than running, and still at 88% of maximum heart rate. These would be followed by breakneck speed downhills skating over loose rocks, dodging tree roots, and quad-pounding steps and micro-terraces. Sometimes there would be a few meters of relatively flat terrain but not much. Running at "easier" pace was still darn hard work.

At some point, perhaps around 9 km, I noticed Mika a little way behind me, so I slowed up and let her catch up. We ran together for a few kilometers, but on the uphills it is really hard to control your pace, 'cause you just trudge away the best you can. It turned out I was trudging quicker than Mika, so I decided to press on. The last several kilometers before the 15k turnaround were all uphill. And brutally steep. It was like Ohyama all over again, only this time with lots of pounding downhills and three-and-a-half times as long.

At around the 12k mark our man Stefan, a young Swiss chap, came through right on the heels of the second placed runner. I yelled out to him that he was in third, but he probably knew it. He actually went on to win the race!! Pretty good effort for his first race in Japan. Here is a photo of him at the presentation.

I reached the 15k turnaround at the mountain-top shrine in 1:41:18 (6:45/km). They were hanging little talismen around our necks and you could ring a bell and say a prayer if you wanted. I remembered that I am a godless heathen and declined that opportunity. But I did scoff some bananas and grapefruit and water and set off again. I was feeling a lot better by this time and gradually started working it harder. Being a net drop in elevation back, the uphills were not quite so many nor so long (but many were still brutally steep) . The cramp bear was nipping away at, but never quite got a good purchase on my calves. Phew. At 5 km to go I realized I was a chance of breaking 3 hours, so really started putting in and was actually overtaking heaps of people, especially on the more moderate uphills. There was one particular bunch of blokes and women who kept overtaking me on downhills but who I would re-take on the uphills and evens. I eventually broke clear of them as the downhill became a bit less wild and woolly.

But as hard as I worked, I never did catch up to Keren again (and didn't he gloat afterwards!) and did not quite break the three hours, finishing in 3:00:18 -- just 18 seconds over. Never mind, I have my excuses, and I'm going to be sticking to them, especially around Keren. The second 15 k was 1:19:00, or 5:16/km. A lot different to a road marathon. A lot.

So, will I do another trail run? Hmm...ask me in a few months. But I have to say, it was an experience worth doing. And if I do do another one, I will prepare for it with more specific training and certainly keep myself in better shape viz a viz day before activities. I think I now finally have just a little bit of insight into how tough the Six Foot Track Race (45 km) in Australia's Blue Mountains must be.



These flowers are for you KitKat! Enjoy your marathon next week!

(acknowledgement: all photos in this post are linked from Shoji-san's blog -- thanks Shoji!)